‘Goldilocks’ response is best to deal with stress

HOW you respond to stress may determine your physical health, with people who react very strongly facing heart disease and people who are too Zen at risk of obesity and mental illness. But those with a “just right” response” are likely to thrive.

Groundbreaking Deakin University research reveals there is danger in a too hysterical or too calm reaction to psychological stress.

While researchers from the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) were not surprised to find the former and its link to heart health, they were to discover the latter, stress expert Anne Turner said.

“Recent findings are showing a ‘blunted response’ is also related to future health and disease outcomes ... everyone had previously thought the lower your stress response the better, but actually no, that’s not the case,” she said.

Like in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – where porridge that is too hot and too cold is tried before Goldilocks finds a bowl that’s “just right” – a “medium”, rather than too hot or cold, response to stress was the healthiest, Dr Turner said.

“It has health implications if your response is too large, health implications if your response is too small but that sweet spot, right in the middle, where it’s just right, that’s the most adaptive and with the least risk of future health and disease outcomes,” she said.

The research was the first of its type and looked at nervous system responses including heart rate and blood pressure, together with endocrine system responses like the stress hormone cortisol.