Physical Signs of Stress

Stress does not only affect your thought process by dominating your mind. You can also feel its presence in your entire body.
Here are a few most common physical signs indicating that your stress is very high.

1. Headaches
increasing stress levels are the most common cause of tension headache, according to experts. Apart from triggering tension headaches, it can also lead to migraines and even worsen an existing headache.

2. Neck pain
Tension in your muscles is one of the important physical manifestations of stress in your body. This effect tends to concentrate most prominently at the base of your head. If you are a person who takes frequent massages, you might have noticed that your masseuse notices that you have had a stressful week while reaching your neck.

3. Weight gain
Increase stress levels also increase the production of hormones called cortisol and distribute them through your blood. Cortisol not only pushes you to eat more but in the intention that the stress might lead to an emergency situation, it also stores a lot of calories in your body.

4. Insomnia
Stress will make you very worried and will result in you finding it very tough to calm down your mind which is coercing with thoughts. This will result in you not being able to get proper sleep.

5. Getting sick often
Experts have inferred that our immune system can be affected by stress and make our body vulnerable to infections. Research shows that while stress can instantly boost your immune system as a defensive mechanism, in the long term, it is sure to have a negative impact on your immunity. In case you are already sick stress can take a bigger tole on your immunity and prolong the time of recovery.

6. Irregular period
An increase in the secretion of cortisol can interfere with the role of sex hormones which are responsible for regulating the periods in women. When the stress levels are extreme, it can interfere with your ovulation. This is a serious problem but the chances of periods getting affected in women, happen only in severe cases of chronic stress.

7. Hair loss
"Hair loss is more likely to be the product of really long sustained periods of high levels of stress," Pike says. Typically one isolated stressful situation isn't going to make your hair start falling out. But experiencing a life-altering event, like a death of a loved one or a huge career change, can actually cause your hair to stop growing temporarily as your body dedicates its efforts to surviving said event. When it starts growing again, the hairs that were stalled in the middle of growing get shed all at once, so you may find yourself combing out what seems like handfuls at a time.

8. Fatigue
If you're not sleeping well, you're probably walking around all day exhausted. Plus, when your body feels overwhelmed and is working overtime to handle the stressors it registers, it takes a lot out of you. When you're tired, you get more irritable and it's harder to cope mentally with stress, creating a vicious cycle. Tried and true stress relievers like exercise, mediation, taking some time for yourself, and even massage or acupuncture, can help relieve tension and calm your mind and body.

9. Your digestive system feels off / Stomach Discomfort
“The brain has a direct effect on the stomach and intestines,” Harvard Health explained. It noted that even when a person merely thinks about food, his or her stomach will release acids in preparation of a meal.
This brain-to-stomach connection is a two-way street that can cause a vicious cycle of stress-related effects. According to Harvard Health, “A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut.” And, in return, stress can cause an increase in stomach acids, thus causing digestive issues like an ulcer. Symptoms of a stress—or peptic—ulcer include burning pain in the stomach, nausea, and bloating.