Stress is experienced on various levels and manifests itself as symptoms on a physical, emotional, mental and behavioral level. In this article, we will look specifically at how stress manifests itself as symptoms on a physical level.
Stress can be experienced in different ways. These are some of the common physical effects of stress.
1. Low power: Your energy may be reduced or low, you may tire easily, or have trouble getting up in the morning. You may experience low energy even though you think you have had enough rest and sleep.
2. Disturbed Sleep Patterns: You may have trouble falling asleep, wake up several times a night, or be unable to go back to sleep after waking up. The effect of disturbed sleep patterns is that your body lacks the ability to psychologically digest the situations that happened during the day.
3. Physical tension: You may experience body aches without any apparent obvious cause, such as headaches, muscle tension, stiff neck, etc.
4. Grinding or clenching your teeth at night: You may grind or clench your teeth at night. Observe the muscle tension in your jaw or ask your dentist about the condition of your back teeth.
5. Digestive problems: You may feel bloated or constipated for no apparent physical cause. Stress immediately affects the stomach, which can also lead to loss of appetite.
6. Chest area affected: You may experience shortness of breath, have tightness or pain in your chest, notice a fast heartbeat for no obvious physical reason.
7. Arthritis and others – ‘itis’: You may notice an increase in arthritis flare-ups and other inflammation or irritation on a physical level. Having to deal with this discomfort for a period of time also leads to more stress being experienced.
8. Effects of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and tranquilizers: A common behavioral symptom is increased use of recreational drugs, cigarettes, tranquilizers, and alcohol, which leads to physical symptoms themselves and may increase other symptoms listed above.
9. Restlessness: You may also feel that it is difficult for you to relax or be still. This can be experienced through nerve ticks like moving your legs up and down etc.
10. Low sexual desire: You may experience low or no sex drive.
The above symptoms can appear in any order, but very often they will be subtle at first and become more intense and include multiple symptoms when stress is not controlled or the causes are not addressed.
Remember that stress can only be successfully managed over a period of time. Once you address the causes of stress, your physical symptoms will lessen and lessen over time.
For other stress symptoms, see the following articles:
- mental symptoms of stress
- Emotional symptoms of stress
- Behavioral symptoms of stress