The advantages of stress

By Jena Mustafa

Many people view stress negatively. It has been scientifically proven that chronic stress can cause health problems. However, good stress is less talked about. In the article, “The Benefits of Good Stress,” Dr. Elizabeth Scott says, “Good stress, or eustress, is a positive form of stress that can energize and motivate you.” Eustress is a positive form of stress that can help motivate individuals and improve their ability to handle challenges. However, the immediate societal reaction to stress is commonly viewed from a negative perspective. Can this be a problem?

According to psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal, it is. In her TED Talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” she says, “When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body’s response to stress.” She illustrated this in a study. Participants were asked two questions: how stressed they were and if they believed stress is bad. The people who believed stress to be good, whether their stress was high or not, had the highest survival rates. Chronic stress can cause the body’s blood cells to remain in an inflammatory state, which leads to health issues. On the other hand, when an individual believes that stress is not harmful to them, their blood cells remain healthy, as if they were not stressed at all. Therefore, McGonigal emphasizes that it is not stress that leads to health problems but the attitude about stress that does.

Now, this raises the question: how can a college student apply this to their life? Stress can be overwhelming in college. With classes, clubs, jobs, daily life tasks and more, stress can appear at any time. According to the article “Changing Our Mindset About Stress” from Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, Sharon Brock writes about a 3-step solution to stress provided by Stanford psychologist Dr. Alia Crum. First is to acknowledge the stress. This is done by realizing when the stress is occurring and saying it out loud. Second is to welcome the stress. Rather than resisting it, another possibility is to ask why it is happening, and to go from there. Third is to utilize the stress to help reach certain goals. By recognizing it and asking why, the physiological stress response changes from negative effects to positive reactions. Brock says this includes higher energy, more focus and heightened attention. This can possibly shift how stress is experienced in an individual’s life.

It is important to remember that stress is different for everybody and can vary in severity. Therefore, this may not work for all students, and some may need extra help to overcome their stress responses. However, a positive perspective can be a powerful approach, even if many may not realize it. Stress has long been seen as the villain, but some have challenged this approach by examining the possibilities that can arise from it, using a different mindset. Still, can a positive perspective really defeat stress when it comes to the battle? Now that is the question, and it is the students' choice to put it to the test.