"Humans should not try to avoid stress any more than they would shun food, love or (36)________," said Dr. Hans Selye, the first physician to (37)________the effects of stress on the body. While here’’s no question that continuous stress is (38)________, several studies suggest that (39)________situations in which you’’re able to rise to the occasion can be good for you.
In a 2001 study of 158 hospital nurses, those who faced (40)________work demands but coped with the challenge were more likely to say they were in good (41)________than those who felt they couldn’’t get the job done.
Stress that you can manage may also (42)________immune function. In a study at the Academic Center for Dentistry in Amsterdam, researchers put (43)________through two stressful experiences. (44)________________. In the second, they weren’’t in control: They had to sit through a bloody video on surgical procedures. Those who did go on the memory test had an increase in levels of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that’’s the body’’s first line of defense against germs. (45)________________
Stress prompts the body to produce certain stress hormones. (46)________________. But in the long run these hormones can have a harmful effect on the body and brain.