If our stress response is good, then more stress is better. There are many ways that your stress response serves you, mobilizes you to take action, helps you focus and be more motivated. It enhance performance. There is great reluctance, therefore, to set any limit on something you feel is helpful or needed. Thus, the word “management” itself tends to turn us off. Frequently I hear someone I’m working with voice the fear that if they try to relax they might become lazy or unproductive. Many people believe there is a slippery slope; start relaxing a little, and pretty soon you will find it difficult to do any work. For others, part of their stress is the fear of their life falling apart. Under these circumstances, they can only think of hanging on, even if it means maintaining high stress and tension levels. For these people, there’s great discomfort with letting go and being vulnerable.
Stress is a survival mechanism. It’s a protective response, like circling the wagons and putting up the wall. But this isn’t a case where if something is good, then more is better. In this case, you can have too much of a good thing. And when there is too much, it’s no longer good. Notice your frustration when more exertion is not getting you closer to your goal.
This is most evident in my work with elite athletes. When the stress response, or the activation of the body, goes too far, the results are immediate and obvious. You notice it in the final minutes of an important basketball game, when a free throw clanks against the front rim of the basket. This is a clear indication that the tension in the ball player’s arm muscles was too tight, restricting the appropriate flexion and extension of the arm. It was also true for a tennis player I worked with who, in big matches, would cramp partway through the game.
Once you have reached an optimal level of arousal, you can perform at your best. You don’t require additional energy or tension to perform any better. In fact, any additional activation will only interfere with your best performance and fatigue you faster—prematurely draining the resources of your body. When this process continues over a period of time, you begin to experience a breakdown, with symptoms that may include headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, high blood pressure and, ultimately, burnout.
Dr. Stephen Sideroff is an internationally recognized expert in resilience, optimal performance, addiction, neurofeedback and alternative approaches to stress and mental health. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA’s School of Medicine, as well as the Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics. www.drstephensideroff.com