Stress has positive effects on us.. Really?

Well, the answer is yes!

All you have wondered since now is, if stress has benefits. It’s hard to believe but stress does have benefits. You would have seen throughout the social media and Internet some popping up articles explaining about the harmful effects of stress. But in fact stress is considered to be the second best medicine after laughter to cure deadly diseases. And yeah it’s true!

A recent study showed training employees to view stress positively and while doing so, it can result in improved job performance. The research team first began developing their plans in 2009 and started conducting tests in 2010.

Usually what the media talks about is how stress can be damaging for our health and performance. But this research showed that it can lead to enhanced psychological growth and productivity. In order to investigate the impact of it, the team evaluated a group of 380 employees from a prominent investment bank. The employees were split into three groups — one watched a series of videos on the benefits of stress, the second watched videos on the damages caused by it and the third was a control group that did not watch any videos. The videos contained anecdotes and facts that the researchers hoped would shift employee attitudes toward stress. The team then designed a measurement to quantify employees’ beliefs about stress on a 4-point scale, and found that employees with positive attitudes toward it were more productive in the workplace and exhibited fewer physical symptoms such as headaches and fatigue. Acute stress from the mental tasks made the men more friendly, generous, and trusting during the games. Being under pressure doesn’t just make you more outgoing.

How Stress enhances the brain.

Acute stress can enhance learning and memory, according to a University of Buffalo study. Researchers trained rats in a maze until they were able to complete it correctly, then put half of them through a stressful 20-minute swim. Post-swim, the researchers had the mice complete the maze again and found that the stressed rats made significantly fewer mistakes as they proceeded. What gives? Researchers believe the stress hormone corticosterone has a protective effect on the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which controls learning and emotion. Since cortisol behaves similarly in the human brain, it can be that stress makes us smarter, too.

How Stress proves to be useful Medically.

1. Can Prevent Colds and Flu
   If pressed for a tight deadline, the body will work harder to keep the body in fit condition. That’s because stress is to help restore the immune system to fight viruses and bacteria. It regulates the adrenal glands to balance the immune system.
2.  Accelerate Recovery After Surgery
   Surgery can definitely lead to stress. But a short-term stress caused by surgery can be beneficial because it helps the body to recover more quickly.
3.  Strengthening ties Emotional
   Short-term stress or shown to increase levels of oxytocin the love hormone. Oxytocin actually inhibits the production of stress hormones and reduced blood pressure by dilating the artery to help keep the body from the negative effects of anxiety.
4.  Improve Memory
   In stressful situations, some people just have a sharper memory. This occurs because the increased flow of hormones into the prefrontal cortex, a brain region important for controlling cognition and emotion thus improving working memory.Several studies linking chronic stress to the development of Alzheimer’s brain plaques that trigger. Acute stress has been shown to improve memory. In a study published the journal Molecular Psychiatry stresses  that rats were forced to swim to score better on memory tests than mice that were more quiet.
5. Can fightback Tumors
   Chronic-stress can make people stay awake at night, suppress the immune system and cause disease. However, stress in the short term can help fight skin cancer.

Therefore Stress is in fact beneficial but not to a greater extent.  However greater extent of it can severely cause serious damages to the body and mind. As there are pros and cons for everything, this too has pros and cons all people need to take the pros and tackle stress smartly. To beat it, people actually need to learn to take it in a friendly manner.

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