Living in this modern lifestyle we all live a life which is full of hassle, frustration, demands and deadlines. There are many people for whom stress has become part of their day-to-day lives. Being stressed in a smaller dose can help you from performing under pressure and motivate you to give your best shot. On the other hand when you are constantly running in emergency, your body and mind have to pay for it. You can easily protect your body and mind by recognizing the signs and symptoms of stress and taking the most appropriate steps to reduce its harmful effects.
What is stress?
Stress can be defined as a normal physical response to events that make you feel defenseless or upset your balance in some way. Every time when you sense danger one automatically starts taking defensive steps this process situation my create stress response. Sometime stress responses in a way to protect your body and in some situation this may prove to be dangerous and prove to be unhealthy for your life.
Working properly in a stressful situation such as, staying focused, energetic, and extra conscious about your moves can help you handle the situation better and will help you overcome it more appropriately by giving you more strength to defend yourself. Stress is something that keeps you on your toes during the presentations at work or school, helps you to sharpen your concentration or drives you to study during exams when you are rather watching TV.
However, beyond a certain point, stress stops begin helpful and starts causing major damage on your health, mood, relationships, productivity, and the quality of your life.
Common Symptoms of Stress
Stress affects all of us. One may notice the symptoms of stress while you are disciplining your kids, during busy ti9mes at work, while managing your finance, or while coping with challenges in a relationship. So, basically stress is everywhere. At some point of time stress is actually beneficial, but too much stress can actually put you down and make you sick both mentally and physically.
The first and the basic step to control stress in you is by knowing the symptoms of stress. Although recognizing the symptoms of stress can be more hander than you think. Many a times most of us are so used to stress that we often don’t realize that we are in stress and until we breakdown.
Stress is capable of affect almost all the aspects of life including physical health, behavioral emotions and the person’s thinking ability. While the person is stressed no part of his body stays immune. Different people handle stress differently, and the symptoms of stress vary from person to person. Many a times symptoms of stress can be vague and make be same as those caused due to some medical condition. Here are some of the commonly notice symptoms of stress.
Various emotional Symptoms of stress include;
- Being easily troubled or restless
- Being frustrated or moody most of the times
- Many a time you lose control or need to take control it.
- Facing difficulty in relaxing and quieting your body and mind
- Feeling terrible about yourself developing low self-esteem, worthless, lonely, and depressed
- Avoiding your closed ones.
Various physical symptoms of stress include:
- Headaches
- Upset stomach, including diarrhea, nausea and constipation,
- Tension or pain in muscles
- Body aches
- Low energy
- Chest pain or rapid or irregular heartbeats
- Insomnia (sleep disorder)
- Causes frequent cold and infection
- Lowers sexual desire and/or ability
- Feeling of nervousness and shaking
- Ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet
- Dry mouth which causes difficulty swallowing
- Clenched jaw and grinding teeth
Various cognitive symptoms of stress include:
- Constant worrying about something
- Continuous racing of thoughts in your mind
- Absentmindedness and Incompetence
- Inability to focus
- Poor judgment
- Being distrustful or seeing only the negative side
Various behavioral symptoms of stress include:
- Sudden Change in appetite you either start eating too much or too less
- Delaying or avoiding responsibilities
- Increase use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes
- demonstrating more worried behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing
Common risks of stress are;
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Digestive problems
- Heart disease
- Sleep problems
- Weight gain/Obesity
- Memory and concentration impairment
- Asthma
- Diabetes
- Headaches
- Depression and anxiety
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Accelerated aging
- Premature death
- Mental health issues
- High blood pressure/hypertension
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Sexual dysfunction (impotence, premature ejaculation, low libido, etc.)
- Hair loss, acne, dull skin, signs of early ageing, etc.
How to manage stress effectively?
We all must learn to accept the fact that tress is part of our life and we all must learn to handle it. The best way is to understand all the sign, symptoms and situations that make you stressful and try to avoid such situations. In case if you think your partner or any of your family member is overwhelmed with stress than, take him or her to doctor to find relief.
In case if you have stress symptoms, taking some of the helpful steps to manage stress may show numerous health benefits in you. You my explore various stress management strategies such as;
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Physical activity
- Relaxation techniques
- Tai chi
And most importantly ensure that you are giving enough rest to your body and get enough sleep. Eating a balanced diet and avoid substance abuse since excess use of caffeine may seriously affect your health.