{"id":52753,"date":"2026-05-16T08:26:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=52753"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:26:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:26:35","slug":"the-difference-between-good-and-bad-stress-and-how-to-beat-the-harmful-kind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=52753","title":{"rendered":"The difference between \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018bad\u2019 stress and how to beat the harmful kind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Stress is almost always cast in a negative light. But in the world of psychology, stress can also be positive.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That \u201cgood\u201d type is eustress, the productive spark that sharpens our focus. The \u201cbad\u201d type is distress, the stress that leaves us drained.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While they feel worlds apart, they have the same immediate impact on our biology.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cFrom an autonomic nervous system perspective, the initial physiological response is similar,\u201d Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist Dr Julia Andre says.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Whether you are fuelled by the adrenaline of a new challenge or paralysed by dread, the internal machinery is the same: the body floods with cortisol, the heart rate climbs and the sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Stress is almost always cast in a negative light, but there is a good type of stress, eustress, that sharpens our focus. Photo: Shutterstock\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/05\/15\/ab6af3e0-02e3-4ddc-92e6-20839e611f78_ac817e39.jpg\" title=\"Stress is almost always cast in a negative light, but there is a good type of stress, eustress, that sharpens our focus. Photo: Shutterstock\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Stress is almost always cast in a negative light, but there is a good type of stress, eustress, that sharpens our focus. Photo: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The important difference lies in what happens next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/article\/3353627\/difference-between-good-and-bad-stress-and-how-beat-harmful-kind?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stress is almost always cast in a negative light. But in the world of psychology, stress can also be positive. That \u201cgood\u201d type is eustress,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4525,12804,1340,97,2775,2605,1453],"class_list":["post-52753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-bad","tag-beat","tag-difference","tag-good","tag-harmful","tag-kind","tag-stress","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}