Signs Of Stress That Shouldn’t Be Ignored

Your body will tell you even when your brain ignores it

Stress, anxiety, and worry all show themselves eventually no matter how much you try to suppress them or ignore that they exist.

Eventually, we all reach a breaking point and it’s at the point that we wish we had paid attention to the signs sooner so that this could have been dealt with earlier, before the emotional meltdown or frightening panic attack. These things rarely just happen out of the blue.

Like a volcano brewing beneath the surface, it takes surmounting pressure till one day there is an explosion. Life is all about balance and when we notice these indicators in our lives that mean that something is unbalanced and needs attention before we reach that breaking point.

Here are some signs of stress that shouldn’t be ignored.

Appetite shifts

When you notice a sudden shift in your appetite usually there is an emotion tied to this. You either feel the urge to eat more, or food doesn’t cross your mind.

When our eating habits change, this affects both our minds and bodies as we are either not getting enough of the nutrition we need or we are overindulging and causing ourselves to feel sick. This usually is a sign that something is going on beneath the surface that needs addressing.

Recognizing this shift in our appetites allows us to implement control over our eating habits. This means eating when we don’t feel like it and stopping ourselves from overeating.

These changes will affect our mental health greatly as we are giving our mind and body the perfect balance that they need.

Muscle tension

This tends to go unnoticed as we don’t realize we are even doing this. It’s only when getting a tension headache or muscle pains that we realize that our body is under stress and was pushed to the limit.

Tensing our muscles, especially our facial muscles is a sure sign of stress. This can also happen in our sleep when we grind our teeth.

Paying attention to how our bodies respond to stress will allow us to identify when we are in a situation that causes us to feel triggered. We also can learn to recognize whenever this happens and relax our muscles when we notice the tension. Relaxing our muscles will calm our minds too.

Broken sleep patterns

Not getting a healthy amount of sleep is a vicious cycle, as our stress causes us to not sleep, then the lack of sleep causes more stress and anxiety, and then the cycle continues.

Sleep is so essential for our physical and mental health and a lack of it will affect our lives if it isn’t addressed quickly.

Sleep is one of the most important things that we need. Listening to relaxing music before bed and turning off all devices allows our brains to unwind and makes drifting off easier.

Having a set bed and awakening time creates a routine that becomes easier to stick to as our minds and bodies will adapt to this schedule.

Irritability

Stress makes you feel on edge and more sensitive to your surroundings. You don’t know what will trigger you and quite frankly it feels like everything will set you off at the moment. Sounds feel more jarring than usual and there is a tendency to feel jumpy.

When we are in this state deep breathing is a great way to overcome the aggravated mindset that we are in. However deep breathing should be done from our stomachs and not our chest because sometimes breathing from our chest can increase the feeling of anxiety and panic.

Changing the channel in our brains also works, find something whether that be uplifting music or a funny video to turn your attention away from your anger and towards something more lighthearted.

Burnout

The constant feeling of fatigue is also a tell-tale sign of stress. When you experience burnout, it is generally because you have been pushing yourself to the edge both mentally and physically. Feeling burnt out is like operating a car with no petrol, it just won’t work.

Having enough rest, but also remaining active will help banish burnout. This means not pushing ourselves too hard, but also not allowing ourselves to fall into a slump of laziness. There is the temptation to not leave our bed to fight burnout, but being completely inactive is not beneficial either.

Finding a happy medium between being active and resting will create room for recovery.

Takeaway

Stress is a normal part of our lives, but there are times when it just simply becomes too overwhelming. We end up living in this state and it becomes our new normal, but this is a very unhealthy place to be stuck in.

The above signs are signs that stress is prevailing in our lives. Luckily these are all things that can be countered. There are many practices that we can incorporate into our lives to counter these symptoms of stress. Such as meditation, eating balanced meals, exercising, and spending time in nature.

The earlier we notice stress taking over our lives, the easier it becomes to tackle this. When we have self-awareness we are in control and can take the necessary steps toward our recovery.