{"id":62763,"date":"2022-08-12T07:43:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T12:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=62763"},"modified":"2024-04-06T06:22:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T06:22:06","slug":"some-types-of-stress-could-be-good-for-brain-functioning","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/some-types-of-stress-could-be-good-for-brain-functioning\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Types of Stress Could Be Good for Brain Functioning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Low to moderate stress can help build resilience and may reduce the risk of developing more serious mental health disorders including depression and anti-social behavior, a new study reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>University of Georgia<\/em><\/p>\n

It may feel like an anvil hanging over your head, but that looming deadline stressing you out at work may actually be beneficial for your brain, according to new research from the\u00a0Youth Development Institute\u00a0at the University of Georgia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published in\u00a0Psychiatry Research<\/em>, the\u00a0study\u00a0found that low to moderate levels of stress can help individuals develop resilience and reduce the risk of developing mental health disorders, like depression and antisocial behaviors. Low to moderate stress can also help individuals to cope with future stressful encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in an environment where you have some level of stress, you may develop coping mechanisms that will allow you to become a more efficient and effective worker and organize yourself in a way that will help you perform,\u201d said\u00a0Assaf Oshri, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the\u00a0College of Family and Consumer Sciences.<\/p>\n

The stress that comes from studying for an exam, preparing for a big meeting at work or pulling longer hours to close the deal can all potentially lead to personal growth. Being rejected by a publisher, for example, may lead a writer to rethink their style. And being fired could prompt someone to reconsider their strengths and whether they should stay in their field or branch out to something new.<\/p>\n

But the line between the right amount of stress and too much stress is a thin one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like when you keep doing something hard and get a little callous on your skin,\u201d continued Oshri, who also directs the UGA Youth Development Institute. \u201cYou trigger your skin to adapt to this pressure you are applying to it. But if you do too much, you\u2019re going to cut your skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good stress can act as a vaccine against the effect of future adversity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The researchers relied on data from the Human Connectome Project, a national project funded by the National Institutes of Health that aims to provide insight into how the human brain functions.<\/p>\n

For the present study, the researchers analyzed the project\u2019s data from more than 1,200 young adults who reported their perceived stress levels using a questionnaire commonly used in research to measure how uncontrollable and stressful people find their lives.<\/p>\n

Participants answered questions about how frequently they experienced certain thoughts or feelings, such as \u201cin the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?\u201d and \u201cin the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Their neurocognitive abilities were then assessed using tests that measured attention and ability to suppress automatic responses to visual stimuli; cognitive flexibility, or ability to switch between tasks; picture sequence memory, which involves remembering an increasingly long series of objects; working memory and processing speed.<\/p>\n

The researchers compared those findings with the participants\u2019 answers from multiple measures of anxious feelings, attention problems and aggression, among other behavioral and emotional problems.<\/p>\n

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The analysis found that low to moderate levels of stress were psychologically beneficial, potentially acting as a kind of inoculation against developing mental health symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us have some adverse experiences that actually make us stronger,\u201d Oshri said. \u201cThere are specific experiences that can help you evolve or develop skills that will prepare you for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the ability to tolerate stress and adversity varies greatly according to the individual.<\/p>\n

Things like age, genetic predispositions and having a supportive community to fall back on in times of need all play a part in how well individuals handle challenges. While a little stress can be good for cognition, Oshri warns that continued levels of high stress can be incredibly damaging, both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a certain point, stress becomes toxic,\u201d he said. \u201cChronic stress, like the stress that comes from living in abject poverty or being abused, can have very bad health and psychological consequences. It affects everything from your immune system, to emotional regulation, to brain functioning. Not all stress is good stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original post<\/a><\/div>\n

About this stress research news<\/h2>\n

Author:\u00a0<\/strong>Cole Sosebee<\/a>
\nSource:\u00a0<\/strong>University of Georgia<\/a>
\nContact:\u00a0<\/strong>Cole Sosebee \u2013 University of Georgia
\nImage:\u00a0<\/strong>The image is in the public domain<\/p>\n

Original Research:\u00a0<\/strong>Closed access.
\n\u201cIs perceived stress linked to enhanced cognitive functioning and reduced risk for psychopathology? Testing the hormesis hypothesis<\/a>\u201d by Assaf Oshri et al.\u00a0Psychiatry Research<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0Low to moderate stress can help build resilience and may reduce the risk of developing more serious mental health disorders including depression and anti-social behavior, a new study reports. Source:\u00a0University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":62764,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[139],"tags":[136,137,138,143,155,120,147,165,151],"class_list":["post-62763","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-blog","tag-ais","tag-american-institute-of-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-mental-health","tag-research","tag-stress","tag-stress-management","tag-stress-relief","tag-workplace-stress","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSome Types of Stress Could Be Good for Brain Functioning - The American Institute of Stress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/some-types-of-stress-could-be-good-for-brain-functioning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Types of Stress Could Be Good for Brain Functioning - The American Institute of Stress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary:\u00a0Low to moderate stress can help build resilience and may reduce the risk of developing more serious mental health disorders including depression and anti-social behavior, a new study reports. 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