Eustress

            According to most people, stress is automatically presumed to be negative.  Stress may increasingly arise for students when work is becoming too demanding while trying to get through school at the same time. Another example is when there are multiple tests, projects, and homework assignments due within a short amount of time. Once all of the studying has taken place and the exam scores are posted, a student may see that they did well on the exam. One might assume that all of the studying led to the success of doing well on the exam, but that may not be the only factor to contribute because of a beneficial type of stress that has taken place.

            Eustress can be defined as positive and healthy form of stress (Kirch, 2008). This type of stress is necessary to take place in a person’s life because without it, a person may become depressed and see no meaning in life (Scott, 2012). Simple examples of eustress that take place in everyday life could be the stress that takes place before going on a roller coaster at an amusement park or seeing a scary movie (Scott, 2012). Although these types of events are much different than taking a test in school, they still fall into the stress category because of a certain feeling that takes place. Due to the fact that eustress is such an exhilarating type of stress, it may only be very beneficial in the short-term because of the energy levels getting up. For athletes, an example of eustress could be right before opening kick-off of a football game.  This build up can be eustress because it can help focus levels into useful energy. Too much eustress can do damage to your system though if there is too much of it taking place within the body (Scott, 2012). Being able to balance stress and have time to just relax is crucial to habitual life.

            Eustress is everywhere in everyday life. Athletes experience types of eustress in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Athletics may be viewed to some as just a game, but stress is felt by most athletes and coaches. It is seemed to believe that eustress takes place in sports due to the emphasis on wanting to win so badly (Sports-Related Stress in Adolescents, 2013). Sports that take place can cause great situations for the athlete to learn. Certain situations may cause eustress because of the environment around them. For example, a baseball player may come up to the plate with a man on 3^rd base with less than 2 outs in a game- winning scenario. The situation may be that the game is tied, and the person on 3^rd base is the winning run. Eustress could most likely arise for the winner because of the possibility of winning the game, and the thought of that excitement could cause eustress for the hitter. Although it is great excitement, the hitter may tremble a little bit and feel like their heart is going to beat out of their chest. The short lived adrenaline may cause the hitter to settle in and focus that much more to try and achieve the successful outcome. All of the sudden, the pitch is thrown and the hitter lines a ball up the middle for the team to win the game. That is a desirable type of result that an athlete could possible face. There are many types of scenarios in other sports as well for an athlete to feel this type of excitement.

            Benefits of eustress are extremely helpful in an everyday life of a human because the right amount of eustress can keep a person healthy (Mikulin, 2013).Those that are able to manage stress and achieve eustress can view stressors more as a challenge instead of seeing them as a threat (Mikulin, 2013). As stated earlier, eustress can be harmful on the body, but the body can differentiate between the two because of the different impacts that they can have on the body. Hopefully, most of us out there will start to view distress, negative stress, as more of a challenge because this shows that the outlook on the scenario is in a positive manner. It is definitely easier to just say it, but it is a challenge that most people should look forward to achieving. Healthiness and happiness will be the reward for taking on a challenge like this.

           

- Thomas Capaldi

Sources

Eustress. (2008). In W. Kirch (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Public Health (Vol. 1, p. 411). Retrieved March 26, 2013.

Mikulin, R. (2013). Eustress Facts. In Life123. Retrieved March 26, 2013.

Scott, E. (2012, October 23). Eustress. In Stress Management. Retrieved March 26, 2013.

Sports-Related Stress in Adolescents. (n.d.). In Northern Illinois University College of Education. Retrieved March 26, 2013.