Page 29 - Resource-PartB_v3

Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Why stress can be both helpful and harmful

People usually think of stress as being something that should be avoided. However,
not all stress is bad for you.

Useful stress:

• Makes you more alert to danger and focuses your senses

• Can help you solve daily challenges and motivates you to reach your goals

• Can boost your memory

• Can help to strengthen the immune system – for example, stress can
improve how your heart works and protect your body from infection.

Harmful stress:

• Can weaken the immune system over a period of weeks or months and
cause high blood pressure, fatigue, depression, anxiety and even
heart disease

• Makes the body produce too much epinephrine which can be harmful
to your heart

• Can change the arteries and how their cells are able to regenerate.

What is important is achieving a balance between on the one hand, enjoying positive,
useful stress, and on the other, having a lack of stimulation leading to boredom, or too
much harmful stress leading to a feeling of being unable to cope.

27