Stress is good for you, apparently

Stress is usually thought to be something you should avoid in order to live a balanced, happy life.

But, a controversial new book says that escaping it all will not necessarily benefit stressheads. Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race suggests that we need to experience a certain degree of stress to feel alive.

According to author Todd Buchholz, it keeps our minds agile, makes us feel good about ourselves and can even help us to live longer.

The writer, who is a former economic advisor for The White House, said he got the idea when he started writing a book about people chasing success and losing their souls. He realised that rather than slowing down, people felt the need to become part of the rat race and to ride the stress.

Buchholz's ideas are fairly reolutionary compared with modern thought, which suggest that having a work-life balance is the key to a long and happy life.

Buchholz argues that people become brainwashed by so-called happiness gurus who undermine their own advice as they rush around trying to sell merchandise.

Their proposed solutions, he says, do not help people learn to live with and manage stress.

He said: “Being unhappy is far more likely to be caused by wider factors than working too hard. Indeed holidays and retirement are more likely to make us less happy, he argues. Most people enjoy their jobs, it promotes social interaction with colleagues, and is a refuge from more painful parts of their lives.”