Stress – Good and Bad

Most people hate stress and wish their life to be ‘stress free.’ However, stress is not always the bad guy. If your life was stress free, you might get bored and have no motivation.

Actually, stress is a fundamental part of life.

When you are weight lifting, you are tearing down your muscles so they build up stronger. The same thing happens with stress. With a good amount of stress, your body will tear down physically and mentally and then build back stronger.

Good stress consists of: exercise, deadlines, tests, presentations, sporting events, etc.; as well as joy, excitement, thrill, fear, happiness, etc.

This good stress is referred to as eustress. The bad stress, which we normally refer to as just ‘stress’, is referred to as distress.

Distress occurs when too much stress is placed upon the body – mentally and/or physically.

How distress can harm the body:
- increase fat distribution in the midsection
- raise blood pressure
- possibly damage blood vessels
- decrease mind’s ability to think rationally, realistically, and clearly
- disrupt digestion, leading to irritable bowel syndrome
- increase headaches
- increase allergies
- …etc.

Distress can be very harmful; thus, we need to be able to recognize when eustress is turning into distress. Try to notice what stress you can handle and when the stress is becoming too much. When you feel you are falling apart physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually; then you are going through distress.

Once you start to recognize distress, you can learn ways to calm down or manage stress; so you can build your body stronger instead of damage your body.

To be continued… ‘Ways To Manage Stress’ will be posted tomorrow.