Hello,

We are told so often to avoid stress.  We’re told stress will give us heart disease, make us fat and even stupid (literally, there are studies . . . )! But did you know that some stress is good? It even has a name ~ eustress.

Eustress literally means, good stress. It is the psychological and physical response we get when we have achieved something difficult. This could mean giving a speech successfully, completing an athletic feat, acing a job interview or falling in love. For my son it’s coming in 1st at Mario Kart Wii.  It’s even the emotions you feel while thrilling at a horror movie or rushing down a roller coaster. Eustress is that little fist pump or happy dance, for a more detailed list go here.

Prevention.com. Notes some positive aspects of stress. It can

Increase your sex drive
Decrease joint pain
Increase short term memory

Think of eustress as the spice of life. The happiness we find in challenges, love and achievement. How do we cultivate eustress? Challenge yourself! Do something a little scary ~ write your first blog post. Go rock climbing. Finally ask that person out on a date!

Just remember that you never want to put yourself in a position where all your feeling is stress, whether it’s good or bad. Melinda Grossman who writes for Mental Health Matters.com says our bodies become sensitized to stress over time, so that even something minor like running late can create a cascade effect similar to a tiger jumping out of the bushes at you. Possible reactions include, sleeplessness, weight gain, heart disease, osteoporosis, skin allergies, anxiety or depression.

To keep stress at a healthy minimum I recommend eating right, regular exercise, living within your means, finding ways to be creative and seeking ways to find calm.

For some additional inspiration, Prevention recently included some easy stress busters, they are . . .

Listening to music you like
Buddhist meditation (see our group, Find Your Zen!)
Getting Enough Sleep
Sippng Black Tea
Hang out with a good friend
Schedule a Massage
Do something spiritual (this is what you think of as spiritual)
Chewing a piece of gum

Finally, think about what works to calm you down. We have all developed our own strategies over the years. Do you curl up with a good book for some down time, play an instrument, work on a craft project? You should continue to use your own strategies and see if any in the list above would be good to add to your arsenal.

I would love some feedback, what do you do to create good stress? What do you do to calm down? Please share.

Lisa

Popularity: 7% [?]