Eustress: Definition, Causes, & Characteristics

By Tristan Williams, Ph.D.
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
Is all stress bad? Is there such a thing as “good” stress? Learn about eustress, what it is, what causes it, and how to use it.
*This page may include affiliate links; that means we earn from qualifying purchases of products.
We all have experienced stress at some point in our lives. Whether it’s chronic stress from work or the lesser stress of daily traffic, stress can sneak up on us at any time. We all know too much stress leads to health problems and overall lower quality of life. However, what you may not know is that not all stress is bad. There are different types of stress. In fact, we can experience “good” stress. In this article, we’ll talk about this “good” stress known as eustress. We’ll define it, discuss what causes it, and how you might use eustress to improve your life. 
Before reading on, if you're a therapist, coach, or wellness entrepreneur, be sure to grab our free Wellness Business Growth eBook to get expert tips and free resources that will help you grow your business exponentially.​​​​​​​​​
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?

Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

 ✓  Save hundreds of hours of time  ✓  Earn more $ faster  
​✓  Boost your credibility ✓  Deliver high-impact content 

What is Eustress? (A Definition)

If you’re anything like me, then you can relate to the fact that stress is an unavoidable part of life. Whether we are starting a new job, studying for that big test, or even going on a first date we all go through a process of mixed emotions including nervousness and anxiety. However, not all stress is the same. Some stress is extremely detrimental to your mental health and overall well-being, while some stress can be considered healthy. That’s what eustress is – positive stress.
 
I can remember the first time I went into an interview for graduate school – I was uncomfortable and sweating with a knot of butterflies in my stomach. It felt like I had a frog stuck in my throat, but soon after some light conversation with my interviewer, I was able to have a productive and confident interview. This is what eustress is and is capable of –  good stress that can motivate us and help us focus on the task at hand.

Eustress Definition in Psychology

If you look up eustress in the dictionary it’ll tell you that eustress is “a moderate or normal psychological stress interpreted as being beneficial for the experiencer” (Merriam-Webster). Don’t feel down if you didn’t know about it – eustress is a relatively new concept.
 
Traditionally, we think of stress as an overall bad thing, but in the last few decades, more research shows that eustress can be an overall positive thing in our lives. Eustress is the opposite of distress and can refer to any type of beneficial stress – this encompasses both physical and psychological (Lu et al., 2021). Eustress is typically short-term and feels exciting – think of the nerves you feel right before you get on a roller coaster. That hit of adrenaline, the pounding of your heart in your chest, your racing thoughts – that is due to eustress.

Eustress Theory

Now, what exactly do we mean when we say ‘stress’? The idea of stress has been around for a long time – Hippocrates from the time of the ancient Greeks defined it as a disease of both pathos (suffering) and ponos (hardship and toil) (Chrousos et al., 1988). In the modern day, we know stress as a normal response to internal or external circumstances that are challenging, upsetting, or scary. This can encompass a large range of stressors such as bad memories, pain, and discomfort, or even events that elicit emotions such as sadness and anger.
 
Knowing this, you might ask yourself how can anything related to stress be good then? Well, it would be in 1974 when a famous Hungarian endocrinologist Hans Selye would further split stress into two different categories – eustress and distress (Selye, 1974). Eu- is the Greek prefix meaning good where dis- means negative. Hence, we have our good and our bad stress.
 
Part of the theory of eustress is what is called the control theory (Spector & Jex, 1998)– that our stress outcomes are majorly influenced by our perspective. For instance, whenever I have gotten super mad or frustrated in the past, I always try to take a moment to compose myself by taking a few deep breaths. After a moment to reflect, I’m usually able to reassess my situation and come back to it with a clear mind. This ability to overcome moments of stress and redirect that negative energy into something positive and productive is the power of the control theory with eustress.

Opposite of Eustress

Well, we know a lot about eustress now, but what about its so-called evil twin and polar opposite? Most of us are familiar with this negative stress, commonly known as distress. This is the feeling typically associated with being “stressed out”. For me, the memory that sticks out the most would be when my grandmother passed away recently. Events like this can cause a wave of negative emotions to wash over you and make it hard to function in our day-to-day lives.
 
