Flying Through Fear
Published: 6 October 2020
Can we experience negative physical stress and positive emotional stress simultaneously? And do they influence each other
Flying Through Fear
As part of Science on the Sofa’s event Talking Science, Dr Chiara Horlin, talks about her research into the positive benefits of stress and how this might improve mental health and well-being.
We think of stress being a single unitary concept that equates to negative physical and psychological consequences in response to an actual or perceived event. Others prefer to break stress down into two different components: distress and eustress. Distress is the type of stress we are referring to when we say stress, with all its negative implications. EUSTRESS however, is a positive type of stress that has a beneficial impact on health, motivation, performance, and well-being.
With increased awareness of the growing mental health crisis in modern society, it is important to identify barriers to mental health and sources of distress in order to remove them and support mental wellness and physical and psychological well-being.
Many of these efforts are focused on de-stressing, removing stressful events and experiences from our lives, or even just altering our perception of them.
Techniques like mindfulness and meditation can be really effective in doing this for some people, but not everyone.
There may be alternative pathways to mental health and well-being that look beyond barriers and sources of distress, and instead focus on challenging boundaries and positive risk-taking.
In partnership with Aerial Edge, the School of Psychology endeavoured to explore if controlled risk-taking activities like flying trapeze could support and facilitate student well-being, self-efficacy, and their ability to perceive and manage stress. This initiated a series of studies exploring both the physical and psychological impact of flying trapeze.
First published: 6 October 2020
Follow Dr Chiara Horlin @aussieweegie