Distress and eustress

By Merriam-Webster definition, stress is “a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.”

Specifically, however, there’s a distinction between negative and positive stress, first made by endocrinologist Hans Selye:

Distress is what we normally think of when we think of stress. Distress is/characterized by:

• An inability to completely adapt to the stressor.

• Decrease in focus and performance.

• Showing maladaptive behaviors such as aggression, passivity, or withdrawal.

• Can come from a variety of influences, like work/school, peers, family, relationships, life changes, and more.

• Constant stress is linked to the top six causes of death, disease, accidents, cancer, liver ailments, lung ailments, and suicide.

Eustress, on the other hand, is stress that makes you healthier, and is characterized by:

• Our ability to adapt is challenged but not overwhelmed.

• Excitement.

• Not too far out of reach but still slightly more than we can handle.

• Only lasts in the short term.

• Associated with hope and active engagement.

• Has shown a positive correlation between life satisfaction and hope, as well as physical recovery and immunity.

Stress effects

Even distress can temporarily boost the immune system, and when the distress goes away in a reasonable amount, the body returns to normal. However, if the distress is chronic, the immune system burns out and ends up functioning at a lower level. Additionally, short-term stress can enhance memory, while long-term stress decreases it. Stress produces oxytocin as well as adrenaline, meaning our bodies want us to reach out and be social and ask for support during times of distress, and also helps our bodies heal from the damage inflicted on it by the distress. The key is a proper balance:

More eustress, less distress

While keeping in mind that there are some hereditary predispositions or societal expectations that make some of us more prone to stress, here are some things that may help lower distress and increase eustress:

1. Enjoying new things: If someone enjoys new things and believes they have importance in the world, then they’re more likely to experience flow.

2. Perception of control: Those with internal loci of control have an increased flow chance because they feel as though they can increase their skill level to match the challenge. Additionally, many studies have shown that employees with more decision-making power are more likely to be committed to their job and therefore experience more subsequent satisfaction. Predictable stress is also less harmful than unpredictable stress.

3. Support network: Social networks and real-life touch helps decrease the steroid-like hormones glucocorticoids, which can can cause bodily distress and health problems if prolonged in the body by stress.

4. Motivation, persistence, and perfectionism: While persistence is associated positively with flow and related to intrinsic motivation, perfectionism is associated negatively with flow, because a person downplays their skill levels and perceives the challenge to be too large to experience flow.

5. Helping others: In 2013, there was a study that showed that those caring for others during times of stress, even big stress like family crisis, experience no increase in mortality, as opposed to a 30% increase for those who did not care for others.

6. Mindset: Optimistic people tend to experience higher eustress, and the presence of a positive mindset increases the chance of eustress. Rethinking your stress responses and reframing them as positive instead of negative may help you change your mindset if it’s pessimistic.

Stress exercise

1. First, think of some stressful experiences you’ve had, whether in the last week, month, or year, as long as it’s fairly recent. Think of at least one where you were overwhelmed and let down or panicked and at least one where you felt the odds were against you but you managed to succeed.

2. Categorize each one as eustress or distress.

3. Write down for each the physical and mental symptoms you experienced during it.

4. Try to determine, from the distress experiences, any common patterns in what you feel or what causes them.

5. Compare to the list of eustress experiences and look for more patterns.

6. Now, for each stressor, you can do one of two things: figure out how to eliminate as many of them from your life as possible, or figure out how to turn them into eustress, by viewing them as a challenge rather than an opposition, for example.