Some of the ways distress can make you feel include:
  • Being overwhelmed and not feeling like you can catch a break
  • Being overly anxious and unsure of yourself
  • Helplessness
  • Deep sadness and depression
 
Distress also can result in physical symptoms such as:
  • Headaches and tension
  • Insomnia
  • Lack of focus
  • Increased irritability
 
Distress is caused when you feel that your stress and its source are not within your control or something that you are not able to change. When stress becomes too chronic or too frequent, it can lead to a feeling of helplessness. This helplessness then leads to obsessive worrying and general sadness and depression (Szabo et al., 2017).

Examples of Eustress

So, what are real-life examples of eustress? How commonly do we come across it, and can it really be a part of our daily lives? Eustress usually includes experiences related to feelings of challenge and excitement – stressful times that ultimately lead to positive experiences.
 
A few examples include:
 
  • Starting a new romantic relationship
  • Starting a new job
  • Buying a home
  • Traveling somewhere new and unfamiliar
  • Going on holiday or vacation
  • Learning a new hobby
 
Eustress doesn’t have to come from a giant life change - even smaller moments can produce positive stress including:
 
  • Cooking a new meal
  • Riding a roller coaster
  • Playing a challenging video game
 
These are all activities that push our boundaries while still being enjoyable. This is the type of stress that may help bring meaning and happiness to us. 

Eustress Characteristics

According to Dr. Selye, there are also a variety of emotional and physical health benefits due to eustress. Eustress usually has the following characteristics that differentiate it from distress:
 
  • It motivates us
  • It only lasts a short term
  • It focuses our energy
  • It’s something within our coping ability
  • It feels exciting
  • It improves our performance
 
To better understand the idea of eustress, we’ll now go into a little about our brain and body chemistry and how our perspective can potentially impact our lives.

Causes of Eustress

The experience of stress and the outcomes are largely biased by how we evaluate and respond to negative situations (Yu, 2016). Eustress is the product of nerves which are usually brought on when faced with fun and unfamiliar challenges.
 
Stress is biological and natural. In general, it is stress that will activate what is known as our fight-or-flight response. This is a chemical reaction in our brain and body that results in hormones (such as adrenaline and cortisol) entering our bloodstream to give us that sudden burst of energy. Imagine the feeling you would get if you found yourself toe to toe with a tiger or bear – that’s your fight-or-flight response.
 
This energy can help provide motivation and focus to confront or solve problems. However, when this response happens too much, it can easily make any of us feel overwhelmed. Way back in human history, we know this response was vital in keeping our ancestors from falling prey to the jaws of saber-toothed tigers, but how does it stack up for the modern person?
 
Our fight-or-flight response has stayed with us over the centuries and will trigger if we perceive a situation as stressful. Whether it is actually life-threatening or not, the hormonal release of adrenaline is the same, making it possible to experience the intense physical symptoms from even just stressful thoughts.
 
This is why eustress can be important for our well-being – the skill to control this fight-or-flight tendency can manifest this energy into something positive. Eustress can be caused by positive forms of social engagement – this includes support from your community and access to resources (Suedfeld, 1997). During eustress, there is also a release of the hormone oxytocin – commonly known as the love hormone – that can push people to seek or provide help (Takayanagi & Onaka, 2021).
 
Altogether, eustress drives us to stay motivated, work towards our goals, and feel overall good about life. Finding strategies that may promote eustress could bring a bounty of benefits.

Eustress vs Distress

On the other hand, we also have distress or negative stress. Distress typically has the following characteristics that are different than eustress:
 
  • Can last in the short term as well as the long term
  • Can trigger anxiety and other mental illnesses
  • Can surpass our coping capabilities
  • Usually generates unpleasant feelings
  • Decreases our focus and performance
  • Overall contributes to poor mental and physical health
 
While we have gone over examples of eustress and what can trigger it, here are some examples of experiences that may trigger distress:
 
  • Bullying
  • Controlling or manipulative behaviors
  • A messy breakup or falling out with someone
  • The death of a loved one
 
Eustress and distress are both terms to describe categories of stress, two sides of the same coin. While both are stress, eustress is typically short-term and manageable and leads to motivation and problem-solving. On the other side, distress is long-term or chronic and leads to feelings of helplessness and anxiety. Both trigger our stress response, but the major difference between the two can lie in how we perceive and react to that stress.

