10 Important Signs That Your Body Is Very Stressed
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Stress doesn’t only manifest itself in a rising frustration you feel within. It’s much more vicious than that! Stress can lead to several chronic conditions, which on the surface may seem as if they have nothing do with it whatsoever. So, if you feel like you’ve been under the weather a lot lately and your immune system seems compromised, it’s time you looked into stress as a possible cause.
Here are ten conditions that stress can cause, which also serve as signs that your body is under severe stress!
1. You’ve Got Skin Diseases
You thought your acne was all due to lack of a proper skincare routine and greasy foods, didn’t you? Turns out another major cause of acne and other skin diseases, such as psoriasis is stress (1). And this is true for even those adolescent years when you were a student! Scientists have proven through research that psychological stress can trigger skin problems (2). If your acne refuses to go despite treatment, you might want to look into stress as a cause.
2. Your Weight Fluctuates Wildly
There was a time when you could control your weight with the help of diet and exercise, but now you can’t. As you already know, stress releases a hormone in your body known as cortisol. This hormone is responsible for keeping the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats in your body in check. However, when an excess amount of cortisol is produced due to chronic stress, your body ends up burning fewer calories, which leads to weight gain (3). However, in certain cases, stress can also cause you to lose weight, especially when it’s coupled with anxiety.
3. You Get A Cold Too Often
If no matter what the season is, you find yourself sneezing and dripping nose goo, you can blame stress for it (4). As mentioned before, stress causes the production of cortisol. Due to chronic stress, your immune system’s sensitivity to cortisol reduces, which causes inflammation. This, in turn, can increase your chances of catching a cold. Eliminating the worry-factor in your life can help curb frequent bouts of cold.
4. You Face Stomach Problems
Yet again, greasy foods are not the only culprit for your gastric problems. Studies have shown that stress has a profound impact on the health of your gastrointestinal tract (5). In case remedies such as prescribed medications fail to provide relief, you should consider scheduling an appointment with a psychologist. He or she will be able to help treat your anxiety.
5. You Have Poor Concentration Levels
One of the worst parts of chronic stress is that it can severely affect your concentration levels. When you find it hard to focus on tasks at hand, your productivity reduces, causing you to take more time to complete tasks than it normally would. This happens because stress causes nervous tension, which makes it hard for your mind to focus on what you’re doing (6).
6. You Experience Hair Loss
This one is a bad news. Scientists have found out that stress not only causes hair fall but even has the power to make you partially or fully bald (7). If you look in the mirror and see that the volume of your hair has gone down dramatically, and following the right diet and taking vitamin supplements is not helping, stress can be the cause. You’ll need to cut down on stress to save your tresses.
7. You Get Frequent Headaches
As popularly believed, the commonest type of headache is indeed caused by stress. Although other causes can range from sleeping in the wrong position to having sinusitis, high or low blood pressure, and even pregnancy. However, emotional stress at home or work can also cause frequent headaches (8). You can use pills to get rid of them, but they’ll return until the root cause is removed.
8. You Have No Interest In Under-The-Cover Fun
According to a study conducted by medical experts, individuals who live in high-stress environments often have a lower libido, which means lovemaking is the last thing on their minds (9). So, if you and your partner haven’t had any action between the sheets lately, let your partner know that stress is the cause before it gives rise to a rift in your relationship. You can plan a couple’s trip to get some respite and reignite the flame.
9. You Can’t Sleep
Do you keep awake like an owl and count gazillion sheep to try to sleep but with no results? Daily stress can seriously mess up your sleep cycle and can even give rise to insomnia (10). If you have been prescribed sleeping pills and noticed that they don’t work anymore, you need to see your doctor ASAP, as lack of sleep can completely disrupt your life.
10. You Experience A Literal Heartache
Not the heartbroken kind but a real pain-in-your-chest kind. Or other cardiovascular diseases for that matter. Stress can damage your heart, and chronic stress on top of that is a major cause of all sorts of cardiovascular diseases (11), (12). Hard circumstances such as a death in the family, loss of job, etc. only serve to make it worse. Hence, a visit to the doctor is a must.
Stress is purely demonic in a lot of ways, as you can see. The root cause of so many diseases, you should actively work towards leading a stress-free life so that you can be healthy and happy.
