What Is Stress?

"Stress" has acquired a bad reputation. Originally, the term was used mainly by architects and engineers: a measurement of pressure exerted on to materials, such as metal, so that designers of buildings and bridges could calculate whether structures were safe or likely to collapse.  Then, in the last few decades of the twentieth century, the nation of "stress" came to be applied to the negative pressures that humans experience in life, particularly in the work environment.

In fact, a certain amount of stress can create excitement and challenge.  Have you ever been part of a talented, committed team that has a complex task to perform within an exceptionally tight deadline?  As the team's anxiety levels start to rise, everyone pulls out all the stops, and a kind of anxious exhilaration takes over.  The work gathers momentum and the results are spectacular.  Afterward, every  one falls flat on their backs and asks  "However did we don that|"  The achievement is remembered with real pride,  with relief that is over.

So,  short term stress can be exhilarating and it can lift our performance to an extraordinary level.  When, then, does stress become a problem?   Interestingly enough,  it is not only when we are overloaded too little stress can be stressful, too!  This sounds contradictory; however, when a person is severely under employed they become bored and frustrated conditions that also create stress.

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