Eustress and Distress
- Brian Lynn Bentley
- Mar 30, 2015
- 2 min read
Eustress and Distress
Brian Lynn Bentley
March 29 1015
There is such a thing as good stress and it is good for you as long as you maintain a balance. There is also the infamous bad stress which is needed to keep us from getting eaten by bears. The overdoing one or the other will lead to problems for both mental and physical.
Eustress: A term that is sometimes used to refer to positive stress. (Gale, 2005).
Distress: harmful stress that tends to disturb the balance of body and mind and promotes ill health (Gale, 2005).
Mental stress: Psychology A general term encompassing mental arousal and/or emotional stress; MS can be evoked by a number of mental tasks–eg, mental arithmetic, publicspeaking, mirror trace, type A structured interviews; MS evokes pathophysiologic responses–eg, myocardial ischemia measurable by radionuclide ventriculography. Cu Physiological stress. (McGraw-Hill, 2002)
I learned recently that there was such a thing as good stress and it even has a name Eustress. It is defined as positive stress something that we enjoy even though its stress. It is excitement and its stress that we need. Eustress is motivational stress. It is the stress that gives us the ability to get things done, to accomplish goals. We often need to be motivated sometimes by fear sometimes by wants and allot of the time by needs. However too much good stress can eventually become bad stress and lead to physical problems and addictions. That is when we may need professional help or at least slowdown. Find the balance between good stress and eustress.
The Bad stress increases tension and puts your body system to work. You will start to make bad choices; your sleep will become disturbed. Your blood pressure increases. Rapid breathing and this can sometimes lead to the start of an addiction or a habit. Or an increase in an addiction you already have.
But like Roman comic dramatist Titus Maccius Plautus once said. (c.250–184 BC), "Moderation in all things is the best policy."(Knowles, 2006)
What are some examples of good stress? Another words something we enjoy.
Waiting for Christmas to come thinking about that gift you want and know you want.
A roller coaster
Accomplishing something
Finishing a challenge
Your favorite team is playing and it’s a close game.
The opposite of good stress or eustress is distress. When daily activities become too stressful, or too much for you to handle.
So what would be good stress to you? And what would be bad stress to you?
References
"Plautus." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved March 29, 2015 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404705167.html
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Moderation in all things." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2015 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-moderationinallthings.html
Eustress vs Distress. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2015, from https://www.brocku.ca/health-services/health-education/stress/eustress-distress
Scott, M. (n.d.). Why Eustress Is Your Friend - Definition and Examples. Retrieved March 30, 2015, from http://stress.about.com/od/stressmanagementglossary/g/Eustress.htm
Eustress. (n.d.) Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. (2008). Retrieved March 29 2015 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/eustress
Mental stress. (n.d.) McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. (2002). Retrieved March 29 2015 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mental+stress
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