Microstress is considered a type of stress that we do not perceive as such. Here we look at what exactly it is all about and whether and how it can be avoided.
The word has gotten around that prolonged stress is as unhealthy as a pack of cigarettes a day. Or was it the sitting? Maybe it was the sitting. Nevertheless, according to current knowledge, constant stress, like sitting and smoking, is unhealthy. Occasional stress, on the other hand, is completely okay and even in our best interest (occasional sitting, by the way).
For example, psychiatrist Lawson Wulsin writes in “Psychology Today”: “We need the good and bearable stress of our everyday lives – demanding jobs, taking care of a family, doing housework – in order to stay fit. Our stress management systems need these challenges, to regulate our body temperature, our heart rate, our blood oxygen levels, our immune defenses and all the other functions that keep us alive every day.” Toxic stress, on the other hand – that is, stress that constantly overloads our coping systems – needs to be treated, writes Lawson Wulsin, otherwise our risk of consequences such as diabetes, heart disease, depression or chronic pain increases. If the stress lasts too long and is too much: be careful. If we have stressful days and moments in our lives from time to time: that’s how it should be.
But what is microstress all about?
Microstress: Stress under our radar
We can understand microstress as a collective term for everyday stressful moments that seem so small and insignificant to us that we hardly notice them as stressful elements in our lives. However, especially when taken together, they can cost us so much energy and exhaust us so much that they can harm our well-being or even our health. The term was coined primarily by Karen Dillon, author and former editor of the “Harvard Business Review,” and Rob Cross, Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In addition to extensive research, the two have dedicated an entire book to the phenomenon: “The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Add Up—and What to Do About It.”
In an article for “Harvard Business Review”, Dillon and Cross cite examples of micro-stressful moments such as the situation where we have to step in for a colleague or help him out because he has not completed his task (adequately). Or that we have to cancel a date with a friend and feel like we are disappointing her and giving up something that could and should have been good for us.
Such events are not necessarily experiences that would make us say, “I’ve had such a stressful day, I just need a hot bath and three hours of complete rest.” They are experiences that are part of our lives and that we expect to master without requiring regular spa stays. But when they occur in clusters—and they do in many people’s lives, according to Dillon and Cross—they could wear us down.
“We may not consciously recognize microstressors as such,” Dillon and Cross write in the article, “but like traditional stress, they can raise our blood pressure, increase our heart rate, or cause hormonal or metabolic changes.” Especially in its inconspicuousness, microstress can disrupt our lives as an energy magnet.
What makes people who are not affected by micro-stress
You are mindful
According to Cross and Dillon, an important and helpful step in protecting our energy balance from the effects of micro-stress is to develop awareness and sensitivity for these under-the-radar stressful moments in our everyday lives. What are our little pain points, annoyances and disruptive factors that keep disrupting our plans and costing us energy or time? If we can name them, the questions follow: What can we say no to? On the other hand, what do we want to accept and accept?
You see yourself as a potential micro-stressor for others
As a second measure that can increase our awareness of micro-stress, Dillon and Cross recommend that we pay more attention to the extent to which we can save ourselves from costing other people energy. Do we really have to ask after an hour where the answer to our message is? Do we really have to make a flippant comment on our friend’s honest announcement that she only has a moment for us?
They cultivate more than one area of life
The third and perhaps most helpful suggestion that the two make in their article is that, according to their research, people who cultivate more than one area of life in which they feel meaning and meaning suffered less from micro-stress. Because the areas can balance each other out and help put them into perspective. For example, if I had a micro-stressful day at work because the human resources department messed up a contract change and I had to look for it in my documents after I was briefly afraid that I had missed something, it will help me if I do something with my family in the evening I cook or play and talk to people close to me instead of continuing to do my work. Or when I exercise or immerse myself in my book. Giving space to multiple things in our lives may at first seem like more stress and organization, but in practice it can often result in greater peace.
classification
Microstress is a comparatively new, non-scientifically based term for an old, probably unchangeable phenomenon: life is full of small, stressful moments that can take up and make us tired. If we overlook these moments, it can be difficult to accept and classify our tiredness. Therefore, it offers us less harm than good if we know a term like microstress and have dealt with it.
On the other hand, we do not need to assume that this phenomenon is a previously invisible and now finally discovered threat just because we can now call it microstress if we want. If, with a few exceptions, we sleep well most of the time, have a normally healthy appetite and lead a life with a few highlights per year, we can assume that the micro-pleasures in our everyday life are roughly in balance with our micro-stress – and do not require us to be active to search for micro-stressors. Fearing and paying attention to everything that could be harmful to us and our lives can sometimes be more harmful than living with one or another pollutant under our radar. By no means does this mean that we should smoke unrestrainedly – or just sit all day.
Sources used: harvardbusinessreview.org, psychologytoday.com