Stress is always talked about in a negative way. Indeed it is correlated with immune system weaknesses. People who are always under stress are more likely to get infections and diseases (1). Stress is also related to disturbance of the digestive system.People with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) know this very well. Too much stress is not good for the health of the body or the mind (2).
However, I’m not here to talk about the dangers of stress. In medicine everything you give to a patient can be considered a drug or medicine. Oxygen and fluids are also considered medicine and should always be written down as prescriptions. I don’t see stress as something very different
Therapeutic Doses
Every medicine has at least two identified doses. By clinical trials the toxic dose is measured and the minimum dose for a therapeutic benefit is also measured. Then the range of therapeutic doses are identified which also called the therapeutic window.
We aim to always give medications with a dose that don’t cause severe side effects while also being effective. In other words not too much and not too little. This method of finding the effective dose can also be applied to stress.
Too much stress is harmful but too little stress means we are not getting the desired benefits. The therapeutic range for each person can be different depending on the person’s response. Some people handle high stress very well, other people don’t. Some people need a lot of stress to be able to work while others prefer very little to none.
While i don’t have very good resistance to stress, I recognise its importance. Just the right amount of stress is needed to for me to be productive. As a medical student I can tell you without the stress that all medical students hate, I wouldn’t be accomplishing much. Stress can make me study so much and have laser focus which lasts for full days back to back. It indeed makes me enjoy the materials and the practices I do. Stress is very essential for me and if you’re like me you have to find your right level of stress.
High stress?
This is when you become exhausted mentally or unable to function 100%. Take a time out, destress, meditate, and try to figure out your problems and possible solutions. Some people like to talk about it, others prefer to write down what they are going through.
Low stress?
This is when you're too relaxed and lazy and doing nothing productive. Create imaginary stress. Make a deadline, make a commitment, use a stopwatch to make you work under certain amount of time.
When you understand your high and low stress points, you can identify your sweet spot of stress. A productive life without too much mental exhaustion.
Writing under Stress
For example, I came across a challenge called the monthly author challenge where you have to post a picture everyday for a month to gain a badge from the @steemitboard. I didn’t really care about the badge but I liked the idea of committing yourself to post consistently for some kind of reward. For someone who may get really busy because of studying and clinical attachments, I find this kind of stress very good and needed to be active on Steemit.
I will try doing around a 60 minute post everyday or two and I’ll call it QuickSteeming(I usually spend so much more on any post). It is similar to how people use The most dangerous writing app to type for 5 minutes. However, I like to have some content instead of writing random thoughts.
What’s the right level of stress for you?
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