In our
ongoing discussion of stress, I’ve seen/heard a fairly consistent theme, which
is that we should actively work to avoid and reduce it. To me, the rationale
behind this would be fairly straightforward: in stressful situations, our
bodies react, which over time, can have profound impacts on our health. And in
many situations, I would agree that avoiding stress or finding ways to lessen
its physical impact is the best thing to do. To me, though, there are two main
categories of stressors, which I try to deal with differently: those that can
be eliminated or lessened through your actions and those that can’t.
If, for
example, I accidentally throw my phone off a bridge, I may be stressed because
I would like for my phone to be in my pocket. Unfortunately, though, there is
really not much I can do about the fact that it is now at the bottom of a
river. In this situation, for me, the best response is to try to not worry about
it and to relieve any stress that it has caused me—any physical reactions I
might get from this aren’t going to do anything about the fact that my phone is
at the bottom of the river, so there’s no benefit to them.
Say I’m
taking an exam and I care about its outcome (in this scenario, let’s assume a
desirable outcome is one in which you get a high score). Now, let’s suppose
that I’m taking the exam and I look up to see that there are 5 minutes left and
I still haven’t started the last question. This makes me stressed. In this scenario,
if I act in a certain way (solve the last question) I could be less stressed when
the exam is over. If I act in a different way (say, turn in the exam
immediately after checking the time), I will likely be more stressed after
having done so. As opposed to in the first scenario, here I do have the power
to eliminate this stressor (by answering the first question). In my opinion,
being stressed (or rather, having the physical reactions of it) in this kind of
situation is a great thing. If your heart pumps faster, blood pressure rises,
breath quickens, etc., your body is rising to the challenge and providing you
the resources you need to succeed. In my opinion, the worst thing I could do in
this situation would be to try to calm myself down or reduce the physical reaction—by
taking deep breaths, for example.
If we can
learn to embrace stress and the physical reactions it causes in situations like
these, I think we can also avoid a lot of negative emotions we experience in
anticipation of stress. Some people tend to get stressed before exams or social
situations, for example, because they’re scared of being stressed in the
moment. Understanding that (at least in some respects) stress is a good and
helpful reaction to pressure could help calm some of these negative emotions.
What do you
think?
While I agree that stress can be a positive reaction to a pressure, I also think that the actions that we perform under stress tend to be actions that we might disagree with later (especially for some because some people tend to perform worse under stress). In the example with the exam, even though experiencing that stress would be helpful in that it would push me to answer the problem, the hormones that we release while being stresses can inhibit our senses and cause me to answer the question in a way that I might not be satisfied. Yes, I answered the problem but the stress probably caused me to answer the problem incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteI cannot count how many times I've answered a question incorrectly or just failed to answer a question because there were "5 minutes left." I usually just end up panicking and not understanding the question which means I have to read it again and again. While I can see how some physical reactions can be beneficial I find that for most of the activities I do it really isn't helpful. Also if you're chronically stressed there physical reactions are detrimental to your body and can increase your chance of disease.
DeleteI also think there is good stress and bad stress. Like in solving that last exam problem, my stress may help motivate me to finish my work. In cases like being stressed about giving a presentation, my stress would more likely hurt me and in that case it would be useful to do things like take deep breaths to calm myself and then give the presentation rather than give the presentation while stressed.
ReplyDeleteStress (in moderation) can definitely be helpful. Think of all those times when you put off writing a paper until the day before or day of. Your productivity then knows no bounds, but that's because of stress, and you end up feeling reaaaaally bad afterwards. So in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely convinced I wouldn't be better off trying to take deep breaths on the exam. Clearly, some stress would be useful in that situation, to heighten various senses and grant additional focus, but too much stress would likely make one jittery and unfocused, trying to identify various threats around you (when the only "threat" is the math problem), and so it would need to be addressed.
ReplyDelete-Sasha
I think stress can be a motivator in the sense that it shows you care. Dr. Majerus talked about the balance between healthy stress and unhealthy stress. I think for things that will be quick stress can be healthy like for the test the stress pushes you but even if you don't get done the test is over in 5 minutes. However, this may not work for more long term stresses.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking more about long-term stress, like Irina said. Working actively to avoid long-term stress means slow, steady work without rushing, and not doing so results in that jittery fight-or-flight response.
ReplyDeleteI agree that stress can be a good thing in the moment and can lead to increased productivity. I think that the stress that people are concerned about is long-term stress that does things like impacting sleep. As soon something begins to impact your ability to sleep, it is definitely a bad thing, as getting enough sleep is super important.
ReplyDeleteNice post! As you and others have said, I agree that there is good stress, and there is bad stress. But I also think different people define what their good or bad stress is differently. For some, those last five minutes on the clock for a test will make them answer the question in the best way they could've. For others, their mind goes completely blank because of their stress, and they end up not getting to finish the question, or they write the wrong answer because of their stress. It really depends on the person, but we stress for different reasons, differently, and in different scenarios.
ReplyDeletePositive stress should definitely act as an important driving force in some of the most important areas of our lives, in my opinion. Getting that kind of stress before an exam or before a quizbowl match has definitely made me more alert and ready to take on whatever's ahead of me. I think that personally this positive stress has been beneficial to me in these endeavors. Although I think that sometimes long-term stress can be useful too, for the most part it has negative consequences and should be dealt with (perhaps through positive, short-term stress).
ReplyDeleteThese are my thoughts: heeheeheehooooo. Jokes aside, this is an amazing blog post! It feels fresh to see a blog post about stress. I actually agree with you that stress will only affect you if you decide it to. You are in control of your body. I also believe in positive stress. Being nonchalant and worry-free about everything isn't always the best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteSorry to post another comment, but what is the meaning behind the title of your blog post? It fascinates me. Heeheeheehoo? I assume that you are laughing. Speaking of laughing, I think laughing is a great way to relieve stress. What's crazy to me is that when I laugh I forget about all the stress in my life. For me, the title of your blog post has great meaning behind it. You are telling the people to laugh and be happy when times get tough. I seriously appreciate you. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I’m really bad about managing my stress and oftentimes I actually make it worse. For example, I was really worried about some assignment I turned in. I got my grade back eventually and I didn’t do too good on it. For over a week, I couldn’t put the comments the teacher made on the assignment out of my mind. There was a “wow…” and a sarcastic “thank you” somewhere in the comments. I was so stressed out and in the end, it turns out that half-asleep me saw the grade, fell asleep and dreamt up the harshest feedback I’ve ever received in my life. I try to embrace stress and all, but honestly 75% of the time I end up replicating the feedback situation and mentally screwing myself over by piling on even more stress.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, some stress is sometimes good stress. In certain situations, stress can serve as a motivator to work more efficiently (like the example you gave about having a few minutes left to finish the exam). However, I think that obviously this is better in moderation -- too much stress is never healthy and can have reverse effects (having so much stress you can't work efficiently).
ReplyDeleteI think that it definitely varies for each person, some perform better under stress and some perform much worse. In this sense, I personally would agree with your sentiment that embracing stress can be beneficial in some situations. However, learning to let go of unhelpful stress is a very difficult task, and if I threw my phone off a mountain I probably wouldn't be able to calm down, even if it would be the best response.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true. Every single time I look at the clock and there's less than 5 minutes left and I have one problem left, I almost always either get it wrong or simply don't do it all because of the stress rather than focusing on the problem at hand and getting it done. It is a frustrating problem that I can't seem to get wrong. This is another example of why I suck at tests and am good at projects.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, the world is going to continue moving on regardless of m actions, so I personally just try to take the path of least resistance.
ReplyDelete