Recognizing Signs of Chronic Stress
When you feel stressed (when the stress response is turned on) the way your body works changes. A flood of hormones is released into your blood, kicking your body into overdrive. Your breath rate increases, your heart beats faster, and you feel a burst of energy. In the short term, this can help you perform better and deal with the challenges before you.
However, if the stress response gets set off too often or isn’t turned off, and your brain thinks you’re still under threat, the hormones keep coming. Over time, this can cause problems. It’s harder to think and perform physically. You feel sore and tired. Your blood pressure and blood sugar go up. Your immune system doesn't work as well, so you get sick more often and take longer to recover. This is known as chronic stress.
Over time, chronic stress increases your risk of chronic illness, like diabetes and heart disease. It can also reduce the number of years you live (your lifespan) and the number of years you live while feeling healthy (your healthspan).
When stressed, you may have some or all of the following:
Muscle tension and pain. You might flex your neck, shoulders, legs, or fists. You might clench your jaw. Your back, head, or neck might ache.
Trouble thinking. Your thoughts might race through your mind. Your thoughts might constantly drift back to one topic. You might feel like you have less attention to detail for anything else.
Mood problems. You might feel unusually annoyed. You might feel like lashing out. You might feel down or unmotivated.
Trouble sleeping. You might have a hard time falling or staying asleep. You might feel too "on" or alert to rest.
Fast heartbeat and breathing. You might feel your heart racing. You might take rapid, shallow breaths.
Managing stress starts with recognizing what stress looks like for you in the moment. Stress affects people differently, so knowing how it hits you can help you know what steps to take to address it.