Eustress vs Distress: How Identifying Good vs Bad Stress Can Help You

Did you know that the most common things that people stress about are money, work, political situations, relationships, and health? 

When most people think about stress, the first thing that usually comes to mind is negative stress. But it can actually be healthy to feel stressed. 

When stress is a response to something good, we call it eustress. Unfortunately, people often confuse eustress and distress. It's important to know how to tell the two apart if you want to start living a healthier life. 

If you want to find out more about the relationship between eustress vs distress, read on to learn how to tell you all that you need to know. 

Eustress vs Distress

Eustress is another way of saying healthy stress, and distress refers to the unhealthy stress that people experience. 

Everybody experiences these two types of stress on a daily basis. And both kinds of stress prompt your body to produce hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. When this happens, your heart rate will increase, you'll start breathing more quickly, and your hands will sweat. 

Those who experience lots of eustress tend to look more optimistically at the world. They also tend to be motivated to accomplish life goals and are excited to make changes to their lives. 

Distress is much different. When you're experiencing this kind of stress, you're likely to feel anxious, heavy, overburdened, and nervous. If you've been experiencing lots of distress, you'll have trouble focusing and you're not going to feel motivated to take action to solve your problems. 

The Basics of Eustress

Eustress does not stay around for very long. It's a sudden experience that's tied to the body's fight-or-flight response. It makes you feel alert and gives you the desire to take action on things that are important to you. 

If you've been on a roller coaster before, you know what it's like to feel eustress. When you're under its spell, you'll feel excited, your heart will be racing. You might even lose yourself in the moment. 

Other examples of stresses that are positive include studying for a test, purchasing a new home, preparing for a performance, and going on a date. 

The Basics of Distress 

Distress is a longer-term kind of stress. It drains you of energy and it is chronic. If you're experiencing lots of distress, you'll probably feel as if you have a weight on your shoulders. You'll feel sluggish and uninspired. 

If you don't take steps to address your distress, your body and brain are going to struggle. Instead of being beneficial to you, your fight-or-flight response will become harmful. 

For example, you'll feel lots of eustress when you're studying for an important test. But if you're keeping yourself awake at night by endlessly worrying about not getting a good grade, your performance is going to suffer. 

Those who experience lots of eustress and less distress allow themselves to have time between high-stress moments to relax and recover.

On the other hand, those who experience distress don't have time between moments of stress to gather themselves. People tend to feel tired. 

Lots of people experience distress when they're going through a breakup, get fired from a job, and are having problems with money. 

Distress has many harmful consequences on the body. You might start having memory problems, feel constantly irritated, and experience depression or anxiety. 

Even though distress is harmful, there are lots of things that you can do to minimize its presence in your life. The first and most important thing that you can do is recognize when you're experiencing distress. Over time, you can start taking steps to manage it. 

Ways to Manage Eustress So That It Doesn’t Become Distress 

It's easy to feel like giving up if you've been experiencing lots of bad stress and haven't been successful in getting rid of it. But if you start making a few simple lifestyle choices, you'll start feeling better in no time at all. 

The first thing you should focus on doing is cultivating habits to care for yourself. 

Some people choose to practice meditating in the mornings before feeding their children and getting ready for work. Others simply remember to take three deep breaths whenever they feel angry instead of lashing out or doing something that they later regret. 

Positive Stress Vs Negative Stress: Tips for Getting Rid of Distress 

If you've been under lots of stress, you'll probably feel as if all of your challenges are insurmountable. When you feel this way, it's a good idea to take a moment and take a few slow breaths. 

In order to reduce bad stress in your life, you're going to need to understand what is negatively stressing you. You'll also need to learn empowering and positive techniques for coping with your bad stress. 

After you start practicing several of these techniques for living a healthy lifestyle on a daily basis, you'll start feeling better. 

Pay Attention to What You Eat 

There are lots of foods that make people who eat them feel less stressed and anxious. This is especially true for fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, and yogurt.

All of these foods are known as probiotics. A typical serving of a probiotic food has billions of cultures of what is known as "good bacteria" which improve digestion and create more harmony in the microbiome.

You also can't go wrong by eating plenty of fatty fish and other seafood. Nuts and avocados also have fatty acids that are known to improve brain function and lower stress levels. 

Just as much as you should pay attention to what you do eat, you should also pay attention to what you don't eat. Stay away from processed foods and eat sugars only sparingly. 

Make Use of Stress Management Techniques 

One of the most effective stress management techniques is meditation. It is an ancient practice that can help people to calm down and become more immersed in their moment-by-moment experiences. 

There many hundreds of different meditation practices. Some of them work with the breath, others involve scanning the body to become more aware of its many sensations. 

After spending five minutes or more in meditation, you'll probably feel more relaxed, energized, and in tune with what your body is telling you. 

Improve Your Sleeping Habits 

Most people underestimate important good sleep is to their general well-being. People who have demanding jobs which require them to work long hours tend to neglect their need for sleep. 

By doing this, they don't give their bodies the chance to recover before the next day starts. This means that the stresses from the past don't go away. This is why you might feel weighed down and sluggish if you haven't been getting a good night's sleep. 

Thankfully, there are several simple things you can do to start sleeping better. You can start by creating an environment for sleeping that is quiet and comfortable. You should also try to develop consistent sleeping patterns that allow you to get at least eight hours of sleep every night. 

Mind Your Boundaries 

It's very important to know how to say no, and not feel bad about yourself for doing it. It is healthy to create boundaries and to set limits on what you do and do not allow in your life. 

Even though it is not easy to maintain these boundaries, you'll eventually be thankful if you choose to stick to them. 

You can start setting boundaries by focusing on time management. If you know that the morning is an important time for you to relax and let go of bad stress, schedule yourself several hours every day before lunch to work on stress management techniques.

If somebody knocks on your door and asks for your time, don't be afraid to say "no thank you". If it feels right to you, you can always offer to schedule a time to meet with this person during a moment when you won't be focusing on managing your stress. 

Good Stress vs Bad Stress: Make Choices to Start Feeling Calmer 

If you've been wondering how to tell the difference between eustress vs distress, keep in mind that these two kinds of stress are related, but they are very different. By using stress management techniques, it's possible to limit the amount of bad stress you're experiencing and increase your amount of good stress. 

If you are ready to start feeling more relaxed and motivated, we're here to help you. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions that you have.