Data on "good stress"
		From The Health Report. Good Stress and Bad Stress Norman Swan: Welcome to a Health Report which has some surprises in it, because among other things, you'll find out that stress can be good for you; it can perk up your immune system for example. (...) According to a leading researcher who has developed a new way of thinking about stress, it's possible to measure it very directly and its effects on our wellbeing. The researcher is Dr Bruce McEwen, who's in the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at the prestigious Rockefeller University in New York. He calls his concept allostasis, which while it sounds very biological, has implications for us all, including governments in terms of their ability to have social policies which by increasing our resilience, allow us to resist disease. Bruce McEwen: The word is really derived from Greek and 'allo' means 'variable' and 'stasis' means 'stability' and it literally means 'achieving stability through change' and what it really refers to is the fact that when the body is challenged we put out hormones, stress hormones, cortisol and adrenalin, and these help us cope with the situation, survive the immediate challenge. This active response in the body is actually helping the body re-establish homeostasis. Norman Swan: So you would define stress as change. Bruce McEwen: As a challenge to the systems of the body. Norman Swan: And it's how well the body brings you back to -- Bruce McEwen: Back into the homeostatic balance that we all accept as the basis for life, and it does so actively and what people who invoke just homeostasis as a concept, are forgetting the fact that we are often challenged and perturbed from it, and the body's response, active response, is what we call allostasis and it's what brings us back to normal. (...) The concept of allostatic load refers to really the inefficient operation of these allostatic systems, the fact that the body often turns on these hormones and doesn't turn them off, or they become active like when we're sitting at home after a day's work and we still feel stressed out and our stress hormones are still elevated, that's when they can begin to cause problems. As long as this over secretion of these hormones goes on day after day for a long period of time. Norman Swan: And when you say 'allostatic load', are you talking about the load from the outside environment, or the load -- ? Bruce McEwen: The load from the stress mediators. So that that's the protective and damaging effects of stress mediators are related to the load, the fact that when they are produced in excess amounts either because a person is stressed a lot or because they're not turned off in time after the stress has gone, then they begin to work on tissues and organs of the body to cause damage. (...) Norman Swan: We all seem to be living in this world where, to use your phrase, the allostatic load is high and we feel it as a burden, and yet to talk about acute stress, people seem to be hooked on it. Fun parks around the world compete with each other for the scarier ride, and you see these queues that can take you half an hour to get on to these things which are designed to terrify you. What's going on there? Bruce McEwen: Well people talk about good stress and bad stress and I think the notion that an acute stress is something that our bodies protect against, and actually it can make us feel very good, it can increase our arousal or tension, our sense of wellbeing. Norman Swan: And research here in your own lab, your immunity as well. Bruce McEwen: And enhance your immunity, absolutely. And so that's sort of the paradox of the stress hormones. It's when you don't turn them off again, when they're being produced after that experience is over and when you're worrying about something and expressing it as elevated levels of stress hormone, that's when it creates this allostatic load which is we could call the bad stress side effects. Norman Swan: And of course you don't want to get rid of stress, because it is adapted even in a chronic situation. If you didn't have any stress at all, in other words you would have no allostasis. Bruce McEwen: In fact probably the biggest source of allostatic load is sheer boredom. Having a very boring life, a very boring and perhaps time demanding job, like working on a production line in an automobile plant in the old sense, is probably one of the most stressful in the sense of allostatic load, jobs that one can have. So the excitement of having a challenge is not there for these people. The boredom of the sort of daily routine is there, and that's probably one of the greatest sources of allostatic load. (...) From "Understanding and Dealing With Stress", Mountain State Centers for Independent Living. Good Stress Versus Bad Stress (...) So if stress can be so bad for you, how can there be "good" or "positive" stress? If you are suffering from extreme stress or long-term stress, your body will eventually wear itself down. But sometimes, small amounts of stress can actually be good. Understanding your stress level is important. If nothing in your life causes you any stress or excitement, you may become bored or may not be living up to your potential. If everything in your life, or large portions of your life, cause you stress, you may experience health or mental problems that will make your behavior worse. Recognizing when you are stressed and managing your stress can greatly improve your life. Some short-term stress -- for example what you feel before an important job presentation, test, interview, or sporting event -- may give you the extra energy you need to perform at your best. But long-term stress -- for example constant worry over your job, school, or family -- may actually drain your energy and your ability to perform well. From Yahoo! News. Stress Can be Good! New research is trying to tell us that stress should be welcomed. Increasing evidence is pointing to how stress can: - Prevent cancer from returning - Reduce the chance of heart attack - Increase life expectancy - Boost the immune system - Increase brain power ...stress is not all bad Well, do you feel any better now? Probably not but at least when you are stressed, it's not all bad. Stress is a sign of our body preparing us for action. When we get stressed, your body is pumped with chemicals, your heart beats faster, your muscles tense and your mind becomes more focused. These changes allow us to master the situations by making that deadline or giving that bad news to an important customer. More clearly, stress helps us complete tasks successfully under times of pressure. At all times, you should acknowledge that stress can be healthy for you in certain ways. Remember, without stress, you would not have the ability to complete the task during those times of pressure and so it should be at least welcomed to some degree. From holisticonline.com. Good Side of Stress Despite its bad reputation, stress is one of our bodies' best defense systems. When we sense danger-such as a car coming at us-our bodies release adrenaline and other chemicals that make us more alert, raise our blood pressure and increase our strength, speed and reaction time. This positive effect of stress can be harnessed for short term productivity goals. Procrastinators work very efficiently in the last minute to get things done. This is an example of working under stress. Similarly, if you feel that your business may have to be shut down unless something is done, you will work extra hard to meet the goal. It has similar effect as a life threatening danger. What we need to learn to do is to make sure that this behavior does not continue for extended periods of time to affect our health.