Key Takeaways
- Good stress, also called eustress, can help you feel excited and ready to take on challenges.
- Short-term stress can improve memory and boost your immune system.
- Changing how you see stress can help turn bad stress into good stress.
While we often think of stress as something negative to be avoided, it is a natural and expected part of daily life. You might be surprised to hear that some stress is actually considered “good stress.” Also known as eustress, it is the type of stress you might feel before a first date or important competition.
When we feel good stress, our heart rate increases, our breathing rate increases, and we feel a thrill of excitement. It’s a short-term change in our bodies that helps us to feel prepared, energized, and ready to perform at our best.
We rarely hear people say, “I’m really feeling stressed. Isn’t that great?” But we’d feel rudderless and unhappy if we didn’t have some stress in our lives—the “good stress” variety. If we define stress as anything that alters our homeostasis, then good stress, in its many forms, is vital for a healthy life. Bad stress, or distress, can even turn into good stress and vice versa, depending on the situation.
What Is Good Stress?
“Good stress,” or what psychologists refer to as “eustress,” is the type of stress we feel when we are excited. Our pulse quickens and our hormones surge, but there is no threat or fear.
We feel this type of stress when we ride a roller coaster, compete for a promotion, or go on a first date. There are many triggers for this good stress, and it keeps us feeling alive and excited about life.
A certain level of stress helps keep your mind and body alert and ready to respond. It can be motivating and help you perform your best.
According to Yerkes-Dodson law, stress can improve performance–at least, up to a certain point. Once you pass that point, stress can take a toll on your ability to perform well.
Good Stress vs. Bad Stress
Another type of stress is acute stress. It comes from quick surprises that need a response. Acute stress triggers the body’s stress response as well, but the triggers aren’t always happy and exciting. This is what we normally think of as “stress” (or “bad stress”).
Acute stress in itself doesn’t take a heavy toll if we find ways to relax quickly. Once the stressor has been dealt with, we need to return our body to homeostasis, or its pre-stress state, to be healthy and happy.
Chronic stress is another form of bad stress. It occurs when we repeatedly face stressors that take a heavy toll and feel inescapable. A stressful job or an unhappy home life can bring chronic stress. This is what we normally think of as serious stress.
Because our bodies aren’t designed for chronic stress, we can face negative health effects (both physical and emotional) if we experience chronic stress for an extended period of time.
How Can Good Stress Be Beneficial?
How exactly can stress be helpful? When you feel excited about something, your more likely to feel alert and motivated. It can improve your mood and help you perform your best. But those aren’t the only benefits.
- Cognitive benefits: Research suggests that short-term stress positively impacts memory. This can be useful in some situations, such as when taking an exam.
- Better resilience: When you face a stressful situation, it can help you learn more about yourself, your skills, and your limits. As you learn more about what you are capable of, you’re more likely to feel able to handle such situations in the future.
- Stronger immunity: While bad stress hurts your immune system, some research indicates that short-term stressors can help improve your body’s ability to deal with illness and injury. In one study, for example, researchers found that short-term stress improves immunity in people with infections or wounds.
Examples of Good Stress
Yes, you can add good stress to your life! Ideally, you choose activities and set goals that make you feel good, happy, and excited. To gauge whether or not an activity is worth your time, pay attention to how the thought of it makes you feel.
Do you feel excited? Is it a “want to,” or a “have to”? Be sure your “want to” activities are all things you really do want to do, and your “have to” activities are all absolutely necessary.
Examples of ways you can create more good stress in your life include:
- Taking on work projects that you are excited about: These projects allow you to use your strengths but also challenge you to learn new things.
- Learning more about something that you are passionate about: Hobbies and personal interests can be a great source of eustress. You might try out new skills or try out new things that hold your interest and challenge your current abilities.
- Engaging in physical exercise: Moving your body can be a form of good stress. As you keep working, you can add challenges that help build your physical strength, flexibility, and endurance.
- Traveling to new places: Travel brings new experiences and challenges and allows you to meet new people and learn more about different cultures. It can be stressful, but it’s a good sort of stress as long as you’re excited and having fun.
Life changes can also be a source of good stress. Getting married, starting a family, getting a new job, or moving to a new place are all transitions that can be stressful, often in a good way.
Sometimes these changes might not start off great, however. Losing your job or ending a relationship can create bad stress. Changing how you look at the situation, such as viewing it as a chance for growth, can help shift negative stress into good stress.
Whether something counts as good stress or bad stress can also vary from one person to the next. Something that one person experiences in a positive way might trigger distress in someone else.
How Good Stress Can Become Bad Stress
Good stress can become bad for you if you experience too much of it. (Thrill seekers know this firsthand.) This is because your stress response is triggered either way, and if you’re adding that to chronic stress, or several other stressors, there is a cumulative effect.
Be in tune with yourself and acknowledge when you’ve had too much. You may not be able to eliminate all stress, but there are often ways to minimize or avoid some of the stress in your life, which can make it easier to handle the rest.
How Bad Stress Can Become Good Stress
Not all forms of bad stress can become good stress, but it is possible to change your perception of some of the stressors in your life. This shift can change your experience of stress.
The body reacts strongly to perceived threats. If you don’t perceive something as a threat, there is generally no threat-based stress response.
If you perceive something as a challenge instead, the fear you normally experience may turn into excitement, anticipation, or at least resolve. You can often make the shift in perception by:
- Focusing on the resources you have to meet the challenge
- Seeing the potential benefits of a situation
- Reminding yourself of your strengths
- Having a positive mindset (getting into the habit of thinking like an optimist)
As you practice looking at threats as challenges more often, it becomes more automatic, and you experience more good stress and less bad stress.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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