You might be at home after a full-day of work wondering if you're stressed and whether it's a good thing.  In some ways, you managed to accomplish everything on your to-do list.  You feel accomplished. 

Stress is an unavoidable aspect of modern life. Bills are due every month, children's activities take place all year, and work never seems to stop. A certain amount of stress is unavoidable, but it's frequently a good thing.

Stress encourages you to achieve your objectives and helps you meet your everyday difficulties, making you a wiser, happier, and healthier person. That's correct. A healthy existence needs a certain level of stress.

Short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) stress are both possible (chronic). If you can find strategies to relax rapidly, acute stress does not have a significant impact on your body. Chronic stress, on the other hand, occurs when you are continually exposed to stressors and can have detrimental health consequences. Headaches, sleeplessness, weight gain, anxiety, discomfort, and elevated blood pressure are all symptoms of chronic stress.

It's important to know your limits too.

In this article, we're going to discuss what the difference is between good stress and bad stress.  Plus, how to manage it.  This way you can focus more on the good stress and help relieve the bad stress.

1. Common Stressors
2. What is Bad Stress?
3. What is Good Stress?
4. How Do You Manage Bad Stress?
5. Final Thoughts

Let's Begin!

Common Stressors

Can you think of a few things right now that give you stress?  You can tell your stressed when you feel uneasy. Both good and bad stress cause your body to release chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, which cause classic stress symptoms like stomach butterflies, beating heart, and sweaty hands. In the end, how you react to or feel about a stressful situation is what separates good stress from bad stress.

Common stress factors:

• Money
• Work
• Relationships
• Unmanaged health or mental health problems
• Perceived loss
• Unaccomplished goals

The two forms of stress, referred to as eustress and distress by mental health specialists, might have distinct consequences on you.

Eustress, or pleasant stress, has a generally beneficial effect and leaves you feeling optimistic. This form of tension may even make you feel more driven and excited about making a change in your life. Good stress may make you feel energetic and prepared to face hardship, sickness, or any other challenge that comes your way.

When we talk about stress, though, the majority of us think about distress. It's the debilitating, anxiety-inducing, nerve-wracking type of stress that can leave you unable to focus, finish work, or confront obstacles.

What's Bad Stress?

Let's start with bad stress. Bad stress is damaging. 

In most cases, bad stress lasts a long time. Most of the time, it's a long-term problem that drains you. It has the potential to make you slower and lower your quality of life. Distress might prevent you from achieving your objectives. In the end, it's really harmful since it never allows your body to recover from the fight-or-flight sensations it's experiencing. You're always on the verge of something bad happening to you.

Examples of bad stress:

• Divorce
• Illness
• Financial difficulty
• Relationship problems
• Ending a relationship
• Death of a loved one
• Abuse or neglect

Being stuck in a state of bad stress, can cause more harm than good.  In fact, science has proven that bad stress can be bad or worse than smoking a pack of cigarettes' per day. It can cause physical symptoms that creep up over time.

Your endocrine, digestive, excretory, immunological, circulatory, and reproductive systems can't function normally while you're under a lot of stress. Your whole method of physical, psychological, and physiological functioning alters as a result of prolonged stress.

If you don't deal with your poor stress, you could acquire a number of health problems, including:

• Loss of memory
• gaining weight
• Irritability that persists
• Concentration issues
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Coronary artery disease
• Insomnia
• Blood pressure that is too high

It's important to seek help if you feel like your bad stress is taking over your life.

What's Good Stress?

Now onto the good stress.  Unfortunately, stress gets a bad reputation on the news and in general.  Not all stress is bad stress.

Good stress should feel good. The good kind of stress doesn't last long. It's a short-term fight-or-flight response that motivates you to reach higher goals. When you're under a lot of stress, you'll feel like you have a lot of influence over the results of the things you're working on. Stress that is beneficial to you can help you perform better.

Stress acts as a motivator to push us to accomplish goals and overcome setbacks. 

Examples of good stress:

• Falling Love
• Going on a first date
• Approaching a deadline
• Moving to a new location
• Going on vacation
• Starting a new job
• Anticipating an upcoming test or exam
• Marriage 
• Preparing for an important speech
• The birth of a child
• Buying a new house

There may be times that even good stress bothers you because it creates an uncomfortable feeling.  Don't worry though.  Those feelings are temporary.

How to Manage Bad Stress?

These are tips we can recommend to help reduce your bad stress.  In addition to seeking help if it's a burden on your shoulders, a change in your daily habits help.

Self care strategies:

1. Managing your diet
2. Maintaining positive thoughts throughout the day
3. Exercise or walk consistently
4. Focus on your breathing
5. Check who your friends are.

Chronically high levels of stress might lead to major difficulties in your life. Identifying negative stressors and developing good, healthy strategies to cope with them, especially during a stressful circumstance, is an important part of effective stress management.

Negative stress does not have a quick, miracle solution. However, there are a number of self-care strategies that can help you better manage the impacts of stress.

Final Thoughts

Stress is a common concern for many of us.  All of us will face difficult moments in our life.  It's how we manage those difficult problems that makes the difference.  Staying proactive and managing your stress, will lead to higher quality of living.

If you're not sure how to manage bad stress and you need a support group, don't hesitate to reach out to people who care.  There are virtual psychiatric assistance where you can talk, discuss, and manage your problems with professionals who understand you.

Overall, it's critical to maintain a healthy level of stress in your life. Make an attempt to reduce bad  stress as much as feasible.

Wherever possible, alter your stress perception and incorporate pleasant activities to create eustress. These tactics work together to help you achieve a healthy balance in your life.