The Good Side of Stress

Trevor Hess
Dec 20, 2020
13 min read

We all have heard about the negative effects of stress and that we should manage our stress whenever possible. However, I bet you didn't know that not all stress is bad. Yes, you heard me right. When your mother used to tell you "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she wasn't lying… well, to some degree. If I were to just tweak that statement ever so slightly, it would rather say, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger to a degree."

You see, with everything in this world, there's always a balance system occurring. Whether that be food, sleep, or even something as simple as water — too much or too little of anything can ultimately become problematic — and the same can definitely be said of stress.

Okay, let me take a step back. Let's say you actually don't know the negative effects of stress. Well, some but not all of the side effects include:

Headaches
Heartburn
Rapid Breathing
Risk of Heart of Attack
Pounding Heart
Fertility Problems
Erectile Dysfunction
Missed Periods
Increased Depression
Insomnia
Weakened Immune System
High Blood Sugar
High Blood Pressure
Stomachache
Low Sex Drive
Tense Muscles

And the list goes on. I don't know about you, but none of these side effects sound fun at all. However, we need to make something clear — all of these symptoms arise primarily from chronic exposure or overexposure to stress. On the flip side, the type of stress I specifically want to focus on is what's known as hormetic stress or hormesis.

Unlike chronic stressors, hormetic stressors are considered mild or acute stressors that stimulate a beneficial adaptive response to the body. In effect, these stressors can actually make your body stronger than it was before. In fact, scientists believe that if you don't expose yourself to these hormetic stressors, your body may never actually develop an adequate adaptive response to high levels of oxidative stress, meaning larger amounts of stress can ultimately do more harm to your health and wellbeing.

So how do hormetic stressors work? Well, when you experience one of these stressors, it signals for your body to enter a stress-resistant mode, which in turn tells your cells that it's probably not a good time to grow old and die. In other words — your body gets stronger, and thus, healthier. Now, don't get me wrong, too much exposure to hormetic stressors can become problematic as well. But then again, is it really an acute stressor at that point? — probably not. Regardless, excessive exposure to hormetic stressors usually doesn't become a problem until they're combined with other unnecessary stressors including:

Physical stress from sleep deprivation
Chemical stress from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, cleaning chemicals, or pesticides
Mental stress from anxiety or worry
Emotional stress from anger, guilt, loneliness, sadness, or fear
Nutritional stress from food allergies or nutritional deficiencies
Spiritual stress from troubled relationships or financial and career pressures

So you can see, stress can pile up pretty quickly, but it all comes down to balance. Now, I did say there's still a chance for hormetic stressors by themselves to become detrimental… that is, if they become chronic. As shown in the figure above, as with all hormetic stressors, each one has it's own "reference risk," which can be thought of as the threshold where a hormetic stressor switches from being beneficial to being harmful. However, as long as you manage the dose of the hormetic stressor, it can continue to strengthen your body without becoming, so to speak, "toxic."

Okay, okay, so what are these hormetic stressors anyway? There's a pretty long list of them, but the major ones I believe that can yield the most benefits are:

Exercise
Sunlight
Heat & Cold
Hypoxia & Hyperoxia
Fasting
Xenohormetics

So for the remainder of this article, I want to walk through each one of these stressors to show you how to unleash the power of hormesis, starting with our first hormetic stressor — exercise.

1. Exercise

This should come as no surprise, but exercise is, for sure, a great hormetic stress. Some of the many hormetic benefits of exercise include increased ability to fight free radicals, increased ability to manage heavy loads, and increased resilience to environmental stressors. However, like I said, too much of any type of stress can ultimately become problematic, and in the case of exercise, too much can lead to what's known as overtraining.

Of course you want to lift heavy and intensely when it comes time to hit a workout, but overtraining, which is exercising excessively to a point of diminishing returns, can lead to chronically elevated cortisol levels as well as HPA axis dysfunction characterized by brain fog, mood, and irritability issues. Even worse, severe overtraining can lead to immune system damage, fatigue, mood disturbances, physical discomfort, sleep difficulties, and reduced appetite. As a result, your progress in the gym can actually start to regress. On top of that, elevated cortisol levels that come with overtraining can lead to your body becoming more resistant to fat loss. Thus, not only might you start to lose your hard-earned gains, but you may start to pack on the pounds as well.

