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Brief periods of under or over stimulation are not bad. Negative stress or DISTRESS occurs when you are under or over stimulated for too long.
If there are no changes in our environment, your body will release only small amounts of energy via the stress response. We start to feel listless, tired and sometimes even ill.
If there is too much happening in our environment, your body will release large amounts of energy via the stress response. This can either be in one extremely large dose (in response to a crisis situation), or as several large doses (in response to a series of events).
The key factor is our own PERCEPTION. Some people thrive in conditions of chaos - their bodies quickly adjust the stress response to give them just enough energy to do what they have to do. Other people may be quickly overwhelmed, and get a huge dose of adrenalin (epinephrine). It just depends on how you see the situation.
Why would these changes stay in effect longer and be detrimental to your health?
If you had a number of stressors occurring over time, so the stress response was prolonged.
If you had more energy than the situation required, so the stress response was excessive.
There can be problems if people deny that stress is real, or that they shouldn't "feel stress". Stress is a real physical response, which can lead to adverse health consequences if it is not managed properly.
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