Benefits of Eustress

Working and living outside of our comfort zone can be a good thing. However, when we get too overwhelmed that stress can quickly become something we can’t handle. Therefore it can be helpful to learn how to manage and maintain eustress to better cope with stress.
 
When I recently defended my Ph.D., it was terrifying at first. It seemed like an impossible obstacle, like climbing Mount Everest. However, after hours of preparation, it became something that I felt was achievable. I took actions such as reaching out to my support group, meditation, and trying to foster positive emotions. My stress became eustress – and with that, I was able to take that newly positive energy and feel confident, adequate, and stimulated by the challenge of defending my thesis.
 
Good stress can help us grow in a variety of ways. Psychologists have shown that eustress can empower you to grow in different areas (Brule & Morgan, 2018):
  1. Emotionally and mentally. This can result in positive feelings of contentment, inspiration, motivation, and flow - a focused state of being when one is completely immersed in an activity as well as logical and clear thinking (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). Think of it as a situation where you found yourself losing time when working – for me it happens when I’m focused on reading or writing something meaningful to me. This is flow.  
  2. Psychologically. Eustress can help build our self-efficacy and our sense of autonomy and increase our resilience to stressors. For instance, after a big breakup, it’s normal to feel incredibly sad about it. However, in time and with eustress we can later reflect on the breakup as an opportunity for change and growth.  
  3. Physically. Eustress can induce a decrease in inflammation, improve heart health, and increase our overall endurance (Aschbacher & Mason, 2020). ​

Making the Most of Eustress

Now that we know what eustress is and its benefits, how can we make the most of it? It’s one thing to say to just think more positively, but for many of us dealing with stress, it’s easier said than done.
 
This balancing act of providing us with enough challenge but not overwhelming ourselves has been mapped out in the Yerkes-Dodson Law from back in 1908 (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). This law states that we can thrive under certain conditions, where our stress doesn’t exceed our ability to cope. It is important to try to stay stimulated for your happiness, but also to not overdo it and cause yourself distress. 
 
Here are some tips to help you generate positive stress:
 
  • Learning something new every day – such as a skill or hobby
  • Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone
  • Playing games and doing puzzles
  • Working out (this includes just going out for walks)
  • Setting goals and holding yourself accountable
  • Mentoring and teaching others
  • Volunteering
 
This video from 2013 is a useful introduction to the subject where psychologist Kelly McGonigal explains how to accept stress and rethink it as helpful. Through this, she explains how to build resilience which can empower and help create meaning in our lives.

Ted Talk: How to Make Stress Your Friend | Kelly McGonigal

Articles Related to Eustress​

​Want to learn more? Check out these articles:​​​

Books Related to Eustress​

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Eustress

It’s only natural to not like stress - I know I don’t. However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all types of stress are harmful. In fact, eustress comes with many benefits such as rewarding feelings that encourage personal growth in the long run. It’s even possible that eustress can improve physical health as well.
 
Researchers have shown that a positive mindset is key when it comes to eustress. According to the control theory that we discussed earlier; it might be helpful to perceive the stress to be good. Ultimately, the events in our lives are up to interpretation – one person’s bad stress is another person’s good stress. The ability to interpret stressful events is difficult – never feel bad for being in distress. Instead, it may be helpful to try to focus on what you can change, engage in positive self-talk, and take baby steps in adjusting your overall mindset.
 
A few lifestyle adjustments that may also help include:
 
  • Eating a healthier diet
  • Make sure you get plenty of sleep
  • Exercising (such as a morning walk) more
  • Look into meditation techniques
 
Stress unfortunately is unavoidable, but we can try to learn how to incorporate more eustress into our lives. Remember that you’re never alone and if you feel chronic or unmanageable stress, seek support.

Don't Forget to Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

References
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?
Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to Grow Your Wellness Business Fast!
Key Articles:Content Packages:
Terms, Privacy & Affiliate Disclosure  |   Contact   |   FAQs
* The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. LLC is not affiliated with UC Berkeley.
Copyright © 2023, The Berkeley Well-Being Institute, LLC