On the plane ride back from a recent vacation, I read this article in Health magazine about stress.  Since coming back to a job with too much to do and not enough time to do it all in, I was happy to hear that there really is a positive side to stress! Who knew?!

3 Surprising Benefits of Stress

1. It makes you smarter.

Stress gives you increased memory and learning thanks to bursts of cortisol in your brain.  The article actually says that if you can’t sleep at night that it is OK to take out my computer and work.  But, I am not sure if your body would agree when the alarm clock goes off in the morning and you have to wake up…

2. It makes you nicer.

Your body pumps out hormones that make you want to connect with friends.  So that is why you always want to Facebook or tweet when you are super stressed.

3. It makes you heartier.

Stress actually helps you battle future infections as long as you stay balanced and don’t overdo it.  I do think this is true because I have hardly been sick since starting this most stressful period of my life going to business school while working full-time (and growing this blog!)

Something else that I have learned about stress is that it can actually increase your productivity up to a certain point.  Just be careful to let yourself breathe and don’t get to the point where your work quality starts to deteriorate.  You have to be able to know when your stress level is too much.  The point that I notice it is when my neck starts to feel stiff and that is when I know that I need to go for a run ASAP.

So, if there is one thing that will help me get you through this stressful week, it is knowing that you will be smarter, nicer and heartier if you are able to make it to Friday at 5 pm.

How do you handle stress? Did you realize there were benefits?