Symptoms of Stress

The physical, emotional and mental symptoms of stress can be debilitating, especially if they continue long term. If you suffer from too much stress you might be suffering from a variety of stress symptoms without realizing how much impact they are having in your life.

Stress can wear you down, make you feel ill, increase your irritability and even affect your relationships. Doctors now know that long term symptoms of stress can have a large impact on your overall health and well-being.

Let's consider these four categories of stress symptoms: Physical, Emotional, Behavioral and Cognitive.

Physical Symptoms of Stress:

With physical stress your body feels tired and and low in energy. You might experience stress related headaches, aches and pains, constipation or diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, increased heartbeat and even chest pain. There is a strong association between stress and cardiovascular disease. When you are experiencing high levels of stress your immunity is low so you may also be vulnerable to colds and flu and other stress related illnesses.

The immune system becomes dysfunctional and the physical body is vulnerable to colds, flu, viruses and even disease. Other physical symptoms of stress include migraines, loss of sex drive, difficulties in concentrating and stress related hair loss. Also, the digestive system activity is reduce which creates problems with the digestive system and gastrointestinal difficulties such as constipation, diarrhea and ulcers.

Chronic stress in relation to inner-city living and economic hardship has been linked to hypertension or high blood pressure.

Emotional Symptoms:

* Feeling irritable
* Being negative all the time
* Feelings of hopelessness
* Hyperthoughts
* Mood swings

The signs and symptoms of emotional and psychological stress are indicators to you that your body is run down. Your emotional state is often a by-product of your physical body being out of balance. Feeling confident to handle emotions during a difficult situation relieves the tension and stress. By using emotional intelligence you are better able to manage your emotions and reactions to influence the situation.

Behavioral Symptoms:

A behavior is any action you do that is conscious or unconscious. For instance, you can consciously behave in a way that relieves your stress and improves your health. Though some people deal with situations in a way that increases their stress levels.

Behaviors can also indicate that you are experiencing symptoms of stress: changes in your eating pattern, not getting enough sleep or wanting to sleep all day, removing yourself from social activities, procrastinating and not wanting to get jobs or tasks done, using alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to unwind.

Managing behaviors is taking direct action behaviors and modifying them to reach a desired consequence or goal. For example, you might choose to change your behavior and start eating healthy. The desired result might be an increase in energy, better sleeping habits, and lower cholesterol.

Cognitive Symptoms:

Symptoms include things such as the inability to concentrate, making poor judgments, having difficulty with remembering, re-occurring negative thinking, and feeling anxious and nervous most of the time.

The first step in Cognitive Therapy Stress Management is to become aware of your thoughts. You can teach yourself to monitor your thoughts and assumptions and start to identify incorrect or unhelpful thinking that leads to high stress levels.

Symptoms of Stress to Easy Stress Management