What is Stress?

Is All Stress Bad?

Not all stress in our life is bad. The presence of stress can help you prioritize tasks and motivates you to complete tasks that need to be done. 

The graph below shows how stress helps you perform at your best level; however, too little or too much stress decreases your ability to complete tasks. 

Photo retrieved from: https://www.stress.org/daily-life

Types of Stress

There are two main types of stress, good and bad stress.

• Good Stress: occurs when you perceive no fear or threat of the situation. 
• For example, you may experience good stress when trying out a new restaurant or store as you are unsure of what to expect.
• Bad Stress: 
• Acute (short-term): occurs when there is a situation in which you feel fear about completing the task; however, this situation often quickly resolves itself either through you finding ways to relax and re-analyze the situation, or the situation ends. 
• For example, many people will perceive acute bad stress when they are preparing for and completing a job interview. We often fear that we will not perform well or the interviewer will not like us. Once the interview is completed, our stress levels quickly reduce. 
• This acute type of stress has no long-term effect on our health and well-being.
• Chronic (long-term): occurs when you perceive stress for a long-term situation. Often described as being inescapable. 
• For example, people often experience chronic stress when they work a stressful and demanding job or have many home responsibilities. 
• Left unmanaged, chronic stress can affect our health and well-being.

Next Page → How Does Stress Affect Me?

References: 

Dhabhar, F. (2012, December 21). “Good stress, bad stress”. Stanford Medicine. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/12/good-stress-bad-stress.html 

Summa Health. (2021, January 18). Stress management: How to tell the difference between good and bad stress. https://www.summahealth.org/flourish/entries/2021/01/stress-management-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-good-and-bad-stress#:~:text=Good%20stress%20is%20short%2Dterm,poor%20concentration%20and%20decreased%20performance. 

The American Institute of Stress. (2022). What is stress?. https://www.stress.org/daily-life

The Jed Foundation. (n.d.). Understanding Stress. https://jedfoundation.org/resource/understanding-stress/