Good Stress?

Although stress carries a negative connotation, at times it may be of some benefit. Stress can motivate us to do things in our best interests, such as study for exams, visit the doctor regularly, exercise, and perform to the best of our ability at work. Indeed, Selye (1974) pointed out that not all stress is harmful. He argued that stress can sometimes be a positive, motivating force that can improve the quality of our lives.

eustress

Eustress (from the Greek eu = “good”) is a good kind of stress associated with positive feelings, optimal health, and performance.

A moderate amount of stress can be beneficial in challenging situations. For example, athletes may be motivated and energized by pregame stress, and students may experience similar beneficial stress before a major exam. Indeed, research shows that moderate stress can enhance both immediate and delayed recall of educational material. Male participants in one study who memorized a scientific text passage showed improved memory of the passage immediately after exposure to a mild stressor as well as one day following exposure to the stressor (Hupbach & Fieman, 2012).

Increasing one’s level of stress will cause performance to change in a predictable way. As stress increases, so do performance and general well-being (eustress); when stress levels reach an optimal level (the highest point of the curve), performance reaches its peak. A person at this stress level is colloquially at the top of his game, meaning he feels fully energized, and focused, and can work with minimal effort and maximum efficiency.

But when stress exceeds this optimal level, it is no longer a positive force.

distress

When stress becomes excessive and debilitating, it becomes distress (from the Latin dis = “bad”). People who reach this level of stress feel burned out; they are fatigued, exhausted, and their performance begins to decline. If the stress remains excessive, health may begin to erode as well (Everly & Lating, 2002).

A good example of distress is severe test anxiety. When students feel very stressed about a test, negative emotions combined with physical symptoms may make concentration difficult, negatively affecting test scores.

The Prevalence of Stress

Stress is everywhere and it has been on the rise over the last several years. On a scale of 1-10, American adults reported an average score of 5.0 as their level of stress in 2022, which is slightly higher than 4.9 in 2019 and 2018 or 4.8 in 2017 or 2016.^[1]

Each of us is acquainted with stress—some are more familiar than others. In many ways, stress feels like a load you just can’t carry—a feeling you experience when, for example, you have to drive somewhere in a blizzard, when you wake up late the morning of an important job interview, when you run out of money before the next pay period, or before taking an important exam for which you realize you are not fully prepared.

Stress is an experience that evokes a variety of responses, including those that are physiological (e.g., accelerated heart rate, headaches, or gastrointestinal problems), cognitive (e.g., difficulty concentrating or making decisions), and behavioral (e.g., drinking alcohol, smoking, or taking actions directed at eliminating the cause of the stress). Although stress can be positive at times, it can have deleterious health implications, contributing to the onset and progression of a variety of physical illnesses and diseases (Cohen & Herbert, 1996).

The scientific study of how stress and other psychological factors impact health falls within the realm of health psychology.

health psychology

Health psychology is a subfield of psychology devoted to understanding the importance of psychological influences on health, illness, and how people respond when they become ill (Taylor, 1999). In addition to studying the connection between stress and illness, health psychologists investigate issues such as why people make certain lifestyle choices (e.g., smoking or eating unhealthy food despite knowing the potential adverse health implications of such behaviors).

 

Health psychologists also design and investigate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at changing unhealthy behaviors. Perhaps one of the more fundamental tasks of health psychologists is to identify which groups of people are especially at risk for negative health outcomes, based on psychological or behavioral factors. For example, measuring differences in stress levels among demographic groups and how these levels change over time can help identify populations who may have an increased risk for illness or disease.

Looking Back on Stress Levels

Figure 2 depicts the results of three national surveys in which several thousand individuals from different demographic groups completed a brief stress questionnaire; the surveys were administered in 1983, 2006, and 2009 (Cohen & Janicki-Deverts, 2012). All three surveys demonstrated higher stress in women than in men. Unemployed individuals reported high levels of stress in all three surveys, as did those with less education and income; retired persons reported the lowest stress levels. However, from 2006 to 2009 the greatest increase in stress levels occurred among men, White people, people aged 45–64, college graduates, and those with full-time employment.

One interpretation of these findings is that concerns surrounding the 2008–2009 economic downturn (e.g., threat of or actual job loss and substantial loss of retirement savings) may have been especially stressful to White, college-educated, employed men with limited time remaining in their working careers. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 was particularly stressful for younger people, as Gen Z and Millenials reported higher stress levels than older Americans.

More Recent Reports

A 2022 report from the APA revealed that 27% of adults said they were “so stressed they cannot function,” but only 4% of people above age 65 felt that way. Forty-six percent of those under age 35 felt that extreme level of stress, and the number was even higher (56%) for Black adults under age 35.^[2]

It is important to note that when stress levels are examined by race/ethnicity, BIPOC populations (i.e., Black, Indigenous, and people of color) show higher levels of stress than White people. This has been explained as a result of discrimination, stress due to socioeconomic factors, and other variables.^[3]

Look at more recent causes of stress and its reported impact among various social groups by visiting the Stress in America: Interactive Graphics website.

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