{"id":8968,"date":"2024-02-03T16:08:45","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T08:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=8968"},"modified":"2024-02-03T16:09:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T08:09:40","slug":"when-a-stressful-situation-is-perceived-as-a-threat-health-and-wellbeing-suffer-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/when-a-stressful-situation-is-perceived-as-a-threat-health-and-wellbeing-suffer-study\/","title":{"rendered":"When a stressful situation is perceived as a threat, health and wellbeing suffer – study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

People who tend to view stressful situations as a threat are more likely to experience health and wellbeing problems, both mental and physical, than those who see them as a challenge, according to new research from the University of Bath in the UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research, published in the journal\u00a0Stress and Health<\/a><\/em>, explored stress appraisals, health and wellbeing of 395 sport performers through an online survey. The researchers believe the results of their study apply equally to non-athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe found a convincing link between mental and physical ill-health, and the way a person typically views stressful situations,\u201d said study co-author\u00a0Dr Lee Moore\u00a0from the\u00a0Department for Health\u00a0at Bath. \u201cThe more you\u2019re able to appraise a stressful situation as a challenge, the more likely you are to report good health and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The negative health and wellbeing consequences of repeatedly viewing stressful situations as a threat include a higher risk of mental health problems such as depression, physical illnesses like colds and the flu, and suboptimal wellbeing or happiness, probably as result of constantly feeling overwhelmed or from a suppressed immune system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dr Moore, who co-leads the\u00a0Stress Anxiety Resilience and Thriving\u00a0(StART) Research Group at the University of Bath, hopes the study\u2019s findings will help doctors better identify individuals who are at greater risk of developing stress-related health problems. He believes people who tend to view stressful situations as a threat can be taught coping strategies to help them view such situations more favourably \u2013 as a challenge rather than a threat \u2013 which could have a positive bearing on their future health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bath study, which formed part of a research project run by\u00a0Dr Ella McLoughlin, a former PhD student at the university, is believed to be the first of its kind to examine in depth the link between the way a person typically appraises stressful situations and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Moore, who supervised the project along with\u00a0Dr Rachel Arnold, also from the Department for Health, said: \u201cResearchers have speculated for the past 15 years that people who repeatedly believe they don\u2019t have the resources to cope in stressful situations are putting their health at risk, but we believe this is the first time the theory has been properly tested, leading to us finding a link between stress appraisals and health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are usually two ways an individual will appraise a stressful situation, Dr Moore explains: either they will perceive it as a threat that exceeds their ability to cope, resulting in poor performance and health (for instance, in sport), or they will view it as a challenge they can manage and grow and develop from, culminating in good performance and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cMost people will fluctuate in the way they appraise a situation, depending on the details of the specific situation, however, some people are far more likely to appraise all stressful situations as a threat, and this study shows that this tendency is associated with poorer health and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The negative health and wellbeing consequences of repeatedly viewing stressful situations as a threat include a higher risk of mental health problems such as depression, physical illnesses like colds and the flu, and suboptimal wellbeing or happiness, probably as result of constantly feeling overwhelmed or from a suppressed immune system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1414,2269,848],"class_list":["post-8968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-mental-disorder","tag-mental-exercise","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8970,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8968\/revisions\/8970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}