Did you know that stress can be good for you? It’s true! There are two different types of stress. The negative kind is the stress we are most familiar with—and what most people mean when they say “I’m so stressed out right now.” Negative stress, if not managed correctly, can have a host of effects on your health—including contributing to heart disease, elevated blood glucose levels (especially if you have diabetes), increased symptoms of respiratory disease, and gastrointestinal problems.

The positive kind of stress is called eustress. Eustress helps to motivate us to do different things—especially ones that may be unappealing in themselves. A deadline at work, for example, could cause both types of stress: for some who are motivated by deadlines, eustress can be a positive helper to getting their work done on time. For example, if you realize your deadline is sooner than you think, this may motivate you to get your work done—with no ill effects. Similarly, a little friendly competition may be just the hint of pressure you need to get to work tackling something you’ve been putting off. Eustress motivates you to get things done, with an external or internal motivator that won’t hurt you in the long run—like distress can. Both types of stress, though, can be useful—stress in general helps us with motivation, as well as adaptation and reaction to our circumstances [1].

Most of us are at least slightly familiar with the effects that negative stress can have on our lives: in addition to what I mentioned above, stress can cause other physiological (in the body) reactions short-term including sweating, increased heart rate, headaches, difficulty sleeping and irritability—putting increased stress on relationships, to add to the picture [2].

Stress happens—it’s a part of life. Now that you know how to identify stress, here are some ways to manage it:

What do you do to manage stress? Do you find stress exacerbates your chronic condition? Let us know in the comments—and, know you can alleviate a bit of stress by wearing a medical ID bracelet from My Identity Doctor to communicate your needs if you can’t. Stress happens to everyone… but, by reading this post during Stress Awareness Month, you’ve already taken a great step to reducing stress in your life!