Stress
doesn’t always look stressful.
Psychologist
Connie Lillas uses a driving analogy to describe the three most common ways
people respond when they’re overwhelmed by stress:
- Foot on the gas – An angry or agitated stress response. You’re heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.
- Foot on the brake – A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.
- Foot on both – A tense and frozen stress response. You “freeze” under pressure and can’t do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you’re extremely agitated.
Please watch the video and think of how many of these stress
signs do you have? Maybe you never linked them to stress or your food cravings?
If
you experience even one or two of these stress symptoms as listed out by The
American Institute
of Stress, it might be
that your body is trying to tell you something.
1-
Physical Stress Signs
These
include chest pains, dizziness or fainting, breathlessness, feeling restless,
frequent colds, and nervousness that leads to nail-biting.
You
could even have symptoms like cramps, aches and pains, twitches, digestive
problems like constipation or diarrhea, low sex drive or erectile dysfunction.
Even
headaches, dry mouth, trembling hands, tight neck and shoulders, low back pain,
cold feet, and increased sensitivity to noise and light can cause stress.
2-
Mental Stress Signs
When
you are stressed mentally you might feel depressed, worried or anxious. You
feel weepy, angry, and remain hungry always or have no appetite at all.
You
might also isolate yourself from others, procrastinate or neglect
responsibility, use alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax. And you might
develop nervous habits like shaking your leg or keep pacing around.
You
may always feel tired and drained out, sleepy, and experience a lack of
concentration. I have some of these stress signs too!
3-
Emotional Stress Signs
Emotional
stress symptoms can make you moody, agitated, feeling overwhelmed, and you
might feel lonely and isolated. Even when you want to relax, you might not be
able to.
There
might be feelings of guilt, resentment, irritability, hopelessness,
powerlessness, and panic attacks.
4-
Cognitive Stress Signs
Cognitive
signs of stress like poor judgment, memory problems, seeing only the negative,
anxious or racing thoughts, and constant worrying can also affect you.
5-
Behavioral Stress Signs
Even
nail biting, hair pulling, restlessness, aggressiveness, obsessive thinking,
edginess, and withdrawal are signs of stress.
Fortunately you have a choice. Even two :)
The
easiest choice is to do nothing and let chronic stress
and elevated cortisol levels slowly break down our bodily defenses and increase
your risk for diseases, and makes you fat and your weight loss ineffective.
The
more effective choices are to do something – about either your
stress level, the way you handle stress or how your body responds to stressful
situations.
Lets
face it - stress is here to stay, and its already well known that stress
is going to be the number one health/wellness/well-being problem for
majority of mankind in many years to come.
You
simply can’t afford to leave it unresolved.
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