Eustress

However, eustress can instead fuel physiological thriving by positively influencing the underlying biological processes implicated in physical recovery and immunity.

[11] Other subjective methodological practices have included interviews with focus groups asking about stressors and stress level.

[13] Common subjective methodologies were incorporated in a holistic stress model created in 2007 to acknowledge the importance of eustress, particularly in the workplace.

[15] Studies have demonstrated that eustress and distress produce different responses in the neuroendocrine system, particularly dependent on the amount of personal control one feels over a stressor.

[16] Distress is the most commonly referred to type of stress, having negative implications, whereas eustress is usually related to desirable events in a person's life.

[18] In this article Selye argued that persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation should be known as distress, and may lead to anxiety, withdrawal, and depressive behavior.

[11] One context that this may occur in is societal trauma (e.g. the black death, World War II) which may cause great distress, but also eustress in the form of hardiness, coping, and fostering a sense of community.

[22] This model is supported by research demonstrating emotional-coping and behavioral-coping strategies are related to changes in perceived stress level on the Yerkes–Dodson Curve.

In the workplace, stress can often be interpreted as a challenge, which generally denotes positive eustress, or as a hindrance, which refers to distress that interferes with one's ability to accomplish a job or task.

[11] Research has focused on increasing eustress in the workplace, in an effort to promote positive reactions to an inevitably stressful environment.

[22] These scholars explicitly note that the utility of eustress has limits, and that typically positive stressors experienced in too high of an amplitude or of excessive duration can result in individual distress.

SMIs often incorporate exercise, meditation, and relaxation techniques to decrease distress and increase positive perceptions of stress in the workplace.

[11] Working within the Challenge-Hindrance Framework, positive primary interventions focus on relating stressors to the accomplishment of goals and personal development.

Positive psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, created this concept which is described as the moments when one is completely absorbed into an enjoyable activity with no awareness of surroundings.

[8] Hargrove, Nelson and Cooper described eustress as being focused on a challenge, fully present and exhilarated, which almost exactly mirrors the definition of flow.