Janos Sayle, working at McGill University in Montreal Canada discovered and documented two distinct kinds of stress.  A simplified version of  these types defines them as a stress reaction resulting from good news (eustress) or resulting from bad news (distress).

Living without eustress

A colleague commented today how it nice it would be to have no stress.  Relaxation, now that is the goal.  Personally I am not totally certain how beneficial this perspective is.

There have been numerous studies which appear to definitely demonstrate that retiree’s who do not experience eustress tend to die earlier than those that do.

Good stress is motivating.  Simply it give you a reason to live and so supports your desire to do so.  Bad stress can result in undesirable physical impacts, lack of good stress also does.

Wandering Aimlessly

Intuitively wandering aimlessly with no pressures, demands, purpose or constraints,( for example being a beachcomber traveling the world searching for the perfect climate, pace, culture)  might seem like an ideal situation.

In reality this is really not the case, even the beachcomber has some stressful activities – the search itself for the beach for example is not fully without stress.

Back to Balance

Of course the level of eustress must be managed and balanced with low stress situations (whether good or bad stress).  That being said though, there is a strong case for the benefit of experiencing some level of eustress .

Avoid it altogether at your own peril.