So what's my recommendation? Focus on getting the minimum effective dose of exercise each week to achieve cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, strength, mitochondrial density, metabolic efficiency, and stamina. To accomplish all this is the most efficient amount of time, I'd say your best bet is to implement the following approach:

2x per week — Full-body strength workout focused around compound exercises in the 3-8 rep range for 3-5 sets each
1x per week — Plyometric bodyweight circuit for about 7-14 minutes alternating between 20 seconds of intense exercise and 10 seconds of rest, then followed up with HIIT intervals for about 10-20 minutes using a cardio exercise of your choice
1x per week — VO2 max training alternating between 4 minutes at max sustainable pace and 4 minutes at recovery pace for about 45-60 minutes using a cardio exercise of your choice
3x per week — Tabata sets for about 3-4 minutes using an exercise of your choice to break up prolonged time spent sedentary
Every day — Low-level physical activity, such as walking or a quick set of kettlebell swings, spread frequently throughout the day

Now, at the end of the day, everyone's body is different, with some people being able to recover more efficiently than others. So, even if you're using the generalized approach I just mentioned, you still might reach a point of overtraining depending on how well you're recovering. How can you tell? Well, if you read one of my past articles on the Oura Ring, you'd know that using a fitness tracker, like the Oura Ring, can be a great tool to gauge your recovery each day.

Okay, so let's say you're not recovering well. What would this look like from the data provided by the Oura Ring? It'd likely include the following generalized trends:

Increased resting heart rate (RHR)
Increased respiratory rate (RR)
Decreased heart rate variability (HRV)

As you can see, you have to balance the amount of stress you expose yourself to each day, with obviously prioritizing more beneficial hormetic stressors over other unnecessary stressors. However, exercise is just the beginning, as you'll see with our next hormetic stressor — sunlight.

2. Sunlight

This may come as a surprise to you, but sunlight actually is a stressor. Think about it — just like how too much exercise can lead to overtraining, can you guess what too much sunlight can lead to? Yup, you guessed it — sunburn.

Actually, let me correct that statement. The sun itself isn't actually a hormetic stressor, but rather the UVA, UVB, and UVC rays it gives off, which can all be considered low-level radiation. In fact, you can tell whether you're getting enough of these rays simply by looking at the pigment of your skin. You see, when exposed to UV rays, your skin actually begins to produce more melanin, which protects the skin from any excess damage that can be caused by these UV rays. However, melanin is what also gives the skin a darker pigmentation. So, if you're getting a quality tan, you can pretty much assume you're getting enough UV rays.

Okay, but what are the actual benefits of the hormetic stress from UV rays? Well, the major benefits include assisting with vitamin D production and more aggressive cellular maintenance. In fact, as I've mentioned in past articles, even if you can't get enough UV rays due to, say, being in the northern hemisphere this time of year, you still have the option of investing in a UV sunlamp. One of the highest quality sunlamps I know of is the Sperti Vitamin D Sunlamp, as it's one of the few that's FDA cleared.

On top of that, red light therapy or photobiomodulation (PBM) can also act as a hormetic stressor. PBM has been show to restore electron transport ATP production by increasing the electrical potential across the mitochondrial membrane. This increased membrane potential is also believed to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can exert a mild hormetic effect. As a result, the low-level oxidative stress that results from these ROS may also cause stem cells to grow and proliferate. As I've mentioned in previous articles, my go-to for red light therapy devices is Joovv, simply because they're one of the most trusted PBM device companies on the market.

Nevertheless, you can see that even some hormetic stressors, like the sun's UV rays and red light wavelengths, are more or less necessary in order to optimize your health. With that being said, I would suggest investing in a Sperti Vitamin D Sunlamp or Joovv PBM device if you have limited access to daily sun exposure and expose yourself to these rays for about 10-20 minutes each day.

3. Heat & Cold Therapy

Next up is heat and cold therapy. Now, I'm not talking about a little heat from a hot summer day or a casual dip in the pool. I'm talking about exposing the body to temperatures exceeding 130°F such as by sitting in an infrared sauna as well as immersing yourself in water that's near-freezing. Why? Well, let me give an explanation for both.

