7 Ways Stress Can Be Good For You: The Surprising Benefits

Brief stress occurs during most day-to-day situations. This is especially true for a millennial who could have several things on their mind about achieving their life goals. The very word denotes something seemingly unpleasant and unwanted, but stress can be good for you?

How Can Stress Actually Be A Good Thing?

Stress is considered a negative thing. But, without some stress we couldn’t survive and thrive.

According to research by  Firdaus Dhabhar, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of research at the Stanford Center on Stress & Health, short-term stress—the “fight-or-flight” response—may be beneficial. The fight-or-flight stress response is nature’s fundamental survival mechanism. 

In essence, the fight-or-flight response is just what it sounds like. This response enables us to fight when we feel we need to survive or flee from what feels like impending danger. Both responses are protective mechanisms that allow us to snap into action when needed. 

Daniela Kaufer, Associate Professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley performed a study on rats. She and her colleagues found that short-term stressful events caused positive changes and growth in their brain which improved the rats’ mental performance. Kaufer explains, “Some amounts of stress are good to push you just to the level of optimal alertness, behavioral and cognitive performance.”

It will come as no surprise that constant, mind, and body draining stress will prove more debilitating than useful. However, small amounts of stress can have some positive effects on your everyday life. 

According to a 2013 study, moderate levels of daily, also known as ‘eustress’, which is manageable stress, may help protect against oxidative damage, which is linked to aging and disease.

Here are some benefits to experiencing stress that makes stress look good on you: 

Stress Builds Resiliency 

Resiliency is one’s ability to “bounce back” from difficult situations. Some people are like that blow-up penguin you push down, but it pops right back up. Others stay down. They have not built resiliency.

When you experience something for the first time, you might think it’s the worst situation because you don’t know how to deal with it yet. But, as you confront a similar situation, you train yourself to overcome this with less and less difficulty in the future.

We May See Change As a Good Thing

Rather than staying in a bad job or a bad relationship, because of fear of the unknown, we may confront the stress of something coming to an end as “been there done that.” If you’ve dealt with the stress of ending something major before you can do it again.

You May Become More Empathetic

Perhaps, if we have experienced stress before in a similar situation to someone that we know, we can be better equipped to help them through a rough time. Having a shared experience allows us to put ourselves in another’s shoes. 

This shared experience could enable you to validate their experiences and be less judgmental. It may also help build confidence because it is a reminder that you’ve faced something similar and persevered.

 Stress Creates A “Natural High” 

Pumping out adrenaline due to the short-term stress of getting a research paper completed in time for class, for instance, is an example of when feeling stressed can boost performance. Sometimes stress is what enables us to put the peddle to the metal and get things accomplished.

Experiencing some manageable stressors, with recovery in between, can make us more mentally and physically resilient and less reactive to future stress. So, you don’t want to get rid of feeling stressed altogether. It is part of what gives us drive and ambition. Recognize when experiencing distress is a helpful response and when it is causing you to respond irrationally and out of context. 

 Tearing apart your room and cursing out your mother because you could not find your shoe, is this helpful? Nah. Adrenal coursing through your veins before a big race? Pretty helpful.

Stress Can Help Us Accept Situations Out Of Our Control

If the first time running late to work because of an accident made you pull your hair out your head, once you experience this several times you” ll like accept this. 

You may not be happy and will likely still feel tense, but it won’t be as high as the first time. 

This is because you’ve adapted to the situation due to exposure to the same event over and over. 

In a situation like this, most people are aware that this is out of their control so, they willingly become more resilient.

Otherwise, every situation that caused you tension in the first time would continue causing you the same level of stress time and time again.

Maybe the first or fourth time you were stuck in traffic you decide to listen to a funny podcast. This is because you learn to cope, adapt, and make the best of situations to alleviate the anxiety you once experienced. After all, you do not want to experience it every time a car accident occurs.  

Stress Motivates Us

When we are approaching a deadline, for instance, the fight or flight response provided by stress can help you rev up your mind and switch to autopilot focus mode.

A little bit of stress can force you to problem-solve. All of a sudden, you’ve cleared your calendar and found a boost in your creativity and focus. Is it magic? Nope! It’s the power of that adrenaline and cortisol hormone-cocktail coursing through your veins!

 It’s What You Make It

Finally, it’s important to remember that our capacity to respond to stressful situations is shaped by our experiences. Stress is a helpful response when it drives us to achieve more and embrace new and scary things. 

So, embrace the mindset that experiencing a little discomfort won’t hurt you. Choose to view stress as a driving force for change and accepting new challenges. 

When you sit back and think about the most important moments of your life it’s hard to imagine you weren’t experiencing stress. However, those moments were still a pivotal part of your story right?

Accepting stress as a part of life means your becoming mentally strong. When stressful situations arise, look to problem-solve or settle your mind in a positive place. Consider all possible outcomes, good and bad, and you”ll develop skills that help you take steps to improve your life.