'Stress' is a stranger to no one. Especially in today's fast paced life, stress has become an inseparable part of life. It then follows, that 'Stress Management' has also become imperative.
By definition, stress is "any uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physical and behavioral changes".
In everyday terms, it is a feeling that people have when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with certain demands or situations. These demands may be related to finances, relationships, work, education, etc.
Words such as 'uncomfortable', 'overloaded' and 'struggling' tend to give stress negative connotation, and we generally use the term 'stress' to describe negative situations. This has given rise to one of the biggest myths about stress: Stress is always bad.
Yes, you read that right. It is myth. Stress is not always a bad thing. It is simply our body's response to changes that create challenging demands.
Stress can be broadly divided into two types- Eustress (positive stress) and Distress (negative stress).
'Eu' is a Greek prefix, meaning good. So Eustress is a positive and beneficial stress. Have you ever experienced stress a day before the exam? This is the eustress. It proves to be beneficial, because if you weren't stressed about the exam,you wouldn't have prepared for it at all. In this situation, stress acts as a motivator and thus, is considered to be a positive type of stress. Some other examples of eustress may be exercising, riding a roller-coaster, participating in competitions, first day of job, taking vacation, having a child, watching suspense thrillers, etc.
Eustress is a type of good stress, which improves our well-being and results in satisfaction.
How does Eustress do that?
By definition, stress is "any uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physical and behavioral changes".
In everyday terms, it is a feeling that people have when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with certain demands or situations. These demands may be related to finances, relationships, work, education, etc.
Words such as 'uncomfortable', 'overloaded' and 'struggling' tend to give stress negative connotation, and we generally use the term 'stress' to describe negative situations. This has given rise to one of the biggest myths about stress: Stress is always bad.
Yes, you read that right. It is myth. Stress is not always a bad thing. It is simply our body's response to changes that create challenging demands.
Stress can be broadly divided into two types- Eustress (positive stress) and Distress (negative stress).
'Eu' is a Greek prefix, meaning good. So Eustress is a positive and beneficial stress. Have you ever experienced stress a day before the exam? This is the eustress. It proves to be beneficial, because if you weren't stressed about the exam,you wouldn't have prepared for it at all. In this situation, stress acts as a motivator and thus, is considered to be a positive type of stress. Some other examples of eustress may be exercising, riding a roller-coaster, participating in competitions, first day of job, taking vacation, having a child, watching suspense thrillers, etc.
Eustress is a type of good stress, which improves our well-being and results in satisfaction.
How does Eustress do that?
Yerkes-Dodson Law
As stated earlier, an individual having extremely low level of stress will not be motivated to study for the exam and achieve the desired goal (good marks). As such, his performance on the exam will be very weak.
Further, a person having optimum level of stress, ie. eustress will be motivated to study well and his performance, in turn, will be strong.
Now, a person having high level of stress, despite being motivated to study and get good marks, will not be able to perform well because of anxiety. Students with high level of anxiety often faint or go blank during the exam. This is when the Eustress becomes Distress.
In other words, having an optimum level of positive stress(Eustress) is important for optimum level of performance.
It becomes clear then, that stress motivates us towards solving our problems, and is an important aspect of our lives. This may be the reason why our goal is to manage stress and not eliminate it.
STRESS MANAGEMENT TIP 1: Keeping in mind that stress is not always a bad thing.
Eustress motivates us towards our goals. Studies have found that reframing our thoughts to view stress as an acceptable and normal emotion actually helps in reducing many of the negative symptoms associated with it.
Stay tuned for more tips :)
Very correctly and scientifically expressed process to convert stress as positive condition to move towards goals effectively!! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteThankyou! Means a lot!
DeleteVery informative & nicely narrated
ReplyDeleteThankyou! Means a lot!
DeleteIt's very systamatic study of the emotion stress and very positive approach.
ReplyDeleteThankyou! Glad you liked it :)
DeleteGood one. I would like to add something I read to this. In order to Eustress, in today’s fast paced “always online” life, it is equally important to “tune out” of all the gadgets which are a major cause of distraction and keep our “threat response” always active, thus leading to Distress.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, as per Dr. Steve Ilardi, we need a minimum of 30 mins a day exposure to natural sunlight, early morning being the best in order for the body to release natural stress reducing hormones.
Hope this is helpful as well!
You are absolutely right! Will be writing about more of such tips. Thankyou for your contribution :D
DeleteGood information. Unmesh good contribution too.
ReplyDeleteThankyou! Glad you liked it :D
DeleteThankyou mumma!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing!! Didn't know this ☺️
ReplyDeleteThankyou :) glad you liked it :)
DeleteVery nicely detailed. Worth imulating. Thanks .keep sharing n keep smiling.
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much! Glad you liked it. Means a lot to me :)
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