Getting Stress Savvy Part Two: Recognising Stress & Anxiety
Stressful feelings, and the things that trigger them, are personal and different for each of us, and some will suffer more prolonged episodes that impact quality of life. Understanding what your body feels like when under stress and identifying your stressors, are the important first steps in increasing your ability to prevent and manage stress more effectively.
What might I be feeling physically?
Physiologically, we all have different areas of our body that are susceptible to stress and are eventually revealed as symptoms, some of which are shown below. For some it could be digestion issues, like heartburn or an irritable bowel, and for others headaches, poor sleep, or skin problems. These issues may persist with visits to a GP to check them out, but with no particular answer. They reduce our quality of life and can interfere with work and relationships.
These symptoms are a result of the sympathetic fight or flight response of our nervous system being switched on and off too often, and over a prolonged period; and not always enough to notice, lying undetected, just out of our of conscious awareness. Yet, we may be breathing a little faster and shallower, holding our shoulders in tension, perhaps we will be going to the toilet more, or taking indigestion tablets. This is enough to eventually impact our body’s balance with continual disruptions to blood pressure and flow, digestion and muscle tension; all physical preparation in our body to escape a threat that isn’t physically there.
If not addressed, more intense feelings of stress may burst into awareness, turning into anxiety, or even panic, when the stress response becomes acute and we certainly notice them then as a disturbing collection of physical symptoms
Anxiety and panic share some symptoms, such as rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness and sweating. Importantly, the onset of each is different, and there are other symptoms that distinguish them from each other, as seen here above.
The emotional impact of stress
The psychological symptoms of the stress response are feelings such as being worried, uncertain, scared, irritable, or angry. It is this state of discomfort alongside the changed physiology that we dislike and want rid of.
It is natural for our thoughts to become aligned with these feelings and think of worst-case scenarios to protect us as if we were in real danger; psychologists call these Negative Automatic Thoughts. We become cynical and cautious filtering out the positives, think we know what others are thinking of us, jump to conclusions, and engage in ‘all or nothing’ thinking. See here for a full list https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/UnhelpfulThinkingHabitsWithAlternatives.pdf
This would be so helpful (and necessary) if we were escaping a gunman, or a fire, but in the absence of real danger, negative thoughts are unhelpful and damaging, further perpetuating the difficult feelings, increasing stress. Unfortunately, this thinking can also turn against others in irritation, or we easily become self-critical and personalise fault, thinking that we should/shouldn’t be like this, adding another uncomfortable dimension of shame to the mix.
Read on to the next blog for key stress management solutions