18 NewsBeat December 2016
By TIM CANNON
Sorry, But Some Work-Related Stress is Good for You
his may come as unpleasant news, but
all stress isn't bad. That doesn't mean
that feeling overwhelmed and
exhausted at work isn't a problem —
it is. But some stress, in short bursts, can
actually drive your performance on the job if
you know how to use it.
And that's a bit of a balancing act. You
don't need to be told that too much stress can
hurt your health and productivity. But many
people don't quite grasp how to use a certain
degree of work-related stress to help them.
T
of rats to significant but brief periods of stress (in
other words, "acute" stress), which caused them to
generate new cells. Two weeks later, after these
new cells had matured, the rats' alertness,
learning, and memory had improved.
The researchers inferred that acute stress
may help keep the brain alert, and that better
alertness equals better performance. From an
evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense: Stress
is what helps animals adapt and survive, and
that's no less true for modern humans. In another
study, scientists at UC San Francisco analyzed
Here's a look at the different kinds of stress
you're likely to experience and how to strike
that delicate balance.
Putting Acute Stress
to Work
Research from the University of California
— Berkeley hints at how some stress can
actually be helpful. In the 2013 study,
researchers subjected stem cells in the brains
Here's how to strike that "Goldilocks" balance
between too much stress and too little.
