We
hear over and over again that stress is unhealthy. And all that talk
makes us, well, stressed. But getting worked up isn’t always a bad
thing, says Richard Shelton, MD, vice chair for research in the
Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alabama Birmingham; after
all, the body’s fight-or-flight response is meant to be protective, not
harmful.
It’s
only when stress becomes chronic, or when we feel we’re no longer in
control of a situation, that it negatively affects our health and
wellbeing.
Here, then, are five reasons you should rest easier when it comes to
everyday stress—and how a little short-term anxiety can actually benefit
your brain and body.
It helps boost brainpower
Low-level stressors stimulate the production of brain chemicals
called neurotrophins, and strengthen the connections between neurons in
the brain. In fact, this may be the primary mechanism by which exercise
(a physical stressor) helps boost productivity and concentration, Dr.
Shelton says. Short-term psychological stressors, he adds, can have a
similar effect, as well. Plus, animal studies have suggested that the
body’s response to stress can temporarily boost memory and learning
scores.
Health.com: Best and Worst Ways to Cope With Stress
It can increase immunity—in the short term
“When the body responds to stress, it prepares itself for the
possibility of injury or infection,” says Dr. Shelton. “One way it does
this is by producing extra interleukins—chemicals that help regulate the
immune system—providing at least a temporary defensive boost.” Research
in animals support this idea, as well: A 2012 Stanford study found that
subjecting lab rats to mild stress produced a “massive mobilization” of
several types of immune cells in their bloodstreams.
It can make you more resilient
Learning to deal with stressful situations can make future ones
easier to manage, according to a large body of research on the science
of resilience. It’s the idea behind Navy SEAL training, Dr. Shelton
says—although you can certainly benefit from less extreme experiences,
as well. “Repeated exposure to stressful events gives [SEALs] the chance
to develop both a physical and psychological sense of control, so when
they’re in actually combat they don’t just shut down,” he says.
Health.com: 25 Surprising Ways Stress Affects Your Health
This idea may even hold true at a cellular level: A 2013 University
of California San Francisco study found that while chronic stress
promotes oxidative damage to our DNA and RNA, moderate levels of
perceived daily stress actually seem to protect against it and enhance
“psychobiological resilience.”
It motivates you to succeed
Good stress, also known in the scientific community as eustress, may
be just the thing you need to get job done at work. “Think about a
deadline: It’s staring you in the face, and it’s going to stimulate your
behavior to really manage the situation effectively, rapidly, and more
productively,” says Dr. Shelton. The key, he says, is viewing stressful
situations as a challenge that you can meet, rather than an
overwhelming, unpassable roadblock.
Eustress can also help you enter a state of “flow,” a heightened
sense of awareness and complete absorption into an activity, according
to research from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow can be
achieved in the workplace, in sports, or in a creative endeavor (such as
playing a musical instrument), and Csikszentmihalyi argues that it’s
driven largely by pressure to succeed.
Health.com: 13 Ways to Beat Stress in 15 Minutes or Less
It can enhance child development
Moms-to-be often worry that their own anxiety will negatively affect
their unborn babies—and it can, when it’s unrelenting. But a 2006 Johns
Hopkins study found that most children of women who reported mild to
moderate stress levels during pregnancy actually showed greater motor
and developmental skills by age 2 than those of unstressed mothers. The
one exception: the children of women who viewed their pregnancy as more
negative than positive had slightly lower attention capacity.
Health.com: 12 Signs You May Have an Anxiety Disorder
This article originally appeared on Health.com.
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