While some day-to-day stress is normal (and can even be a good thing if it motivates you), chronic, overwhelming stress can hurt your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Knowing how to spot the signs and symptoms that you are under too much stress can help you stay aware and address the issues before they harm your health.
Stress itself can cause problems in your organs, tissues, and just about every system in your body.
Depending on how you handle stress, you might have symptoms that affect everything from your hormones to your heart and more.
Some of the physical signs that your stress levels are too high include:
Pain or tension in your head, chest, stomach, or muscles. Your muscles tend to tense up when you are stressed, and over time this can cause headaches, migraines, or musculoskeletal problems.
Digestive problems. These can include diarrhea and constipation, or nausea and vomiting. Stress can affect how quickly food moves through your system and the way your intestines absorb nutrients.
Reproductive issues. Stress can cause changes to your sex drive, problems with irregular or painful periods in women, or impotence and problems with sperm production in men. Whether you are a man or a woman, you might also feel reduced sexual desire when you are under too much stress.
Changes to your heart rate and blood pressure. When you are overwhelmed with stress, your body goes into “fight-or-flight” mode, which triggers your adrenal glands to release the hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These can make your heartbeat faster, and your blood pressure rise.
Get moving to manage stress
Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits.
It pumps up your endorphins.
Physical activity may help bump up the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner’s high, any aerobic activity, such as a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike, can contribute to this same feeling.
It reduces the negative effects of stress.
Exercise can provide stress relief for your body while imitating the effects of stress, such as the flight or fight response, and helping your body and its systems practice working together through those effects. This can also lead to positive effects in your body—including your cardiovascular, digestive, and immune systems—by helping protect your body from the harmful effects of stress.
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