We are a stressed out nation. Over one-third of Americans say they always feel stressed out—with work as the main reason. But new research shows that the role of stress in our lives is more complicated than we think.
A typical day for the guys who work at Fortified Bicycle, a Cambridge startup that makes anti-theft bike lights, goes a little something like this:
“We start our days with a 15-minute stand-up at 9 a.m. We have a stand-up meeting because standing is uncomfortable so it forces you to finish the meeting faster,” said CEO Slava Menn.
Faster because when there are only four people running a company, every second of the day counts.
“You’ll actually see us running between stations in the office when we’re doing phone calls. You’ll see us jogging there, jogging to meeting rooms because everything is back-to-back,” Menn said.
In other words, Menn is feeling the heat.
“Right now is crunch time for us. We’re making 5,000 units. So, there’s a lot of pressure on us. Pressure on our director of operations, a lot of pressure on me and my co-founder to raise money to take the company to the next stage,” he said.
Sounds stressful. Most of us can probably relate. Just hearing the word “stress” makes us think of high blood pressure, lack of sleep, a weakened immune system, but psychology researcher Alia Crum says hold that thought.
“There is this pervasive mindset that stress is debilitating and with that mindset comes this assumption that when you’re stressed, the goal is to get rid of the stress—to try to avoid it, to try to counteract it,” Crum said.
Crum’s latest studies out of Columbia Business School suggest that we shouldn’t treat stress like it’s this evil villain. It can actually be really good for us.
“When we’re under stress, our attention focuses, narrows, kind of zones us in on the things that really matter. Our energy levels rise. Our arousal levels rise, which boosts our energy to help us meet those demands,” she said.
Which is great if you’re say, a reporter under deadline who’s writing a story about stress-- or an entrepreneur that needs to pump out 5,000 units to ship by end of day—a fact that isn’t lost on Fortified Bicycle’s Menn.
“I think stress is OK, in fact, I think stress can be productive because it forces you to perform,” Menn said.
It’s this kind of positive outcome that Crum says we need to focus on instead of resigning to the idea that stress is going to kill us.
“What do you believe and expect when it comes to stress?” Crum asked. “Do you believe that experiencing stress is going to make you crumble and sick or do you believe that you’ll rise to the occasion and actually grow not in spite of that stress but because of it?”
Of course, there are different kinds of stress-- there’s acute stress— which is what we’re feeling when we’re under the gun. That’s also the kind that makes us more productive. But Heidi Hanna, CEO of Synergy, a health coaching consulting group, says the exhilarating rush we get in stressful moments can be addictive.
“We can become neuro-chemically addicted or dependent on that rush of adrenaline or stress hormones that we get by being so “on” all the time that it becomes then really difficult to get the recovery we need,” Hanna said.
Hanna backs up the idea that stress is good for us-- to an extent, but experiencing acute stress repeatedly can add up and eventually become chronic stress, which can produce physical symptoms. She says we need to build in a healthy oscillation of stress followed by a recovery period.
“Everything about our system is supposed to have the ups and downs but if you push too hard, you end up flatlining and breaking down,” Hanna said.
Of course, we all have different thresholds. One man’s meltdown can be another man’s walk in the park. How do we know our limits? Is there such thing as not having enough stress?
“So the human system is really not designed for all or nothing and we see this a lot of times with people who retire, and now they’re trying to figure out what to do with their life,” Hanna said. “They lose that motivation and in some sense, they lose some of that healthy stress that was causing them to grow. The human system is either growing or it’s decaying, so it’s really important that we have that stimulation.”
It all comes down to balance, which is something Slava Menn and his team at Fortified Bicycle know well. The fear of burnout is always in the back of Menn’s mind.
“During periods that are not as intense, we don’t push as hard and that way we kind of like, recoup and restore energy,” he said. “So that when we do have an intense period, we can really drive ourselves and produce.”
And when down time really isn’t in the cards, Alia Crum offers up another solution.
“You don’t have to be in denial that stress can be negative and that life can be challenging and having a “stress is enhancing mindset” isn’t going to make it feel any less bad when it’s stressful,” Crum said.
It’s not about just slapping a smiley face on to your situation. It’s about accepting it for what it is. So stop stressing out about stress! Because let’s face it—life is inherently stressful.
