'Eustress' is a state of fulfillment and excitement

When thinking about wellness we often consider reducing stress. This reflects the common misconception that stress is a negative state – 'distress'. However, stress is simply a reaction to a challenge or demand, and sometimes it can be positive. 'Eustress' is a state of fulfillment and excitement when you’re out of your comfort zone but thriving on the challenge. Humans are designed to set and achieve goals.

The experience of distress or eustress is very subjective. The same potentially stressful event, for example a house move or new job, can affect different people differently. One person will experience excitement while another person experiences overwhelm. One of the predictors of response will be that person’s state of wellness when the change event arises. This explains why sometimes we can glide through the heavy challenge of supporting a seriously ill relative, other times we can lose our mind over organizing a holiday.

Distress and eustress are on opposite ends of a continuum depending on whether your physical and emotional resources are adequate to meet the demands you’re facing. Capacity can be broadened in many ways. As a Personal Trainer it’s easy to be evangelical about the broadening benefits of exercise. For a healthy person, exercise can be the ultimate form of eustress. It can get you out of your physical comfort zone and into a state of endorphin-induced euphoria. However, for a person who is depleted and run down, the physical exertion of exercise can cause physical and emotional distress. It can be an unfortunate tug of war between the great discomfort of exercise and the great guilt of not exercising.

Sometimes when you’re under extreme stress, rest is best. It can be the pathway back to other improving activities. Sleep is the ultimate form of rest but sleep alone will not automatically lead to wellness. Everyone’s rest requirements are different, and your individual requirement will depend on how much load you’re under.

Rest could be sitting by the fire with the cat in the winter or lying in the sun with the dog in the summer. It could be taking a bath, reading or sitting in a spa or sauna. Emotional rest could be enjoying downtime with no scheduled activities or taking a break from your phone.

Sleep and rest are good, rejuvenation is great. Rejuvenation activities tend to require a little more emotional energy to get organised – for example getting a massage, doing yoga, taking a walk with a friend or meditating. Introverts often find it rejuvenating to be alone or with close loved ones, while extroverts find it rejuvenating to get out and see lots of people. For ambiverts it depends on the circumstances.

Many regular activities masquerade as rest but they’re just a response to exhaustion. It’s easy to spend hours watching TV when too tired to go to bed. Scrolling social media might feel like a reprieve from responsibility but most people don’t feel rested for that experience. 

Once you have prioritized authentic rest, you’ll find that rejuvenating activities feel exciting rather than burdensome. At this stage you may feel ready for the challenge of a creative project, a community endeavor, a trip away or a new exercise regime.

It’s virtually impossible to avoid distress entirely. The distress/eustress continuum is quite fluid - the same stressor might create eustress in the morning when morale is high, but distress later in the day as blood sugar gets low. You will probably find there is a best time of day and week for your exercise where it feels at least manageable. If you’re making consistent progress with your physical health, you’ll experience greater resilience and find yourself in the optimal state of eustress much more often.


By: , Claire Bellingham of Les Mills Takapuna.
claire.bellingham@icloud.com

Issue 135 October 2022