Positive Stress is Good For You - Article submitted by Ms.Vijeta Soni ,Student Advisor OSB Jaipur

When was the last time you heard someone say, “stress is good,” or “Gosh, I’m glad I’m stressed today; what a great feeling!” It’s not likely you’ve heard these words recently. And yet, stress is actually necessary to live a full life and to be productive and healthy. Honest! It’s called “positive stress.” But aren’t the words, “positive stress” an oxymoron, that is, a contradiction in terms? This column is about why stress can be good for us – if, that is, it is experienced in positive form. We can use stress to our advantage.
Good and Bad Stress. Stress reflects increases in a person’s physical and mental arousal level in response to some experience. When we feel stress, hormones immediately enter our system that increase our heart rate and make us more alert and focused. This is also called the “fight or flight” response. Under dangerous conditions stress responses are life-saving. So, our response to stress does not automatically reflect something negative or unpleasant. Exercise is an example of an activity that increases physical stress, a form of positive stress. When events are viewed as very unpleasant, they are called distressors “Bad” forms of stress occur when a person feels threatened by the external demand, lets say speaking in front of a group, or the person views the demand as potentially harmful, for example, a driver who is tailgating you and speeding.
Positive stress can provide zest and enjoyment, as well as attentiveness and energy for meeting deadlines, exercising such as lifting weights or jogging, entering new situations, adapting to new challenges, and achieving maximum performance. Stress is positive when we expend energy physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Positive stress is needed to expand our capacity to perform at extraordinary levels, especially under pressure.
Examples of negative physical stress include pain and overexertion. Positive physical stress includes exercise at an intensity that fits the person’s current fitness level, stretching, walking, and weight lifting. Examples of negative mental stress include information overload, prolonged concentration, and trying to meet very difficult external demands. Positive mental stress includes feeling challenged, enthusiasm, analyzing, problem solving, and planning. Negative emotional stress includes anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration, while positive emotional stress includes happiness, fulfillment, contentment, and enthusiasm. Negative spiritual stress is acting in ways that are not compatible with our values and lacking passion. Positive spiritual stress reflects recognizing what really matters, acknowledging our values and living a life consistent with them, and feeling passionate about contributing to the lives of others.
Researchers contend that experiencing stress is not the problem that reduces energy and performance. We thrive and grow under the right type of stressful conditions. The problem with stress and the reason stress limits our performance is the lack of voluntary recovery. Recovery allows us to sustain high performance on demand, even under pressure.
Stress can be positive when it’s experienced as emotional energy. Desirable emotions that fuel energy – positive stress – include confidence, optimism, self-control, empathy (compassion toward others), and a moderate level of arousal. The goal of emotional energy is to transform thoughts of threat into challenge. When we worry or feel anxiety, we are void of energy, and our thoughts are internally focused. Our performance potential is impaired. Instead, feeling challenged, accompanied by positive expectations, concentration, and feeling fully engaged are the fuel source – the booster rocket - of reaching and maintaining our ideal performance state.
The take-away message of this column is that stress can have positive aspects; we need stress to reach our goals, to perform at our best, and to improve our health and happiness. We should not confuse positive stress with its better known “cousin,” negative, unpleasant stress. To perform at optimal levels, the problem is not stress, but the absence of recovery. Positive stress leads to our best performance when we create a balance between exercising our “emotional muscles” and intermittently seeking recovery - oscillation.
Stress Is Good: Here’s Why!
* Stress is anything that causes energy to be expended: We become weak and unhappy for the lack of effort in our daily lives.
* Stress is the stimulus for growth: Our muscles increase strength from stressful contractions, obtained from strength training and other forms of exercise.
* Stress exposure expands functional capacity. Going beyond what’s comfortable, while making minimal effort – the lack of physical stress – makes us weak.
* High stress is not the enemy. The real culprit is insufficient periodic recovery. Taking regular breaks, even a few minutes, about every 60-90 minutes will allow us to reengage in the task at hand and maintain optimal performance.
* Recovery is anything that causes energy to be renewed. All systems need down time to regenerate energy and refuel. Then we come back stronger.
* Recovery is when growth takes place. Rest intervals allow recovery, and a recovery period occurs when our system “reconnects the dots,” or “turns on the lights.” We get stronger and improve, both mentally and physically.