What are signs of stress?
Stress & pressure don't manifest in the same way for all of us. They can occur in a variety of ways. Some people become racy and jump from one task to another without completing anything because of the pressure, for others stress can feel like a strangling inability to move or get anything done. For some people, stress can be motivating and they thrive on the stimulation of the pressure which can distract them from other aspects of life, this can be effective until overwhelm or exhaustion kick in. Some people might dissociate and check out on their phones or television to avoid what they are experiencing while others may try and hide their feelings by rising up into a superiority and pretending that they are coping rather than admitting that they are finding it challenging.
What are symptoms of stress?
Physical symptoms
Difficulty breathing
Panic attacks
Blurred eyesight or sore eyes
Sleep problems
Fatigue
Muscle aches and headaches
Chest pains and high blood pressure
Indigestion or heartburn
Constipation or diarrhoea
Feeling sick, dizzy or fainting
Sudden weight gain or weight loss
Developing rashes or itchy skin
Sweating
Changes to your period or menstrual cycle
Existing physical health problems getting worse
Behavioural symptoms
Snap at people
Bite your nails
Pick at or itch your skin
Grind your teeth or clench your jaw
Experience sexual problems, such as losing interest in sex or being unable to enjoy sex
Eat too much or too little
Smoke, use recreational drugs or drink alcohol more than you usually would
Restless, like you can't sit still
Cry or feel tearful
Spend or shop too much
Not exercise as much as you usually would, or exercise too much
Withdraw from people around you
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Psychological and emotional symptoms
Anger, irritability, or restlessness
Feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, or unfocused
Racing thoughts or constant worry
Problems with your memory or concentration
Making bad decisions
Find it hard to make decisions
Unable to concentrate
Unable to remember things, or make your memory feel slower than usual
Constantly worry or have feelings of dread
Can stress make you sick?
Stress can have a negative impact on your immune system and physical health, ongoing stress can increase the risk for hypertension, heart attack, or stroke and autoimmune diseases. In the short term, stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol give your body energy to either fight or run away from a stressor. Your liver also produces more blood sugar to give your body energy so that you are able to escape the danger. If you are facing a chronic stressor, your body may not reabsorb the extra blood sugar that the liver pumps out therefore becoming more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Overexposure to cortisol can lead to thyroid problems and affect your ability to think clearly and also cause excess abdominal fat.
Why am I stressed?
There are many different types of stress so by nominating which variant supports you to understand why it is there in the first place. Stress is the disparity between our thoughts, feelings and expectations and the reality of what we find ourselves in. To put it simply it is the difference between the pictures of how we want life to be and reality. Stress factors broadly fall into four types or categories: physical stress, psychological stress, psychosocial stress, and psycho-spiritual stress. This contributes to an underlying level of unrest that is compounded by any external environmental factors. Expressing how you are feeling and openly communicating about what is going on for you may be supportive in understanding the whole picture about why you are feeling stressed in the first place. Really looking at lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, and work-life balance can go a long way in supporting your body to be able to cope with the demands that life is asking from you.
Stress and body connection
It is always recommended to consult your medical general practitioner for any abnormal physiological or biological symptoms. There are a myriad of recommendations for stress on the internet and a quick Google search will give you more information than you can poke a stick at. We have more funding, more medication, more treatments and more research than ever before and yet, stress remains a debilitating part of everyday life for many people and is continuing to increase every year. Something is not adding up.
Through body connection, we become grounded and present to our environment. This means that we are not stressed by situations that would have stressed us before we developed this connection with our body. As our body connection increases we develop a different way of being in which our normal is a state of connection and settlement ~ heavenly homeostasis. Participants in the Body Connection Program have confirmed that their wellbeing, confidence and ability to deal with stressful situations increased as their body connection developed throughout the program. When connected to the Soul via a deepening connection to the body, we have more presence and confidence and can more easily recognise the signs of stress and attend to them sooner because they do not belong to our everyday way of being which has become our normal.
The Body Connection Program supports you to re-connect to your body and felt sense of self and is specifically designed to support with the building of presence in our day-to-day life. In turn, participants have noticed a marked reduction in symptoms of stress and an improvement in their daily life. If you would like to try one of the exercises created for stress, click here.