Let's first start with heat exposure. When exposing the body to high temperatures, such as by sitting in a sauna, studies suggest that the heart rate increase triggered by heat exposure may mimic the cardiovascular stress of exercise, in addition to improving lung capacity. Heat exposure has also been shown to cause a significant expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in muscle. HSPs have been implicated in longevity and aging in many species because they chaperone misfolded or newly synthesized proteins, protect cells from protein misfolding, and strengthen the immune system. Thus, the induction of HSPs could potentially maintain protein homeostasis and improve longevity by refolding damaged proteins, which accumulate during aging and are toxic to cells. So my advice — try to use a sauna , specifically an infrared sauna, at least 2 times per week, but you can use one everyday if you're up for the challenge.

Let's say your gym doesn't have an infrared sauna. My suggestion, as I've mentioned in past articles, would be to invest in a Clearlight personal infrared sauna, or better yet, a Higher Dose infrared sauna blanket since you can take it pretty much anywhere you go.

Then there's cold exposure, also known as cold thermogenesis (CT). Research has shown that cold exposure can cause significant increases in metabolism and calorie-burning, increase insulin sensitivity, reduce systemic inflammation, improve sleep and recovery, and potentially fight certain types of cancer. However, one of the best benefits of CT is its ability to help burn fat. It does this by shutting down inflammation caused by exercise and wounds in addition to activating the sympathetic, fight-or-flight nervous system, which regulates the mobilization and metabolism of stored fat.

The nice thing is that it's even easier to implement CT as compared to heat exposure. How? Simple — just fill your bathtub with cold water and ice, and boom, you have your very own ice bath. And say that it's winter time — even easier. Just walk outside and find any water source, such as a lake or pool, and hop right in.

Now, I have to say that it is harder to withstand extreme cold as compared to extreme heat. So if your water is near-freezing, which it should be, my advice would be to only immerse yourself for 2-5 minutes 1-2 times per week. On top of that, try to implement 1-2 cold showers daily, preferably one in the morning and one in the evening, for about 5 minutes each while primarily exposing your forehead to the cold water.

4. Hypoxia & Hyperoxia Therapy

Then there's hypoxia and hyperoxia therapy. These therapies involve exposing the body to an atmospheric environment that is either lacking in oxygen or has excess oxygen, respectively. Now, don't get wrong, this strategy is a little tougher to incorporate. Why? Well, unless you're a professional athlete training up in the mountains, I doubt you have the ability to change the air's oxygen concentration by any significant amount. However, there are some technologies that have the ability to mimic these types of environments.

Let me take a step back real quick. So what are the benefits of this hormetic stressor anyway? By exposing the body to drastic changes in oxygen concentrations, these therapies have been shown to improve performance, strengthen inspiratory muscles, ameliorate asthma, accelerate wound healing, enhance immune function, decrease incidence of migraines, and increase mitochondrial density.

Now, what are the technologies I was referring to? The first, and most effective, is utilizing an hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) chamber. HBOT delivers high-pressure air that is 100% oxygen, typically via a full-body chamber, such as from the company HBOT USA. These high pressures enhance oxygen delivery to every tissue in your body. As a result, HBOT results in a ten-to-twenty-fold increase in blood plasma oxygen levels, as well as a significant increase in red blood cells. In addition, the increase in oxygen levels promotes tissue repair, the formation of new blood vessels, wound healing, and most importantly, the controlled release of ROS in damaged and infected tissues, which is responsible for stimulating the hormetic response. The hormetic response ultimately leads to greater cellular resistance as well as induces mitochondrial biogenesis and DNA repair. The only problem with HBOT is the price point, which is fairly steep. So, I'd say unless you're willing to truly invest in better living through science, consider the remaining options as better alternatives.

