5 Stress Signals You May Not Recognize as Symptoms of Stress

Some stress signals may fly under your radar if you are unaware that what you are feeling physically or emotionally are actually symptoms of stress. You may be in tune with many of your stress signals – ones that you have learned to recognize and deal with before they take a toll on your health. It is these silent signals of stress – the ones you do not recognize as a warning signal – which can be very dangerous to your health.

Dealing with Daily Stress

Each of us deals with stress on a daily basis due to financial insecurity, heavy workloads, trying to be everything for everyone, credit card debt and numerous other other factors. You may be familiar with the stress symptoms that come with these daily stressors. Your symptoms may include feeling overwhelmed, insomnia, being easily agitated, having a hard time quieting your mind, low energy, etc.

Unfortunately, not all emotional and physical stress symptoms are seen as a warning that long-term, chronic stress is taking a negative toll on your life. You may not be experiencing some of the previously mentioned symptoms. Instead, your body may be sending you stress signals which are vague and unrecognizable.

Unfamiliarity with Stress Signals Delivers Dangerous Results

And when you don’t distinguish these warnings as stress signals, you most likely won’t take steps to deal with your stress – steps like practicing mindfulnessre or taking time to disconnect and restore balance in your life. The consequences of not taking time to address long-term, chronic stress can lead to serious health problems like cardiovascular disease, depression, eating disorders and other physical and mental health issues. So, be very wary if you have any of the following physical signals as they may be more than just an aggravation.

Stress Signals Your Body May Be Sending

To help you better understand when stress may be knocking on your door, we are sharing 5 silent stress signals which may be flying under your stress radar. While you certainly feel the physical effects of these signals, you may not interpret them as stress symptoms.

1. Achy Mouth – Your sore jaw may be a symptom of stress which is causing you to grind your teeth in your sleep.
2. Craving Sweets – Stress can cause cravings for chocolate and other sweets. Often, women blame craving sweets on hormones and miss this stress signal for what it is – a symptom of stress.
3. Increase in Allergy Symptoms – Don’t blame your worsened allergy symptoms on Mother Nature just yet. The results of an Ohio State University College of Medicine showed that allergy sufferers had more allergy symptoms after a test raised their anxiety levels.
4. Itchy Skin – Feeling anxious or tense leads to a stress response which activates nerve fibers and causes an itchy sensation. Stress can also aggravate skin conditions like dermatitis, psoriasis and eczema.
5. Painful Menstrual Cramps – A Harvard study discovered that women who are highly-stressed have higher imbalance of hormones which makes them more than twice as likely to have painful menstrual cramps.

So, the next time you experience the above issues, don’t just discount them as mere physical aggravation. They may actually be silent stress signals alerting you to a dangerous chronic stress problem.

The post 5 Stress Signals You May Not Recognize as Symptoms of Stress appeared first on Financial Therapy Network.

Written By Reeta Wolfsohn, CMSW

5 Stress Signals You May Not Recognize as Symptoms of Stress was originally published @ Financial Therapy Network and has been syndicated with permission.