Is stress really bad for us?

Psychologist and church leader Kate Middleton considers the question in brief ...

Sometimes it feels like you can’t read a paper without seeing something about stress. But one piece really caught my eye this week - one from the Guardian ‘this column will change your life’. It asks ‘Is stress really bad for us?’ The article looks at some fascinating research which seems to demonstrate that one of the most influential factors in the impact stress has on us is our own response to and expectations of stress: if you fear stress, experience it negatively and expect it to have a bad impact on you, it is more likely to do just that. Research like this raises the very good question whether books on stress might do more harm than good, raising our fear of it and thus potentially putting us more at risk rather than less. The article raises some great points, pointing out that the more interesting and involved your life is, the more stress you are likely to experience. Stress is inevitable and not something we should seek to ‘avoid’. Instead our approach has to be about understanding stress better and getting really good at managing it. This becomes more and more important the more we want to ‘pack into’ our lives - if you want to push the limits you need to get really good at managing stress! 

I love the take home message in this article that our approach to stress shouldn’t be about just avoiding it, doing less, and opting out of stressful environments. Enjoy the buzz, push the limits, live and dream big!! But also get really good at managing stress :).

Kate Middleton is the author of Refuel: How tobalance work, life, faith and church – without burning out. The book is available in paperback and eBook priced £9.99. Meanwhile, check out www.refuel1211.co.uk for more information on stress.