The Stress Detective: How to Read Your Own Mind
By Dyllan Belleci
Long before your brain admits that it is overwhelmed, your body is already screaming in the form of clenched jaws and shallow breaths. What do we call this persistent monster that lingers among us?
Stress.
Despite the universal stigma surrounding stress, it plays a vital role in our survival and well-being. Dealing with it isn’t as simple as black and white. Stress can present itself in one or more of the following ways:
Physically
Emotionally
Behaviorally
Cognitively
The first step in gaining the ability to effectively manage stress is detection. Being able to detect the onset of chronic stress allows for you to tackle it in a healthy way. With that being said, let’s dive into some possible warning signs that you could look out for.
Physical Warning Signs
Persistent headaches, tension, and fatigue are all early signs that you might be experiencing chronic stress. You may be carrying tension in your back, neck, or shoulders while also clenching your jaw frequently. Because many of these symptoms are not considered out of the ordinary, they are often overlooked. However, they should be paid close attention to, as this is your body notifying you that you are carrying your stressors in several different physical ways.
Emotional Warning Signs
Some common signs and themes indicating high stress levels include feeling overwhelmed or irritable, experiencing mood swings, and losing your sense of joy. These themes can correlate with feeling “swamped” or unable to cope, as well as struggling to navigate through your emotions in a healthy way. Be on the lookout for these sudden emotional changes.
Behavioral Warning Signs
If persistent stress seems to be present in your life for what feels like “all of the time,” behavioral changes can be the hardest to recognize. Over time, stress-related behavioral changes can be perceived as “normal” if the stress isn’t dealt with healthily. Take a step back and see if you notice yourself socially isolating, having abnormal changes in eating habits, or displaying any nervous behaviors. That can include nail-biting, fidgeting of any kind, and pacing.
Cognitive Warning Signs
What we think affects how we feel, and how we feel affects how we act. Changes in our cognition have a massive effect on our functionality. If you are becoming forgetful, lacking the ability to concentrate, worrying excessively, or having a difficult time adapting to new information or situations, these are cognitive warning signs that you are under a lot of stress.
Now, how is it possible that stress is “important for our survival and well-being?”
This claim is aimed towards acute stress only. Acute stress is essentially short-term, manageable stress that puts the body into fight-or-flight mode. When the body is in fight-or-flight mode, it becomes its own built in security system. Your body almost instantaneously dumps adrenaline and cortisol into your blood stream. Adrenaline gives you a sudden burst of energy, while cortisol shuts down unnecessary functions, such as digestion, to direct all of your energy towards your muscles. It’s your body’s innate function to replace logic with pure physical power, but also having the ability to re-center itself into a safe space shortly after.
Preventing acute stress from becoming chronic is the mission here. We want to transition from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest”. First, detect any signals your body is sending that act as warning signs for stress. Then, use healthy and effective management skills to keep any stress you experience at the acute level. