Can Stress Be Helpful?
Stress is a signaling beacon of sorts. Understood neurologically, it is a signal from the Amygdala (the fight or flight part of the brain) to our Prefrontal Cortex (the problem solving part of the brain). It's our brain’s way of saying, “Hey, something is off, you need to pay attention.”
However, there is a large difference between someone saying, “Hey, something is off that you may want to look into” and “HEY SOMETHING’S OFF!” Or better yet… ”EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART!” This is the difference between “healthy stress” and stress that can become dysfunctional.
To some degree every person experiences stress. That's because this natural warning beacon is meant to help us recognize imbalance, protect us, and/or kick start us into our problem solving gear.
When Stress Becomes a Problem
When stress is beneficial to us, it is accompanied by thoughts about how we can address what we are concerned about, it contains realistic assessments about the people we may be anxious about, or reminds us about the important things we need to achieve, among many other productive thoughts and purposes.
This concept can be best understood with the aid of a bell graph and the idea of the Yerkes-Dodson Law. The bell graph included below represents how certain levels of stress help us remain productive and/or problem solve about relationships and roles we take on in our lives.
Photo Credit: Thetouchpointsolution.com
Notice, when you consider your stress on a scale from 1-10, how your productivity rises as your stress rises from 1 (blissful with not a worry in the world) to 3 (thinking about all there is to do today or the people you are concerned about). What about stress from 5 and above?
These levels of stress represent a decline in productivity and increase in worry. High levels of stress bring us to levels of debilitating panic or at best tension, thoughts of avoidance (aka procrastination), and perhaps thinking we are not capable of doing what we set our minds to.
When your stress has you feeling any of the above, it is no longer serving its purpose. Your amygdala has taken up arms and is effectively telling your brain and body that “you are under attack and you need to fight, take flight, or freeze.”
If you find yourself in this category, and you want your stress to be on your side serving its purpose, you are not entirely in the worst position. In actuality, you are in a state of readiness. Readiness to change and take hold of your stress. So let's do that together in the context of a supportive recovery community. Contact us today to get started!
