The idea of stress isn't always negative. Have you ever heard of eustress? It's a natural phenomenon that ramps up your body's fight or flight response with certain hormones that enhance your abilities for short periods of time. It's beneficial in comparison to the long-term consequences of distress.
Eustress improves performance through three stages. The beginning starts with the challenge, activating the response and releasing the hormones. The next phase is working hard in order to accomplish the challenge, feeling confident instead of worried. Finally, the third step leads to profits from the hard work providing a feeling of fulfillment, allowing the body to decrease the hormone levels.
Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is credited with the discovery of flow. This is a state of intense concentration with an enjoyable task, causing you to lose track of time. Eustress helps you to concentrate better through focus, which is why both eustress and flow have intense concentration and a feeling of time passing. Additionally, they both involve challenging tasks and an activated right frontal cortex.
Examples of eustress include exciting work projects, fitness goals, thrilling movies, public speaking, first dates, buying a house, travelling, networking events, major life changes, launching a business, and taking a new job. However, distress can prevent a flow state due to overwhelm and a lack of self-assurance, as well as difficulty concentrating.
There are various benefits of eustress. It motivates proactive behavior, heightens productivity, sparks creativity, makes work more exciting, increases energy, and fosters resilience. Plus, it helps create positive sentiments about work and bolsters self-efficacy. Businesses are always striving to improve these areas.
It is important to understand the different between distress and eustress. While they both are forms of stress, distress has a more adverse impact on the body and the spirit. It's activated when the stress is too much for the individual to cope with and can cause long-term and chronic stress. Difficult work, not having the required skills to complete a task, and the passing of someone close are all acts of distress. These can cause hopelessness, lead to poor performance, and have a negative effect on mental health. Considering the effects of distress is essential when dealing with stress.
At Shiken, we are devoted to helping everyone live with more clarity, purpose, and zest. That means being aware of the potential advantages of stress, and in particular eustress. We provide results from research and tools to help organisations increase efficiency and gain knowledge about the most recent thoughts and ideas for constructing high-performance workplaces. We also offer innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, publications, and more.
Be mindful of how you use eustress as it can have a positive effect. Invest in yourself and unlock the potential of eustress.
Different from distress, eustress is the type of stress that can actually be beneficial in our lives. Derived from the Greek words "eu" and "stress" meaning "good stress", eustress is associated with higher performance and a stronger sense of well-being. This type of stress can increase motivation, focus, performance and resilience.
Understanding the characteristics of eustress is critical in order to benefit from it. Here are 6 main characteristics to look for when trying to identify eustress:
In order to make the most of eustress, use the following strategies:
Eustress is an individual experience and is different for everyone. Some examples of eustress include:
Though eustress can be empowering and motivational, too much of it can be damaging. To manage the effects of eustress, use the following strategies:
At Shiken, we are committed to helping individuals and teams manage the impact of stress. Our coaches are available to boost your adaptability, manage stress levels, and help you achieve your goals. They can identify the source of your stress and provide strategies to cope with it. With their help, you can learn when to take a break and how to handle stress in a positive and productive way.
Eustress is an important type of stress that can have many benefits. With the right strategies, it can help us stay motivated and reach our goals. It is important, however, to be aware of our limits and manage our stress levels so that we can continue to benefit from eustress instead of suffering from it.
Eustress, or positive stress, has the potential to be a powerful ally in helping you achieve your goals, but it requires proper management to ensure that stress is kept at a healthy level. To maximize the benefit of eustress, it is important to ensure that your goals are achievable and broken down into smaller, more manageable steps. Taking breaks, finding a supportive environment, and understanding your own limitations will also help you to manage the impact of eustress more effectively.
Having the correct balance of eustress can be a valuable source of motivation as you tackle life's difficulties. Using tools such as Shiken, you can manage your stress and also figure out what is causing your stress, so that it can be addressed in a constructive way.
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