🫨 Could stress actually be our friend?

Is stress always bad for us?

We're constantly being told that stress is bad for us.

But here's something I found really interesting...

What if our perception of stress matters too?

Research discussed by Dr Tommy Wood suggests that people who believe stress can be useful or enhancing can respond differently to stressful situations than people who see stress as entirely harmful. Studies have even found measurable differences in stress responses.

That doesn't mean chronic stress is suddenly good for us.

And it certainly doesn't mean telling someone who's completely overwhelmed to "just think positively!"

But stress has a purpose.

Your heart beats faster. You become more alert. Energy becomes available.

Your body is preparing you to do something.

Think about exercise.

When I ask you to lift a challenging weight, I'm deliberately placing your body under stress.

Your body responds:

"Oh... she wants me to do THIS now!"

And it adapts.

Muscles get stronger. Bones respond to loading. Fitness improves.

Perhaps we can occasionally look at psychological stress differently too.

Instead of:

"I can't cope with this."

Could it become:

"This is difficult, but my body is helping me deal with it."

That's a very different message to send your brain.

We can't remove every stressful situation from life.

But we CAN work on how our brain responds to them.

That's one of the things I love about yoga and Solution Focused Hypnotherapy. We're not creating a stress-free bubble.

We're helping the brain become better at navigating real life.

Because life will always throw things at us.

Resilience isn't avoiding stress. It's increasing our capacity to deal with it.

If you'd like to find out how I could help you manage stress, send me a message!

🖥️ josteelewellness@gmail.com