Symptoms Of Stress

There are many signs of stress. Too many to list. Essentially they come down to this.

If you push a machine beyond it's limits, sooner or later it will break.

In the same way if you push your body, your emotions, your mind and your relationships too far, they will break.

Physiologically we are elastic. In that if we push ourselves to our limits we can go that little bit further.

Under stress, our adrenal glands secrete stress hormones. These shut down our digestive processes and drain all blood to our limbs. They block our sensitivity to pain and gather all of our resources to cope with the current situation.

As a temporary state and with adequate rest, this isn't a problem. In fact we actually mould ourselves to be able to cope with more. We become stronger.

The problem arises when we abuse this elasticity. When the situation is no longer something like seeing off a hungry lion, but a demanding work problem. We over stress the body. We are in an almost perpetual state of stress and so we deplete our resources.

Whatever we eat we can't get the full nutritional value from because our digestive system isn't working properly.

We don't look our best because our resources are diverted.

We feel bad physically because our muscles are in a permanent state of heightened awareness.

We feel bad mentally because our processes are working on minimal resources and our attention is focused on possible danger.

And so we feel bad emotionally because we know we are at the end of our tether. Our body becomes like a car without oil to lubricate it's work. And everything we do becomes a source of friction. Every symptom of stress feels like poking an open cut. 

Through understanding these symptoms and processes we can prevent them from happening.