Stressed? Try punching something

My nose was bleeding badly, but I had no time to worry about it or the fact that my lungs and legs were locking up. The other guy was swinging and there was only a minute left. I raised my gloves and kept firing away, praying that I could make it to the end without getting knocked out.

I ended up losing that boxing fight. I finished, but it was clear to everyone who had won. I yanked off the gloves and flopped down on the grass, exhausted.

Why am I telling this story? Because I learned something important: what it meant to have fear. I learned what it meant to be truly stressed and why my everyday life was killing me, one false alarm at a time.

Stress, because of its subjective nature, is hard to define. In general though, it can be called “a state of mental, emotional, or other strain; an environmental response.”

Stress comes in two varieties: eustress and distress. Eustress is the good kind that gets you pumped up before a big game and also triggers the fight or flight response (what gets you out of the way of a speeding car). Distress is the negative kind that happens when your brain’s normal routines are being constantly adjusted and altered.

We need stress, both negative and positive, to handle the changing world and survive. Many of us today are chronically stressed, constantly on edge or bouncing from peak to peak. We worry about grades, jobs, money and why our friend posted that Facebook status. We’re always afraid and we can’t handle it. This is why we burn our systems out.

The effects of too much stress are vast, both mental and physical. The American Institute of Stress lists some common symptoms as headaches, depression, anger and increased susceptibility to colds. If left untreated, stress can create anxiety disorders, heart disease, insomnia and a host of other serious conditions.

Many health professionals recommend any number of stress reducing techniques, like meditation, mindfulness or breathing exercises. While the effectiveness of these techniques is still being tested, the results so far have been largely positive. Studies show that even something as simple as a 20-minute walk outdoors or sitting in a quiet room can lower blood pressure and heart rate and raise cognitive ability.

I would recommend another, unorthodox step. You should not attempt to reduce stress, but rather to understand it. After my fight, I spent the rest of the week in a more relaxed state than I’d felt in months. Everyday trials didn’t seem to affect me like before. Like the famous “Fight Club” quote from Edward Norton said, “After fighting, everything else in your life gets the volume turned down.”

I’m not recommending that you punch the next person you see. I’m saying that everyone could use a wake-up call every now and then. It is this recognition of true, acute distress (as opposed to chronic distress) that can bring someone back to earth.  Try something challenging and nerve-wracking, like public speaking. Do anything that gets you out of your day-in, day-out, pressure-cooker lifestyle.

We all have stress, but we don’t have to ignore it or force it away. We can use it. Once you understand when it’s real and helpful you can wield it, then let go of it when it’s not. True health is a happy middle ground. You just have to figure out where that is for you.