Next up is the LiveO2 training mask. This device is similar to an HBOT chamber, except that rather than laying in a chamber, you're able to use this device while exercising. I guess you can consider this a bonus since you get to check off two hormetic stressors in one session. Now again, this device isn't the cheapest option either, so one other device, which I use, that can yield similar effects is a resisted-breathing Training Mask. Although you're not changing the oxygen concentration or atmospheric pressure in the air like with an HBOT chamber or LiveO2 device, the changes in breathing resistance can induce similar effects due to the accumulation of CO2 in the mask. You see, by increasing the breathing resistance of the mask, higher levels of CO2 build up in the front of the mask, resulting in improvements in ventilatory capacity as well as mental tolerance and stress resilience. Nevertheless, you would use a LiveO2 or Training Mask device by incorporating it into a VO2 max training session. Take the following VO2 max training workout as an example:

Warm up for 5-10 minutes using a cardio exercise of your choice, which you'll use for the entirety of the workout
With the device's oxygen concentration decreased or breathing resistance increased during the intense intervals and then flipped during the recovery intervals, complete 2 rounds alternating between 4 minutes at max sustainable pace and 4 minutes at recovery pace
With the device's oxygen concentration increased or breathing resistance decreased during the intense intervals and flipped during the recovery intervals, complete another 2 rounds alternating between 4 minutes at max sustainable pace and 4 minutes at recovery pace
Cool down for 5-10 minutes

And there you have it — a simple way to trick your body into thinking you're training at different altitudes. Nevertheless, with various options to choose from for this strategy, my advice would be to go with a Training Mask first, as it's definitely the best bang for your buck, then decide whether you want to invest in either of the other two devices for even greater results.

5. Fasting

Unlike the past strategies we've mentioned thus far, there's really no fancy device required in order for you to get all the benefits that fasting can offer. However, there are different strategies for implementing fasting. Before we dive into them though, what are the benefits of fasting? Well, for starters, you obviously can see that fasting is a hormetic stressor due to limiting caloric intake for a specific duration of time. However, don't confuse fasting with caloric restriction. Caloric restriction is intentionally lowering daily caloric intake, whereas fasting is just limiting the time in which you consume those calories. The reason I recommend fasting over caloric restriction is that caloric restriction is something that can't be done long-term. On top of that, in highly-active individuals, caloric restriction has been shown to lead to thyroid downregulation, hormone depletion, low energy, and poor sleep — and I don't know about you, but none of those sound fun.

Fasting on the other hand, allows your body to carry out what is known as neuronal autophagy. Neuronal autophagy is the intentional and healthy self-destruction of aging neurons to make room for new ones, which has been shown to improve diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Lou Gehrig's disease. So, the more time you're not eating, the more time your body has to repair itself.

Okay, so what are the strategies for fasting? There's many fasting protocols nowadays, but the easiest and most effective of these strategies include:

Daily 12-16-hour intermittent fast
Weekly 24-hour fast (dinnertime-to-dinnertime from Saturday to Sunday)
Yearly 3-5-day fast

Now, I have to admit, if you're not used to fasting, the third option's a little extreme. But you get the point — stressing your body for short durations of time, such as by limiting your feeding time, gives your body the time it needs to repair itself.

6. Xenohormetics

Up until now, we've only discussed environmental hormetics that our ancestors would've experienced at some point in time depending on the environment they were inhabiting. However, there's one other type of hormetic that deserves some recognition — xenohormetics or xenohormesis. Xenohormesis simply means that environmentally stressed plants can produce compounds that can confer stress resistance and survivals benefits to animals that consume them.

In other words, when ingested, certain compounds in plants such as phenols, polyphenols, phytochemicals, chlorophylls, and cytokines can actually make our body stronger. They do this by activating the body's stress response, ultimately resulting in improved longevity and fitness. Now, I'm not going to go into full detail about the types of plants that induce these xenohormetic effects since you should always do your own research before ingesting anything yourself. However, some examples of these plants include:

Rhodiola
Clover
Cattail
Chicory
Greater Burdock
Amaranth
Field Pennycress
Plantain
Kelp
Fireweed

So you can see, there are plenty of options to choose from, just do your research on them first. Nevertheless, I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty cool that some foods, when consumed, can have similar effects as say a plunge into freezing-cold water.

Summary

So there you have it — all the strategies you need to give your body just the right amount of stress to become stronger. Like I said earlier, it's important to focus on balance. If you're dealing with a lot of unnecessary stressors, don't think that adding hormetic stressors is going to make anything better. My advice — minimize any unnecessary stressors in your life first. Then, once you've done that, start to slowly add a couple of the strategies we've discussed into your daily routine. In fact, I'd say start with strategy number one, exercise, and work your way down the list in terms of what to incorporate next. Nevertheless, have fun experimenting and don't stress yourself out too much!

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