sor of integrative biology at the University of Berkley,
California, ascribed spasmodic stressful events to
enable cognitive vigilance and ergo supplementing
to one’s performance (Sanders, 2013).
tuations
However if the stress levels transmutes to chronic
stress, the perks would be overridden. The concomi-
tant of chronic stress are enumerated below:
•
Vestiges of Emotional stress can debilitate our
immune system and cause “high blood pressure, fa-
tigue, depression, anxiety and heart disease” (How
do you tell the difference between good stress and
bad?, n.d).
• Dwindled concentration levels
•
Cantankerous behavior and headaches
Internal
stress
stress
vs
external
Some stressors are internal and are a projection of
one’s negative thoughts while others are due to ex-
ternal factors that are more difficult to control. Never-
theless, both have the same consequences on one’s
cognitive and physical health. Thus, our perception of
stress helps us to better cope with it.
Perception of stress
As seen from the above plot, the cognitive perfor-
mance reaches a cusp at a specific level of stress
defined by the severity and the duration the stressful
event.
The perquisites of acute stress are as follows:
•
Provides increased alertness (How do you
tell the difference between good stress and bad?,
n.d)
•
Serves as a motivation to achieve goals (How
do you tell the difference between good stress and
bad?, n.d)
• Help meet daily obstacles (How do you tell
the difference between good stress and bad?, n.d)
•
Some researches surmise that small doses of
stress resuscitates our immune system (How do you
tell the difference between good stress and bad?,
n.d)
•
Creative stress used by companies to induce
innovation
•
Serves as a cardinal warning sign- fight/flight
response that helps us get away from pernicious si-
It is wrong to always discern stress to be bad. As
mentioned before it can be good too. The positive
attitude towards stress helps us to conquer our pro-
blems. Below is the list of ways to handle stress (Bra-
dberry, 2014):
•
Staying positive
• Avoid asking “what-if”
• Appreciating the existing things
• Disconnecting with work once in a while – to
reduce the exposure to more stressors
•
Good rest
• Leading an active lifestyle
So handle stress better and excel in your school/
work!
48 | ZEALOUSNESS MAGAZINE | Winter / Spring 2017
STRESS
FREE
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