It can be surprising to know that stress can be positive and helpful! The ‘positive’ side of stress is called Eustress.

Stress is essential for our survival. 200,000 years ago, when we were primates, we lived most of our life in wilderness. Everyday, we faced situations that could endanger our survival. Chances of us getting killed by a wild animal or sustaining harsh weather conditions were a daily occurrence.

So, we constantly needed to be on the look out around our surroundings, lest we fall victim to a wild animals or a rival tribe. Stress responses in these threatening situations gave us a boost: The heart started to pump faster, so that we have increased blood flow throughout our body, so that, we have more speed in case we needed to run from the threat. Our minds started racing with ways to overcome the threat (“What weapons do I need to fight this wild animal”, “Are those people my friends or foes”).

So the biggest benefit of stress, is that it allows us to react quickly to danger, gives us an energy boost to deal the threat better. For instance, if you have signed up for bungee jumping, expect your stress hormone to show up and fill your body with an exhilarating adrenaline rush to go ahead and complete the adventure.

So eustress is the positive part of stress. It’s adaptive and beneficial.