Is stress good or bad for you?
Or both?
I feel like I am getting buried at work, and the more I do to dig a hole out for myself, the more I get piled on. It doesn’t seem to matter if I come in early, work on the weekends, or stay late – I can’t get caught up.
I feel stressed. I’ve been talking to my favorite coworker about it, my close friends, and of course, Steven. There is nothing I can do but go through tasks one by one. So I do. And I try not to spaz. In the long run, this all won’t matter. It’s just hard not to get worked up about it when I am in the moment.
When I finally got a chance to look at google reader yesterday, I saw this article titled “When Stress is Good For You.” How appropriate! The article goes over what physically happens in our bodies when we are stressed.
The body has a standard reaction when it faces a task where performance really matters to goals or well-being: The sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands pump stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, into the bloodstream. Heartbeat and breathing speed up, and muscles tense.
How you react to that determines whether stress is harmful or helpful:
- If your blood vessels constrict, your blood pressure will rise, and may feel dizzy as your heart beats irratically (HARMFUL).
- If your blood vessels dilate, blood flow to the brain increases and you feel a surge of energy, similar to getting pumped when you work out (HELPFUL).
You know, I never thought of the physiological aspects of stress. I always just thought of my mental panic. I didn’t think that stress could actually be good for me. This article suggests that you can have some control over whether you feel harmful or helpful stress, by practicing thinking positively, deep breathing, meditating, and regulating your mental and physical states. You know, all those things you know you are supposed to do but forget about in the heat of the moment.
The article even mentioned that:
Many workplace wellness programs have also begun coaching people to hit “the optimal performance zone”—with enough stress “to be stimulating, to focus you, to challenge you” without taking a physical toll.
Well, that sure sounds nice!
I keep bringing this up over and over (work stress), but it is my way of dealing with it. I hope I have a reason to quit talking about it soon.
Do you most often feel helpful or harmful stress?
Do you perform well when you stressed?
Themocracy
I think the type or source of the stress determines if it is helpful/harmful. If you are appreciated and valued at work, I think your stress at work is probably helpful. If you have a dictator for a boss, who is abusive, which leads to having things like nightmares about the boss and job. Then I would say that is bad stress. I hope this makes sense.
I don’t do overwhelming stress well at all! I have just never been good at managing it. I often get to a point where I tell people—I need 1 hour of don’t say a freaking word to me time. I actually think when I am most stressed I probably say it just like that LOL
I perform better under stress. I always have. I need deadlines to succeed. I keep trying to manage day to day things without pressure and deadlines, but I haven’t figured this out yet, and my house is proof.
I was always really good at leaving work at work, but my husband, not so much. I’m not sure if that’s a learned skill or a personality trait, but he still hasn’t quite managed it yet…so maybe a bit of both.
I hope your work stress eases soon! 🙂
As you know, I’m right there with you! The next two months are going to be a bear.
I have been using these Guided Imagery MP3s from Health Journeys to good effect. The Healthful Sleep one knocks me right out! You might try the Relaxation & Wellness one or the Relieve Stress one. You only want the ones by Health Journeys featuring Belleruth Naparstek.
http://www.healthjourneys.com/
It’s nice to have a coping tool like this since we can’t control how busy work is. But speaking of, have you talked to your boss about your workload?
Thanks for the recommendation!
Yes, I have spoken to the equivalent of my boss about this.
The longer my to-do list, the more productive I am…no doubt. However, a long to-do list does not necessarily elicit what I think of as “stress”. The stress comes in for me when that same to-do list is compounded by insanely tight deadline or things that come up that compete with the deadlines (i.e. people not responding, things REALLY not going as planned, etc etc). When I feel that I am not in control of the situation is what induces that “pit in the stomach” and nervous energy.
I think I’m pretty good at keeping it in check at work and have been told that I am usually a calming force when it comes to things like that BUT I am not as good at keeping in check at home…I get moody, grumpy and maybe kind of withdrawn…so, unfortunately Matt bears the brunt of this even though he is not the cause but it’s the only place I feel safe to release and just “be”. And running helps clear my head for sure…
I think the crazy deadlines is what is really eating away at me right now. And the fact that everything is coming in at once. 🙁
I hope it gets better soon! Much of my work is very project-based so I understand the cyclical nature of things that are often unpredictable.
I feel the exact same way!!! Yesterday I felt like I was “in the zone” at work, but once I left I was a total zombie! I cut my 3 mile run short to 2 miles because I just wasn’t feeling it, I was crabby to my fiancé and just could not think when I got home! I hope this ends soon, for both of us!
I hope so too! I was talking to another friend who said she was so swamped at work she just wanted to get home and veg. But she still went out for her run. It’s so hard not to be completely wiped in the evenings when work is like this!
In a previous life, my role at work (different company) was very stressful. I traveled 80% of the time, worked long hours (15+ hour days were the norm), ate like hell (see travel above), didn’t get enough exercise (see travel above), didn’t spend enough time with friends/family and certainly didn’t have enough time to myself. I did what I had to do, but I knew it also had to be temporary. That kind of life wasn’t for me.
So, I made some very purposeful decisions in my life. The biggest decision was not just to change jobs, but to take a position with less stress (and also less upward mobility). A lot of people I know would’ve passed right by my role and that’s fine. It’s not terribly exciting. But, it’s challenging (at times) without being stressful. And most importantly, it allows me to live my life by my own rules. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
There is a really interesting book about stress and health by Robert Sapolsky, a neuroscientist (I think), called “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”. It’s really well-written and very funny! He talks about unhealthy stress and the toll that it takes.
For me, I have learned how to deal with stress so that a situation is not about me and does not define who I am. Reframing that has helped me a great deal!
