How Can I Monitor Stress?
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Photo by energepic.com from Pexels
By: Lindsay Taylor
Stress comes at us from all directions, and it’s not always the usual suspects like work, finances, and global strife that derail us. Even things we find enjoyable and meaningful—exercise, hobbies, volunteer work—contribute to our overall stress level as we struggle to fit everything into our busy lives.
As we’ve discussed before on the blog, stress adheres to the “Goldilocks principle.” Too much and too little stress can both get you in trouble. The goal is to find that just right sweet spot somewhere in the middle. In the right amount, stressors challenge us to adapt mentally and physically to our circumstances, prompting us to become stronger and more resilient.
I find the analogy of the “stress bucket” helpful in conceptualizing stress. This is a shorthand way of saying that all the stress we face, from sources we’d label both good and bad, gets thrown into the same pile. Our body has to process all of it. Ideally, we’d have more “good stress” (exercise, hot and cold exposure, stimulating mental challenges, etc.) than “bad stress.” Even then, though, we need to keep an eye on our total stress load to make sure the bucket doesn’t overflow.
There are both objective and subjective metrics you can use to track your stress over time. Objective variables are things you can measure with tools—biometric devices, blood tests, and such. Subjective measures are your personal judgments. An outside scientist can’t validate them, but subjective data are still very valuable. The goal of tracking these metrics is to prevent a health crisis and keep stress in a healthy range.
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