Does stress help us succeed?
Tue 17 May 2011
, Roger Dobson, The Independent
We're constantly told to relax and take it easy, but stress may actually help us to focus and succeed in life, writes The Independent’s Roger Dobson.
Don't worry – and it might happen. Worrying may be a key to survival; a first step in the body's defence strategy when faced with threats. Pioneering research using brain scanners has located the worry centre of the brain and suggests for the first time that it is an area involved in survival and the assessment of threats and risks.
The same team of researchers has also shown that drugs used to treat worry or anxiety disorder have an effect on humans' defensive reactions.
"Feelings like worry and anxiety may be unpleasant, but it seems they are part of our defensive repertoire and help keep us safe and it is only when they become exaggerated do they represent an illness," says Dr Adam Perkins of King's College London. "Our ultimate aim is to improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, such as anxiety, where there are unusually strong and debilitating forms of worry."
Read the full report here.
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