CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

I am sure I don’t really have to tell you what causes you to be stressed as these can be individual for us all!!    I will though make a small list of general causes and symptoms.

Symptoms of stress –

Adrenal gland malfunction leads to tiredness

muscles feeling weak

difficulty in getting to sleep, making decisions, concentrating

loss of sense of humour

waking up during the night,

craving any kind of sweet things

The accumulation of hormones (and most of us have experience of those build ups!) leads to

feeling irritable, frustrated, impotent, anxiety, wanting to cry at the least thing and aggression

Some more physical symptoms

Lack of appetite, craving for food when under pressure,

Frequent indigestion or heartburn

Tendency to sweat

Nervous twitches

Nail Biting

Headaches

Causes

An overload of the pressure of today’s fast moving world, driving, travelling, health issues

Boredom of not being stretched enough

Life events building up

Even good life events e.g. marriage, holidays

Stress can run in your family i.e. inherited it

Did you know you can still suffer from stress even if you look calm on the outside as it is all happening on the inside?

Management of Stress

Once more, stress management is all about CHOICE.   It is about you seeing that you have a choice in how you view events in your life.  And here are some practical tips –

Change some things in your life e.g.   take ‘sanity breaks’, create

an ‘exit time’ so work doesn’t spill into family time.

Take small steps rather attempting to do it all – your anxiety will simply come up again.

Remember that your social support is of vast importance both within your friends and family and at work.

Take quiet time for you even when you are running around like a headless chicken.

Prioritise your day as much as you are able to.

Ask for help

It’d be good to hear from you as to how you manage your stress.