I figured I could't make it through an entire semester of health psych without touching on stress at least once. But I am not going to take the angle that you might expect. Many people view stress as negative, and long-term chronic stress is indeed harmful to your health. But a small amount of stress, over a short period of time, can have benefits.
I choose stress this week because tomorrow I have my first medical school interview, which (as you can imagine) is very stressful. But I am glad to feel the stress; it forced me to focus this weekend on getting ready for the interview instead of going out or trying to get ahead on other coursework. It is what will let me actually wake up at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow (along with my three alarm clocks) so I can be on time. I know that if I were completely relaxed and not stressing about the interview (or any other part of the med school admissions process) then I would not be working as hard to prepare myself and hopefully impress the admissions people enough to let me in. Keeping in mind, of course, that I am also not allowing myself to be consumed by stress, which would have those negative consequences both physiologically and (probably) how I perform at an interview.
When actually looking into some health benefits of stress, I was surprised that there are positive, measurable physiological effects of stress on the immune system. The number of leukocytes is boosted in mice following a stressor, which could be helpful in fighting infections and other diseases. Other studies in mice have shown a benefit in terms of resistance to cancer and the flu after being exposed to an experimental stressor, some of which lasts for weeks.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-surprising-benefits-of-stress-1285344/
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
And now that I've finished this last bit of work for the weekend, I am going to try to go to bed to get plenty of sleep for tomorrow as well. Hopefully stressing about the interview won't keep me awake too long...
Thank you for another view point. I think we often times forget to look at the positive aspects of stress and how just enough stress can motivate us to do something, while too much or too little can hinder our productivity. I hope your interview went well. I can't wait to hear all about it on Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a similar blog about stress for my last blog. When I personally feel nervous about something coming up, whether it be a test or interview. I remember last year when I had an interview at NYU for their research internship program. I was a total mess the whole week before, and I just had that feeling, "I just want to get this over it". The best feeling though, is after all the stress you experiance, when its finally over, its the best feeling ever. I hope your interview goes well, good luck!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting! I always had a feeling stress had its positives, but as human beings, we focus on what is making us feel uncomfortable and irritated. As Sarah mentioned above, the post-stress feeling is great. I feel stress right before I sing on stage, but as soon as I get on there, I'm having a lot of fun. I agree that it definitely just means that you care about what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all good luck with it man, you will do fine. Second, your absolutely right stress has some positives. If I wasn't stressed about my Biochemistry test last week I wouldn't have spent so many hours preparing for it. If I wasn't stressed about my own preparation for medical school, I wouldn't have spent the whole summer studying for the MCATs. Stress, in a way, motivates or pushes one in the right direction. You are absolutely right though that to much stress will lead to negative effects upon the body. Yet, a good balance of stress and confidence will produce great results.
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