There are two different types of stress: distress and eustress. Distress is the body’s reaction to unpleasant stimuli. It is experienced physically and psychologically as a threat. In our culture, the loss of status or physical comforts are considered as threats, and the body reacts in the same way as if confronted with a threat to physical safety. Eustress is the body’s reaction to pleasant stimuli, and has physical and psychological elements. Pleasant stress is considered to be the result of effective coping with stimulation, and is generally regarded as beneficial. From a Buddhist perspective, which is organized around impermanence and the results from the process of craving and clinging, eustress that relies on external factors (including social status) is ultimately not beneficial, as the mental fabrications associated with wanting pleasant stimulation to continue creates distress when the pleasant feeling is threatened, either directly, or through realizing the potential of the pleasure ceasing. The cultivation of samadhi/passadhi (stability of focus and inner tranquility) through regular meditation practice produces feelings of well-being that can be considered as eustress, but are much less vulnerable to craving and clinging, particularly when vipassana illuminates the conditional and transitory nature of samadhi/passadhi. What happens to the body when a stress reaction is occurring?

- ü The processes involved with attention become fixated on the stress-inducing perceptions to the exclusion of other considerations through craving and clinging.
- ü Hormones generated in the pituitary gland send signals to the adrenal glands located on top of the kidneys. These glands secrete adrenaline, which increases muscle tension, blood pressure and heart rate. Cortisol is also secreted, which increases glucose production and the immune response.
- ü When the stress is prolonged and/or chronic, the otherwise beneficial effects of adrenaline and cortisol become toxic.

When the stressful circumstances are brief and clearly understood, the presence of adrenaline and cortisol in the body is beneficial. When the stressful circumstances are persistent and/or the outcome is uncertain, the levels of adrenaline and cortisol become toxic. This toxicity results in chronic high blood pressure, structural changes in the brain that reduce emotional self-regulation, chronic headaches or back pain, and hypervigilance regarding potential threats. Additionally, there is an increased vulnerability to disorders of the immune system, which can make it easier to get sick, or by creating or aggravating diseases and disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or colitis. There is an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in our culture; one of the functions of cortisol is to activate insulin, and that may play a role in generating diabetes.

##### STRESS AND THE FIVE HINDRANCES

The experience of samadhi/passadhi is dependent upon setting aside the five hindrances: sensual desire, aversion and ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt. Sensual desire is characterized by excitement and fixation on a desirable focus of attention. Aversion and ill-will is characterized by excitement and fixation on an undesirable focus of attention. Sloth and torpor is characterized by dullness and drowsiness regarding any focus of attention, and skeptical doubt, which is characterized by indecisiveness, confusion and the absence of commitment regarding a focus of attention. There are elements of restlessness in any moment of the mind that is unwholesome; that is, a restless and agitated mind is characteristic of unwholesomeness in life. The hindrance that is most easily associated with stress is restlessness and worry, uddhacca/kukkuccha. Here’s what Wikipedia says about restlessness:

In the Visuddhimagga (II, Part IX, Chapter I, 250) gives the following definition of uddhacca:...It has mental excitement as characteristic like wind-tossed water; wavering as function, like a flag waving in the wind; whirling as manifestation like scattered ashes struck by a stone; unsystematic thought owing to mental excitement as proximate cause; and it should be regarded as mental distraction over an object of excitement.

Here’s the rendering of worry in the Wikipedia:

The Atthasālinī (II, Book II, Part IX, Chapter III, 258) gives the following definition of kukkucca: ...It has repentance as characteristic, sorrow at deeds of commission and omission as function, regret as manifestation, deeds of commission and omission as proximate cause, and it should be regarded as a state of bondage.