Top Signs Of Stress You Don’t Want To Ignore

We see a lot of people with stress at our wellness centers. They come to us because they, or their spouse, boss or doctor tell them they need to get a handle on their stress. Often people don’t realize how detrimental mounting stress is on their wellness-their health, relationships, work performance and overall contentment with life. Studies show that 90% of primary-care doctors office visits are stress related. We’ve put together this list of sign you want to pay attention to if wellness is a priority for you. Some will surprise you.

How To Identify If You Have Too Much Stress?

Stress can sneak up on you slowly, like the urban myth of the frog being slowly boiled and forgets to jump out of the water before it reaches dangerous temperatures. The good news is that there are ways to avoid letting it go too far. The first to-do is becoming aware of ourselves-both internally in terms of feelings, thoughts and sensations, and externally in how we are behaving- as well as our surroundings. Take a moment to check yourself on these signs of stress.

4 Areas That Show Signs Of Being Stressed-Out

Physical Signs Of Too Much Stress

We often think of physical symptoms as being caused by some health issue but not stress. If you have some of these physical issues it may be a sign you’re under too much stress and you need to address that, and focus on managing your stress better, rather than just focusing on the immediate symptoms below:

• Headaches
• Stomach troubles-indigestion, bloating, constipation, diarrhea
• Frequent flu or colds (studies show chronic stress lowers immune system functioning)
• Chest pain and racing heart (we’ve had a number of neurofeedback clients come to us because their cardiologist or ER doctor told them their “heart attack” was actually stress-induced.)
• Low sex drive-people often look to their partner as the source of this problem: “I’m no longer attracted to her/him.” When the real issue is that low energy and low sex-drive are from stress not how sexy their partner is. We’ve seen many clients organically reconnect with their partners after they took charge of managing their stress.

Mental / Cognitive Signs Of Too Much Stress

Your mind acts like a pill! You can have thoughts that are stress-full or thoughts that de-stress but the first step is to notice what kind of thoughts you’re having. That can help you assess how much stress perfumes your mind. Here are the top cognitive signs of stress:

• Negative thoughts. Take a moment and just review what kinds of thoughts you have had over the last 10 minutes, last hour, last day. Are most of them negative? We can look at issues from the glass half-full or half-empty, which angle are you taking?
• Racing thoughts. How fast are they moving? So fast that you can’t create a gap to notice them? One of the most valuable skills in managing your stress is to be able to separate your awareness from the thoughts so you can actually look at them critically rather than just be them, and act them out reactively.
• Worrier? Connected to the first point. Do you find yourself actively worrying all the time? This could go wrong, that is possibly bad…and find that it’s endless? A sure sign of needing to de-stress.
• Inability to concentrate or difficulties maintaining focus. Related to racing thoughts, if the speed of your mind is revved up we have difficulty focusing on one topic or staying on topic. If you’re over 60 you may immediately think that you are experiencing cognitive decline from aging, but it might be that you have too much stress in your life. (Memory problems are another sign of stress.)
• Performance anxiety at work. No one likes public speaking, whether it’s giving presentations to clients or speaking in front of large groups. But if your anxiety around public speaking has spiked, it may be a sign you’re under too much stress. Read more on helping performance anxiety.

Behavioral Signs Of Stress

If we’re not aware of our thought and emotions, sometimes looking at our behaviors can be a helpful way to see if we’re stressed-out. Here are the top behaviors connected with stress:

• Eating too much or too little. Some people overeat, especially comfort foods such as sweets and junk foods, and others do the exact opposite and lose their appetites when they’re under too much stress. Has your weight gone up or down?

• Changes in your sleep. Not feeling rested, getting less than 6 hours of sleep, finding it difficult to feel relaxed enough at the end of the day to sleep, or “crashing”, waking up in front of the TV at 2 AM. For some oversleeping is a sign of stress. It’s connected with wanting to avoid life.
• Not socializing. If we can’t relax we often avoid social situations and instead choose activities that numb us-binge watching TV, playing video games, eating comfort foods alone.
• Socializing but having the focus be mood-altering substances such as alcohol, pot, nicotine-related products, or highly distracting activities such as gaming.
• Avoiding responsibilities or procrastinating. You may be aware that doing these things would be easier than avoiding them yet you find yourself delaying paying bills, taking
• Relying on alcohol or pot to relax on a daily basis. Here’s a list of signs that use is headed in the direction of abuse.

Emotional Signs Of Stress

We all have ups and downs emotionally but if we find that we’re staying in the these upper and lower zones it can be a sign that stress is making us emotionally stuck. Here are the emotions to watch out for if you feel them daily, have a hard time shifting out of them, or find they interfere with connecting with others.

• Feeling down or sad
• Quick to react with angry outbursts. Are people “staying clear” of you? Calling you hot-headed or saying you have “anger issues?” We often want to blame others but often these feelings are a sign that we’re too stressed and not coping well, rather than be caused by external events or people.
• Fearful feelings or jitteriness often goes hand-in-hand with worrying thoughts.
• Feeling overwhelmed, which can lead to us isolating
• Feeling nothing! If you are disengaged or not caring out things people normally care about: friends, hobbies, doing a good job at work, or engaging in community activities.

What Reduces Stress?

Here’s a few impactful strategies to start de-stressing today:

• Trick your body into a relaxation response. Throughout the day stop and breath deeply for one minute, 30 breaths. Why? The slower, deeper breath is what the body does when it’s in a state of relaxation so when you force a deeper breath you are nudging your brain to recognize that it can shift out of stress and into relaxation.
• If you’re worrying about something write about it in a journal. Let yourself acknowledge all the feelings you have, even if they are irrational or exaggerated. Research shows it help.
• Hug someone you care about daily. Sounds too simple but research shows it increases our positive mood.
• Improve on your bedtime ritual. If you have children you know good sleep is something we train our children to do. There are stages to winding down the activities of the day and increasing a sense of calm and security. We also need to do this as adults. (You can switch out Good Night Moon for a novel so long as it’s not a crime drama!) Here’s our free e-book on developing better sleep habits.