Low to moderate stress is beneficial for health: Research

According to recent research from the Youth Development Institute at the University of Georgia, stress may not be a bad thing when it comes to brain functioning.The study was published in Neuropsychologia.The study found that low to moderate levels of stress improves working memory, the short-term information people use to complete everyday tasks like remembering someone’s phone number or recalling directions on how to get to a specific location. There is, however, a caveat, the researchers said.The findings are specific to low to moderate stress. Once your stress levels go above moderate levels and become constant, that stress becomes toxic. “The bad outcomes of stress are pretty clear and not new,” said Assaf Oshri, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.Constant high levels of stress can actually change the structure of the brain. It leads to increases in white matter at the expense of gray matter, which is involved in muscle control, decision-making, self-control, emotional regulation and more.Chronic stress can also make people more susceptible to a variety of illnesses ranging from nausea and migraine headaches to high blood pressure and heart disease. “But there’s less information about the effects of more limited stress,” Oshri said.