I believe in a healthy body, a healthy mind, the two are interlinked! With todays fast paced lifestyles, 24 hour communication, juggling the work/family balance has led to an increase in national stress levels. Experts call stress the ‘silent killer’ because we often ignore the signs our bodies are giving us until the result is a serious illness.
That’s not to say a challenge is a bad thing, we need to progress and grow, we do this by dealing with stressful situations and coming out the other side. However, what may be stressful to one person may minimally affect another–and vice versa. The reason: it is not the event which is stressful, but how we view and respond to the event that counts. This is good news, for while we often have little control over what happens to us, we do have choices in the way we view the circumstances, and by extension, how we react to them.
5 ways your body might be telling you that you are stressed!
1. Weekend Headaches – A sudden drop in stress can prompt migraines, says Todd Schwedt, MD, director of the Washington University Headache Centre. Stick closely to your weekday sleeping and eating schedule to minimize other triggers.
2. An achy mouth– A sore jaw can be a sign of teeth grinding, which usually occurs during sleep and can be worsened by stress, says Matthew Messina, DDS, a consumer advisor to the American Dental Association. Ask your dentist about a nighttime mouth guard—up to 70% of people who use one reduce or stop grinding altogether.
3. Odd Dreams – Dreams usually get progressively more positive as you sleep, so you wake up in a better mood than you were in when you went to bed, says Rosalind Cartwright, PhD, an emeritus professor of psychology at Rush University Medical Center. But when you’re stressed, you wake up more often, disrupting this process and allowing unpleasant imagery to recur all night. Good sleep habits can help prevent this; aim for 7 to 8 hours a night, and avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.
4. Acne Outbreak – Stress increases the inflammation that leads to breakouts, says Gil Yosipovitch, MD, a clinical professor of dermatology at Wake Forest University. Smooth your skin with a lotion containing skin sloughing salicylic acid or bacteria-busting benzoyl peroxide, plus a noncomedogenic moisturizer so skin won’t get too dry.
5. Tummy-aches – Anxiety and stress can cause stomach-aches, along with headaches, back-aches and insomnia. One study of 1,953 men and women found that those experiencing the highest levels of stress were more than three times as likely to have abdominal pain as their more-relaxed counterparts.
There are many ways we can manage and deal with stress but the first step is to recognize it in the first place! Listen to your body and don’t ignore the signs of stress, you are just storing trouble for the future! My favourite way to deal with stress is to laugh, and laugh often!
Dr Susie Mitchell 