Warning Signs of Surrounding Yourself with Overly Pessimistic Individuals: Strategies for Recognizing and Managing Them
A high EP Stress Score, indicating an imbalance between demands and an individual's resources, can have far-reaching effects on health, development, and performance.
Health Impact
Persistent high stress levels are associated with an increased risk of mental and physical health problems. Chronic exposure to high stress can lead to psychological issues such as anxiety and depression, and potentially cause physiological effects like fatigue or neurobiological changes.
Developmental Effects
Longitudinal studies suggest that individuals with increasing stress and adverse personality traits, like neuroticism, may experience worse cognitive outcomes over time. This implies that high stress could hinder neurocognitive development or accelerate cognitive aging.
Performance Consequences
High EP Stress Scores often correlate with decreased occupational performance, increased burnout, and fatigue. Excessive workload, poor work-life balance, and interpersonal stressors contribute strongly to reduced productivity and occupational burnout.
In the academic realm, high levels of educational stress have been linked to negative outcomes, including lower grades, test scores, and graduation rates. However, moderate childhood stressors, such as parental divorce, frequent moves, or financial difficulties, can have a lasting impact on stress scores into adulthood. Interestingly, moderate levels of stress can actually enhance academic performance in some cases.
Stress significantly impacts cognitive performance, including classification tasks, leading to reduced accuracy and slower reaction times.
Stressors and Coping Mechanisms
Proximal stressors such as academic stress, work-related stress, and interpersonal conflict have significantly impacted stress scores. Higher levels of maternal cortisol during pregnancy have been linked to higher levels of stress in children and adolescents.
Managing stressors and bolstering resources for resilience is crucial in mitigating the adverse effects of high EP Stress Scores. Understanding the sources of stress and developing coping mechanisms can help individuals maintain their mental and physical well-being, cognitive functioning, and overall performance capacity.
[1] Healthline. (2021). Chronic stress: Symptoms, causes, effects, and coping strategies. [online] Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/chronic-stress
[2] American Psychological Association. (2020). Stress in America 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report
[3] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2018). Work-related stress depression or anxiety - management of work-related stress at work. [online] Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng52
[4] American Psychological Association. (2019). Stress in America 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2019/report
- In the field of education-and-self-development, high levels of stress have been associated with negative outcomes, such as lower grades, test scores, and graduation rates, indicating that stress can negatively impact personal-growth.
- Managing stress, as a crucial part of mental-health, involves understanding the sources of stress, such as academic stress, work-related stress, and interpersonal conflict, and developing coping mechanisms for improved mental-health and performance capacity.
- Pursuing health-and-wellness and maintaining a balanced mental state is essential in mitigating the adverse effects of high stress on cognitive functioning, mental health, and overall well-being.
- Longitudinal studies reveal that chronic stress and adverse personality traits like neuroticism can hinder cognitive outcomes, including neurocognitive development or accelerating cognitive aging, which is a significant concern in the realm of education and self-development.
