At this point, you may be asking yourself whether stress is good or bad. It depends on how much stress you experience, whether the stressors are positive or negative, and your ability to cope effectively with the stress.

Low levels of stress can help you focus your attention on a task and give it your best effort. As the level of stress increases, though, you'll begin to worry too much about the outcome. High levels of stress actually prevent all of us--athletes, actors, students, everyone--from doing our best.

Eustress, or "good" stress, is created by challenging situations that cause people to feel happy or successful. Winning an athletic or academic competition, successfully delivering an important speech, receiving a promotion at work, getting married, or having children can all be causes of eustress.

Distress is what we typically think of when we use the word stress. Events that cause distress are ones that are difficult to control or that have unwanted, unpredictable, or negative outcomes. Problems at school or work, conflicts with family or friends, and difficulties in personal relationships all can cause distress.

The important thing to remember is that any situation, good or bad, that creates stress requires physical and psychological adjustments. Even "good" stress can damage the body and the mind if the stress isn't dealt with effectively. Why is that so? Click through these slides to learn how any stress affects the human body.

Stress causes our bodies to experience physical fight-or-flight responses, such as increased blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness and decreased pain sensation and digestion.  However, because the stressor isn't (usually) a wild animal or other physical threat, we don't fight or flee. That means we don't use up the stress-related hormones that have entered our bloodstream. Instead, those stress hormones circulate for a while in our bodies, causing things like tension headaches, insomnia, and indigestion. Over time, if stress is not managed or alleviated, long-term health problems can occur. These conditions include migraine headaches, depression, peptic ulcers, chronic high blood pressure, and heart disease. Some of these conditions can be life-threatening.