10 Warning Signs That You’re Stressed Out

I’ve been talking the last few days about stress – it’s a huge factor that blocks you from living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Stress is all about living life in the fast lane – which is the High Density Lifestyle lane – but the unfortunate thing is that most people, when they’re stressed, don’t even recognize that they are, or what the stress is doing to them – they’re totally incapable of stress management.

So today I want to give you 10 warning signs that you’re stressed out.  Please take heed, and if you find you recognize yourself in this, start working on making changes, so that you can experience some stress relief.

1. Forgetfulness. Stress will short-circuit your memory, and cause you to be unfocused.

2. Irrational thinking. When you are stressed, your thinking is not always rational, and it is hard to think clearly. Small challenges can then become huge obstacles.

3. Easily feeling anger, anxiety, irritability and fear. Stress can cause your feelings to spiral out of control. You may start having anxiety and panic attacks over things that usually are easy for you to deal with.  You may also become easily angered or irritable at the slightest provocation, or perhaps at no provocation whatsoever.

4. Impulsive behavior. You may do things on a whim, without thinking about the consequences.

5. Tendency to make mistakes. You may forget something, leave it behind, or overlook details that you normally would have considered.

6. Headaches, backache, joint or muscle pain. Stress can express itself by causing you to have pain and other physical ailments. It’ll be hard to live a healthy lifestyle when you can’t manage stress.

7. Difficulty in falling asleep. Sleep problems affects many people, and stress and anxiety is the number one cause of that.  Stress makes it difficult to wind down and drift off to sleep.

8. Shallow breathing and tightness in the chest. Many a person has gone to the emergency room thinking they are having a heart attack, when instead it is just the stress and anxiety affecting them in a big way, causing tightness in the chest and shallow breathing.

9. Weakened immune system. When you are stressed, it is easier to develop a cold, fever, flu, sore throat, sinus infection, and other types of infections.

10.  Women’s health issues.  Stress can cause women to have pain during menstruation, irregular periods, PMS, fibroids, and other women’s health issues.

The key with stress is that everyone has stressors in their life—there are certain things outside of our control that happen to us.  But it’s your relationship to the stressor: do you let yourself become overwhelmed by the stressors to the point that some or all of the above warning signs manifest, or do you allow yourself to stay calm, roll with the punches and take things as they come?

If you become more self-aware and more mindful of your actions and reactions to stressful situations, you can become less affected by the stressors because then you are practicing stress management.

It also is important to make sure you are taking the time to relax, whether by going for a walk, exercising, being still, or whatever works for you to give you stress relief.

The more you relax, stay calm and stay in the groove, the more of a Low Density Lifestyle will you live, allowing you to live a healthy lifestyle and be in the land of health and wellness.