What is stress and how can stress impact performance?

Liz Makin Author

Sep 25, 2025 |

A look at what is stress and how stress can impact performance.

What is stress?

Stress is the body's way of responding to any perceived demand or threat. Your body releases a flood of hormones to arouse your body for emergency action which is known as the fight or flight response.

Stress within your comfort zone can help you stay focused, energetic and alert. It can help you meet challenges and in an emergency situation it can also save your life. Stress outside of your comfort zone can stop being helpful and have a negative impact on you.

Stress is the state that you experience when you perceive that you cannot adequately cope with the demands being made on you. You feel under pressure and don't have the physical and mental reserves to cope. This may be because you don't know how to cope, don't have the resources to cope or are in poor health.

There is a difference between pressure and stress. Pressure can be positive and a motivating factor and is often essential to complete a task. It can help you achieve your goals and perform better. Stress occurs when pressure becomes excessive. Stress is a natural reaction to too much pressure. If stress becomes excessive and prolonged, mental and physical illness may develop.

Stress can impact different people in completely different ways. What one person finds stressful may not be stressful to somebody else.

If you feel that you don't have the resources to cope with a particular situation, you will begin to feel stressed.

Your reaction to each situation will depend on many factors including your personality, upbringing, background, culture, knowledge and experience, health and your current circumstances.

What you find stressful in one set of circumstances you may not find stressful in another and what you find stressful one day you may not find stressful on a different day. You may feel stressed due to a specific issue, as a result of a series of minor irritations, from major issues or due to a combination of factors.

How does stress impact performance?

Stress is a necessary emotion. It is difficult to take action until you feel at some level of stress.

As stress levels increase we move from a state of low performance, through increased attention and interest to a state of peak performance.

But as stress levels continue to increase our performance decreases again, as we become overloaded, feel stressed and anxious and ultimately reach a state of exhaustion and burnout.

Peak performance is an energised mental state that occurs when you are totally focused and immersed in what you are doing and the challenge matches your skill set. It has also been described as being in a state of flow.

When you enter these different states will depend on lots of factors and can vary for you day by day and even hour by hour.

Do you want to explore more about stress and how to reduce and manage stress?

If you want practical tips and strategies to help you manage stress positively in your life and at work our stress management online courses are for you. They contain information on stress, how to reduce stress and lots of stress management tips and strategies. 

Take a look at our stress management online courses by clicking on the links below: 

Stress management for life: how to reduce & manage stress

Stress management for work

Stress management for business owners, directors, managers & professionals

Categories: : Personal development, Stress management