Is stress a good thing?

Question

I know a theory behind stress. I also know general attitude which links stress with all negative things. However I would like to ask "Do you think is stress good or bad?"

The question come after today's workshop I attended. The workshop was about self sabotage and there was a lot about stress and what to do to reduce stress.

From my perspective I really need stress to work on high level standard. Without stress I am not so effective. When I have reduced stress, no deadline, everything going smooth; I loose my focus and I drift away from my work. On another hand I don't like to be under pressure. I feel more happy/relaxed when I don't have pressure.

It is difficult for me to maintain a level of stress which would be the best, because I simply don't know it. At one point I feel motivated and concentrated on my task but a while after, in very constant situation, I start to feel too much pressure.

What is your point of view. I don't necessary want to read theories, I know quite a lot of them. I would like to hear your experience, how you deal with stress?. Are you more effective with or without stress? Do you need it or not? if so, do you create your own stress (like I do)? Do you know any good practical way to deal with stress?

Answer 1

Are you more effective with or without stress?

it depends

if stress is manageable (I am a software developer, I have a big and interesting task to do, I have everything I need (all infrastructure libraries are working fine, I have lots of great working examples etc) - but the time is very limited and, lets say, I have to deliver my first working prototype by Monday

is it stress? it is indeed, but it feels great and gives me more energy to do the job

on the other hand - if situation is hopeless (nothing is working, deadline is absolutely unrealistic, management is just whining about low performance of the team without offering real help) - this kind of stress actually drains energy and makes me less effective

Answer 2

Stress by itself is neither good nor bad. Eustress is good stress; distress is bad stress.

If you know what you want to work toward, and are given the freedom to do so, then creating deadlines for yourself should be a help. If the only pressure is from yourself, then you can learn from the times you don't meet your deadlines. It would be bad for you to punish yourself, though. See what worked or didn't work, and move on with the intent of doing better the next time.

Answer 3

Yes, I think everyone needs a little stress or they'll spend their excess mental power procrastinating (like what I'm doing now). Nature takes the path of least resistance; stress gives high resistance to doing everything you're not supposed to be doing.

I remember hearing a radio interview with one of the leading advertising agencies in my country, who said that people can only be creative under pressure.

The key is in making sure you take enough breaks to relieve that stress and not go insane. Nobody can work under constant stress without burning out.

Answer 4

Stress must first be defined, which is not easy. Lets take a mechanical approach to start with.

Stress is a measure of the internal forces acting within a deformable body. Similarly, strain is defined to be a measure of how the object deforms (reacts) to stress. For example, an external force on a spring causes stress in the spring material and the spring strains (stretches) as a result.

Some people view stress to be a measure of the external demands, such as deadlines, placed on a person. If we are to humour the 'spring definition' of stress, this 'demand view' of stress is not quite accurate. Instead, deadlines, relationships, physical activity etc. are more accurately described as external forces/stimuli. I make this distinction intentionally: while it might be good to have many external stimuli, this does not necessarily mean it is good to have a lot of stress.

From a physiological perspective, stress (or strain) can be viewed as the body's reaction to external stimuli which displace the body from its 'desired' equilibrium (homeostasis).

Unfortunately, for many people, meeting the demands placed on them often requires their body to be under stress (ie, their body is strained or displaced from its equilibrium). And for the ambitious people, if their body is not under stress, why not give it more to do, right?

With the distinction between external stimuli and bodily stress out of the way, the effects of stress can be considered. Before listing some examples, a sweeping (yet quite accurate) statement can be made: nearly all effects of stress are bad.

To understand why stress might be a good thing, the effects of stress can be very loosely linked to the effects of cortisol. Cortisol is excreted by the adrenal gland when the body believes it is not in homeostasis. Cortisol causes glucose to be redirected to vital organs such as the brain and heart in order to overcome the difficulty at hand and regain homeostasis (notably, energy is redirected AWAY from the body's immune system). These effects can be considered to be the initial benefit/purpose of stress.

Unfortunately, stress has many many short and long term negative effects on the body. Increased risk of heart disease, insomnia, hair loss and depression are a few.

So in summary, while many external stimuli may be desirable in order to increase productivity, if these stimuli cause stress on the body, a large number of negative side effects will result. A person should strive to achieve all demands placed on them without being stressed.

Final note:this discussion does not necessarily disagrees with other answers; simply, a different definition of stress may have been used.

Answer 5

My point of view is that some stress is essential to health. I believe the ability of organisms to adapt to stress, by growth, is a fundamental characteristic that differentiates living from non-living materials. Physiological adaptation (strength-training) to physical stress (i.e. exercise) is more easily measured in a laboratory, but my opinion is that we are capable of adapting to psychological stress as well. A learning from experience and experiment is that there is a quantitative threshold of stress (different depending upon the condition of the individual) where an individual begins to fail to adapt, and can actually be damaged by the stress and become weaker. The problem of stress (for most of us) is therefore one of understanding the stress load of our environment, our condition, our threshold level where we begin fail to adapt, and what makes an appropriate training regime.

You asked for experience, rather than theory, and the last paragraph reads a lot like a theoretical model. However, personally, I have found it a valuable model because it can be both effective and motivating. I think I am the type of person that is more likely to hold to some regimen of action that is (possibly) supported by a scientific principle - but your mileage may vary.