Mind-Sharpening Benefits of Moderate Stress

"It's possible that experiencing stressors creates opportunities for you to solve a problem; for example, maybe fixing your computer that has suddenly broken down before an important Zoom meeting."

"So experiencing these stressors may not be pleasant but they may force you to solve a problem, and this might actually be good for cognitive functioning, especially as we grow older."

"The assumption has always been that stress is bad. I took a step back and thought, what about the people who report never having stress?" 

"My previous work has focused on people who have higher versus lower levels of stress, but I'd never questioned what it looks like if people experience no stress. Are they the healthiest of all?"

"I think there's an assumption that negative events and positive events are these polar opposites, but in reality, they're correlated."

"But really, I think experiencing small daily stressors like having an argument with somebody or having your computer break down or maybe being stuck in traffic, I think they might be a marker for someone who has a busy and maybe full life."

"Having some stress is just an indicator that you are engaged in life."

David M. Almeida, professor of human development and family studies, Penn State

"... what really surprised us is that people at mid-life reported a lot more stressors, about 19% more stress in 2010 than in 1990. And that translates to 64 more days of stress a year,” said David M. Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. Image: © Getty Images / laflor

Stress, when we speak the word we think of tension, of being upset, of being forced to tolerate something unpleasant in our lives -- or conversely reject the unpleasantness by dealing with it and in so doing causing other levels of stress. There is, in fact, stress inherent in living, and we feel stressors -- minor for the most part, major on occasion -- throughout our lives. And for most people the acknowledgment that feeling stress comes with the territory of being human and alive, allows us to learn to deal with the symptoms for the most part. It does take its physical and mental toll, however.

A new study from Penn State University reveals that there are some people among us who not only feel no stress whatever, but unlike our imagination that to never feel stress is to feel good about everything, the research pinpointed downsides to a stress-free life. There were just short of three thousand participants in the study who were requested to fill out a cognitive test before they were interviewed nightly for eight consecutive nights. The study subjects were asked to respond to questions about their mood, their physical symptoms, any chronic conditions, and what occupied them throughout the course of a day.

The study revealed that while people who reported experiencing no stressors to be less likely to have chronic health conditions, they were also more likely to exhibit lower cognitive function. All those small stressors of life may, after all, benefit the brain, aside from being irritatingly annoying. Many previous studies, the researchers noted, linked stress with a higher risk of poor emotional well-being and chronic illness, among other distinctions.

 Getty Images BrianAJackson

According to study results, there did appear to be some benefits for people who reported no stressors -- representing about ten percent of the participants -- since they were privileged with better moods throughout the day. Dr.Almeida pointed out that it may be logical to believe that someone who is stress-free may be healthier generally, but not much research has been done on that assumption. Those people who reported no stressors performed lower on the cognition test and were less likely to report giving or receiving emotional support; as a result were less likely to experience positive things occurring throughout the course of a day.

For many, if not most people, experiencing stress of one kind or another is merely considered to be a normal part of life; 50 percent of Canadians claim that stress has a negative impact on their sleep and 63 percent state that they feel the same (22 percent) or more (45 percent) amount of stress as they experienced five years previously, according to an Ipsos poll. No one would question the negative impact some stress has on many people's lives; however, this study suggests that it is likely fine to sweat the small stuff, after all. How we respond to the stressors we feel may be more important, than struggling to avoid stress altogether.

"Stressors are events that create challenges in our lives. And I think experiencing stressors is part of life. There could be potential benefits to that. I think what's important is how people respond to stressors. Responding to a stressor by being upset and worried is more unhealthy than the number of stressors you encounter", emphasized Dr.Almeida.

People who reported experiencing no stressors were more likely to experience better daily well-being and fewer chronic health conditions. However, they were also more likely to have lower cognitive function, as well. Image is in the public domain