Stress kills. Get rid of it as quickly as possible
Bottom Line: Is getting rid of stress easier said than done? Heck yes. Helpful if you can though? Absolutely. So much of the negative stuff that goes along with stress is well known and documented. In fact, historically the life expectancy differences between men and women have been mostly due to the accumulated combination of physical and mental stress in our lives. But still, even in 2021, we’re still learning about it and what makes us tick. A study from Oregon State University found the impact of being able to resolve stress as quickly as possible is one of the most important things we can do to improve our health. Citing the lead researcher... Everyone experiences stress in their daily lives. You aren’t going to stop stressful things from happening. But the extent to which you can tie them off, bring them to an end and resolve them is definitely going to pay dividends in terms of your well-being.
One of the differences with this study was the extent to which they studied the small stuff. Obviously major stuff is a big deal but the bigger deal most of the time is the smaller stuff that can add up. Researchers found that if we don’t resolve small stressors, like something frustrating at work, or an argument with your wife or a friend – it literally adds up impacting us chemically. This in turn hurts us emotionally and physically. And it feeds on itself. Commonly you’ll lose sleep. Losing sleep makes dealing with everything more difficult and heaven forbid you have a major stressor enter your life while this cycle is playing out. That’s when real breakdowns occur. So, what’s one to do?
What’s most interesting to me is the need to resolve every stressor as quickly as possible. Doing so will mitigate the cumulative effect. For example, if something comes up that you have to deal with but don’t want to and procrastinate – that can become a big stressor when paired with other things that come up. See if this sounds familiar. You have trouble falling asleep because something bugging you is on your mind. Once you start thinking about it – you start thinking about all the other little stressors and before you know it. You can’t sleep and the little problems become bigger. So, the takeaway from the study is this. Every stressor, no matter how small will have a bigger impact left unresolved. So, for stressors you can control, resolve anything which causes you any stress as quickly as possible. It’ll help make all aspects of your life better.
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