Inasmuch as Stress might not technically be a medical disease, it sure does have a lot of symptoms on our body, physically, mentally and emotionally.
Many people fail to realize that the reason why they feel the way they feel is because of stress. They mostly connect their constant headaches or insomnia to a certain illness. Some go to the extent of even getting drugs to treat that illness they think might have, totally ignoring the fact that stress might be the actual culprit. Stress can cause certain changes in your behavior and also in your health. Sometimes they might be clear signs and other times, you can’t really link them, but whatever the case might be, it’s always better to find out the roots of these problems and most importantly on time, before it reaches the chronic stage.
Stress can show itself in many different ways- see below for so many different ways that it could, and try to observe yourself, or your colleague at work or your family members to see if they’ll exhibit or complain of some of the characteristics. However these characteristics will be placed in categories namely, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and physical.
So let’s kick off with Cognitive symptoms
COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS
Cognitive is derived from the word Cognition and Cognition has to do with the set of all mental abilities and processes related to knowledge, attention, memory and working memory, judgment and evaluation, reasoning and computation, problem solving and decision making, comprehension and production of language, etc. Human cognition is conscious and unconscious, concrete or abstract, as well as intuitive (like knowledge of a language) and conceptual (like a model of a language). Cognitive processes use existing knowledge and generate new knowledge.
So if your cognitive abilities are compromised, it would definitely affect your work negatively and so many other important decisions you make.
Here are some common cognitive symptoms.
• Memory problems
• Inability to concentrate
• Poor judgment
• Seeing only the negative
• Anxious or racing thoughts
• Constant worrying
EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS
Emotional symptoms are one of the easiest way you can recognize a stressed individual. Other symptoms can also be symptoms of other diseases or illnesses, but the emotional symptoms are most times strictly related to stress.
Some of these symptoms include;
• Moodiness
• Irritability or short temper
• Agitation, inability to relax
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Sense of loneliness and isolation
• Depression or general unhappiness
• Loss of confidence, motivation and confidence
BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS
Another easy way to identify a stressed person is by his or her behavioral change. It could vary from just simple and minor changes to major changes, you just find yourself doing things that you were never used to doing before. Most people usually use the statement, “I don’t seem to understand myself anymore”. They say that they just lose interest in what used to give them so much joy before and they keep isolating themselves from family and loved ones. Behavioral symptoms include the following.
• Changes in eating habits
• Increased smoking, drinking or drug taking ‘to cope’
• Mood swings effecting your behavior
• Twitchy, nervous behavior
• Changes in attendance such as arriving later or taking more time off.
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Isolating yourself from others
• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
These symptoms like I said earlier, can also be symptoms of other illnesses. But you must also have in mind that they might be as a result of stress. So next time you get some of these symptoms, don’t be in a hurry to take pain relief drugs. What drugs will do is to cure the symptoms, but remember, it is always better to cut off the source than to keep battling with its symptoms.
Some of these symptoms include;
• Aches and pains
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Nausea, dizziness
• Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
• Loss of sex drive
• Frequent colds
CONCLUSION
It is important to take note of these symptoms immediately they commence and open up to your doctor. You might not easily notice it, sometimes it might be your colleague at work or your family member that’ll notice these symptoms and tell you about it. So don’t be offended when they do, instead try looking for a way to adjust.
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