One more thing… The article that talks about how stress CAN be good – that is the ‘ideal’ classroom experience for students – to be stressed enough to learn because they are pushing themselves and their brains are working, but not so stressed as to shut down or off.
So you read the part about the college testing and stress? I thought that was very interesting!
Thanks for the3 book rec! I am going to check it out on amazon right now.
I find my mind really focuses when I’m stressed – if I can control it! If the stress controls me, my mind is frantic and i get less done. I have to find that balance.
I guess I never really thought about it. I suppose I never really think of it as “stress” but more as feeling overwhelmed. I agree, though, that there is a fine line between having just enough stuff on your plate to feel motivated and busy and having so much that you just want to crawl under a desk and wish it all away.
Hope today works out well for you at work. Sometimes workloads can be really overwhelming, but it sounds like you’re going about it the same way I would – just work through, one task at a time, and get things done.
When I was overworked / stressed at my first design job, I found that I was more efficient and effective at getting through work if I took a really short break every two hours or so. I’d walk a lap through the office and refill my water with new water and lots of wonderful crushed ice. It never took more than 5 minutes to do, but seemed to reset my work mind. Unfortunately, when our HR lady really started to crack down on “never leave your desk ever during the day” my moral plummeted hardcore (and I was probably dehydrated too!). I know not being able to move periodically without the fear of being seen and reprimanded added even so much more stress into the situation. Anyway, that’s a long long story about almost nothing!
Now, the best way to deal with my work stress seems to be playing with my schedule as best I can (taking a lunch break away from my desk and extending my work into the evening on the couch as needed) and just plowing through to-dos!
Dude. That is sick and wrong that your HR lady wouldn’t let you leave your desk! (hope you left that job!!)
Little breaks definitely help! And still taking lunch… or at least leaving the office for 20 mins. That sucks that your HR lady actually said that!!!
Are you reading my mind? I feel like we are having some of the same dilemnas right now! I actually do really well in the slightly elevated stress zone, but i definitely shifted into overdrive recently, and i can physically feel it taking a toll on me physically and emotionally (i started crying while watching hoarders early this morning, that can’t be a sign of healthy stress!) I hope some relief is in the near future for you, and keep on venting, its better to push the bad out rather than keep it in!
Ugh! Crying at Hoarders? Yeah… I was crying this weekend when I couldn’t get my work computer to turn on. Is there an end in sight for you? At all?!
There is always an end in sight! I find it starts with a good dinner. Everything seems more managable after a good, healthy meal 🙂
I *just today* realized I’m crawling out from under the big stress blanket in regard to work. I actually put a post up on Facebook that I need a hobby but I don’t even remember what I enjoy. :p
Stress serves a biological and physiological purpose. But keeping your body/mind in that state causes all sorts of chaos…increased inflammatory response (I have an article bookmarked at home about the hazards of an ongoing inflammatory response–I’ll try to remember to send it to you), adrenal burnout, and more. Eventually, it makes you sick. That’s what was happening to me at the end of the year.
I picked up a book called “Life is Not Work, Work is Not Life.” It’s co-written by a guy who was a high level executive travelling 6 days a week who had to scale everything back when he found out he had diabetes. It was a game changer for me–I really appreciated that he had the perspective of someone who had been in the trenches and stepped back from it all.
Please do send me that article!
The sad thing about all of this is that I am not in love with my job. I am just getting dumped on… You know? I am not overworking just to overwork. Which way do you feel?
I work a lot better under a bit of pressure but I can get way too overwhelmed. When I get to the overwhelmed point, I just kind of shutdown completely outside of work. I still keep it together at work and work myself to death. When I switched to a different position last year, it was pretty overwhelming, however, I must be doing something right because I just keep getting more and more responsibility. However, I don’t really want it. Half the time, I just want to go back to a menial job where I don’t have to think and can shut it off after 8 hours. But, in reality, I know I’d be bored out of my mind that way too. If I’m not challenged in some way, I hate it even more. So, pressure = good, complete stress = bad in my mind.
OH MY GOSH! You would not believe how many times I wish someone would just tell me what to do and I could be a little worker be. I get so sick of getting all the responsibility because I am responsible and reliable. Wow. I didn’t know anyone else felt that way!
i do not do well with stress. I wish that I could be better, but i just actually do the most that i can do to NOT have stress in my life. it’s kind of running and hiding, I guess, now that I think about it!
Interesting…I would bet when most people experience this “good” kind of stress they don’t call it stress. I would probably call it something else with more positive undertones than “stress.”
Here’s my unsolicited advice about your work load… There’s always more work. It’s impossible to get it all done. The more you accomplish, the more work you will be given by your supervisors. If you want to maintain a healthy work/life balance, at some point you have to choose to stop. Get the important stuff done, and be vocal about what you don’t have time to do. Okay…stepping off my soap box now.
Thanks for that. That is what I need to come to terms with – that there will always be something more to do. I am not the type to work extra EVER and they don’t want us to. I just wish they would distribute the workload better.
Am I allowed to comment twice? 🙂 It seems like you really struck a nerve with this post about job stress. I am going to be under a lot of stress for the next two months, but at least it is project-driven so there is an end in site, and at least the project is one I feel passionately about. I just don’t have time to do everything that I want/need to do!
Of course! Always comment twice! Comment thrice!
I need to do that – reminding myself that there will be an end to most things, eventually. 🙂
I’m going to say that stress is bad for you. Pressure and deadlines and completely projects are not really stressful, although I know they can be. Working conditions and being asked to do things that others don’t want to and then having those expectations placed on you a lot is stress to me. And when i get stressed, it’s not healthy for me.