The term eustress means "beneficial stress"—either psychological, physical (e.g., exercise), or biochemical/radiological (hormesis).
The word was introduced by endocrinologist Hans Selye (1907-1982) in 1976;[1]
he combined the Greek prefix eu- meaning "good", and the English word stress, to give the literal meaning "good stress". The Oxford English Dictionary traces early use of the word (in psychological usage) to 1968.[2]
Eustress is the positive cognitive response to stress that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfilment or other positive feelings. Hans Selye created the term as a subgroup of stress[3] to differentiate the wide variety of stressors and manifestations of stress.
Eustress is not defined by the stress or type, but rather how one perceives that stressors (e.g., a negative threat versus a positive challenge). Eustress refers to a positive response one has to a stressor, which can depend on one's current feelings of control, desirability, location, and timing of the stressor. Thus, the suggestion: "Eustress and Distress: Neither Good Nor Bad, but Rather the Same?". Potential indicators of eustress may include responding to a stressor with a sense of meaning, hope, or vigor.[4] Eustress has also been positively correlated with life satisfaction and well-being.[5]
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Rossi, Ana Maria; Perrewé, Pamela L.; Sauter, Steven L., eds. (1 March 2006). "Eustress and Hope at Work: Accentuating the Positive". Stress and Quality of Working Life: Current Perspectives in Occupational Health. Stress and Quality of Working Life. Greenwich, Connecticut: IAP. p. 123. ISBN 9781607527251. Retrieved 15 March 2023. Some authors mentioned positive stress, or eustress, as coined by Selye (l976).
^"eustress". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) - "The unpleasant, even painful, kind of stress..may be referred to as dys-stress; the pleasant kind..as eustress."
^Szabo, Sandor; Tache, Yvette; Somogyi, Arpad (2012). "The legacy of Hans Selye and the origins of stress research: A retrospective 75 years after his landmark brief "Letter" to the Editor # of Nature". Stress. 15 (5): 472–478. doi:10.3109/10253890.2012.710919. ISSN 1025-3890.
^Bienertova‐Vasku, Julie; Lenart, Peter; Scheringer, Martin (July 2020). "Eustress and Distress: Neither Good Nor Bad, but Rather the Same?". BioEssays. 42 (7). doi:10.1002/bies.201900238. hdl:20.500.11850/412165. ISSN 0265-9247.
^O’Sullivan, Geraldine (2011). "The Relationship Between Hope, Eustress, Self-Efficacy, and Life Satisfaction Among Undergraduates". Social Indicators Research. 101 (1): 155–172. doi:10.1007/s11205-010-9662-z. ISSN 0303-8300.
The term eustress means "beneficial stress"—either psychological, physical (e.g., exercise), or biochemical/radiological (hormesis). The word was introduced...
and have as much eustress as possible. The term "eustress" comes from the Greek root eu- which means "good" (as in "euphoria"). Eustress results when a...
over things such as raises and paid time off. Stresses at work can be eustress, a positive type of stress, or distress, a negative type of stress. Job...
beneficial stresses as "eustress" and detrimental stresses as "distress". In athletics, when physical stress is at a healthy level (eustress), an athlete experiences...
or negative. He called negative stress "distress" and positive stress "eustress". The system whereby the body copes with stress, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal...
holistic technostress process involving two critical subprocesses: the techno-eustress subprocess and the techno-distress subprocess. This holistic technostress...
Westengard, J. (2001-03-01). "Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter". Alternative Therapies in Health...
yoga pose to destress and remove all fatigue. Distress is the opposite of eustress, a positive stress that motivates people. The pose, when it done correctly...
In 1974, Hans Selye introduced the differentiation between distress and eustress, and in 1984, psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut proposed the concept of optimal...
life alternating between Canada and Poland. Anti-psychiatry Antifragility Eustress Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development Michael Fordham § De-integration...
of the accommodation system. Hans Selye described stress, distress and eustress. It is most common in girls ages 8 to 14. Hand held reading material is...
suppressing genes. Physical exercise increases levels of eustress, or good stress, on the body. This eustress stimulates epigenetic modifications affecting the...
and assessed easily using traditional observational methods. Third, both eustress (positive stress) and distress (negative stress) can alter behavior by...
There are consistent stressors in life, some that are good, referred to as eustress, and some that are bad, which are referred to as distress. While these...
adaptation to change. A post-secondary education contains both distress and eustress. Many institutions of higher education have a reputation for being high-stress...
also be "positive stress": Hans Selye distinguishes them as distress and eustress, respectively. As described in Figure 2, social support, more precisely...
Turban and I. Vertinsky in: Management Science. 1985, "A model of the eustress system for health/illness". in: Behavioral Science. Vol 30, Issue 4, Pages...
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