Stress Symptoms - Read The Clues

We have all heard of the words "stress" and "stress symptoms". Even thinking about it distresses us a little.

The Origin Of Stress

Stress can be caused by many things such as work, financial issues, school, anything really.

It is most important to recognize whether you are under stress or not.

When we think about stress, most of us think about what causes stress. Stress can be caused by anything because there is good stress, eustress, and bad stress, distress.

Have you ever thought about the symptoms of stress?

Many of us have probably never thought about what stress actually brings along with it, instead we focus on what causes it and how we can eliminate it from our everyday lives.

The body constantly tries to tell us through stress symptoms such as rapid palpitation, dizzy spells, tight muscles, hair falling out or various body aches that something is wrong.

Main symptoms

One of the main stress symptoms is the fact that under stress blood is being diverted from parts of our body such as the skin, liver, spleen, kidneys, bones, and muscle to the more important parts of the body like the heart, brain, and adrenals.

In medical terms, this is known as the “diving reflex.” When someone is experiencing this, it is a sign that he/she is stressed. Usually the skin becomes cold and clammy, a loss of appetite, severe muscular pain, a dry throat, and a more frequent passing of bowls.

Respiratory symptoms of stress are common. While someone is stressed the body needs more oxygen from the environment. To do this, the body attempts to elevate the respiratory rate, which helps to gather more oxygen. This usually causes breathlessness and in some cases respiratory alkalosis which is a temporal disturbance in the acidity balance of the blood.

Another stress symptom is an increase in someone’s heart rate. Normally, an adult’s heart beats around 50 to 100 times a minute.

To provide more nutrients throughout the body, the heart beats faster which results in an increased heart rate and the dilation of the blood vessels. All of this can lead to chest pain, flushing of the skin, a warm sensation, and palpitation.

An increased heart rate leads to an elevated blood pressure level, which can result in a stress headache and in severe cases a heart attack and a collection of fluid in the lungs.

Even sinus pain and stress can be closely related, due to body changes induced by psychological perceived pressure.

Also when someone is stressed, his or her body needs more energy so it creates an extra amount of free glucose in the bloodstream. The glucose is then stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen, using insulin in the process.

There seems to be a clear link between Cortisol and Stress.

Cortisol, an important stress induced hormone, breaks down the glycogen into blood glucose, and insulin tries to counteract this excess of glucose in the blood, converting it back into glycogen.

This cycle repeats itself in peak and drops of blood glucose, provoking instability in your overall body functioning and possibly even in your mood balance.

Causes And Symptoms Leading To Trouble

Because of this stress symptom, the increased mobilization of glucose in the blood, known as hyperglycemia, the body has a decline of energy stores as well as thicker blood that can lead to a vessel blockage, which can lead to a stroke or heart attack.

High and sustained levels of cortisol in the blood seem related to more functional impairments in coherent thinking, sleep and memory.

This can lead to more stress in your daily life as your mind starts to function less than optimal under chronic stress.

Effects on The Mind

Psychologically, someone who is under a lot of stress can suffer from mood swings, anxiety, depressions, spurts of anger, irritability and lack of concentration. All this can be caused by the initial stress symptoms.

In an attempt to break this cycle of too much ups and downs, a person can easily become more dependent on drugs or alcohol.

The delicate balance of some important body biochemicals, such as neurotransmitters and hormones is altered by stress and can give way to secondary effects not often associated with stress like bladder incontinence or those annoying stress headaches.

What To Do Next

If you experience any of these symptoms, it is important to remain attentive to the stress symptoms and learn to cope with the situations.

When stressed, it is important to find durable and healthy ways of stress relief. A good example of this is tension headache medicine based on lifestyle changes.

If you need to take a day off of work to relax, then do it. Many times, even if we are under the influence of a stressful condition and our body reacts to it internally as well as externally, we fail to realize that we are reacting under stress.

Get rid of your acute stress completely before you take major decisions. The stress induced elevated production of cortisol and its metabolites needs a whole week to get out of your system. Take that into account when planning a holiday or an important event in your life.

And What About Chronic Stress?

Chronic stress is a special case to consider.

When the causes of stress are there long enough for us to get habituated to them, the chronic stress does not provoke so much adrenaline as acute stress does. And adrenaline protects the body somehow against the harmful effects of too much cortisol in the blood.

Because of this, it is very important to recognize clear signs of stress –better sooner than later- and find ways to relief them.

If you don’t, the stress and its effects on your body and mind will continue to build up and can lead to things such as depression, heart attack, or even a stroke.

Read here all about it: Can stress cause hives or what is the link between stress and mouth sores?

Conclusion

Be wise and kind to your body as to a good friend. Your health is one of the most important things you have in this life, so learn to recognize the main stress symptoms and take them seriously.

Define again what is important and what is not. Try to simplify your life to the very basics and you too can live wisely and happily.

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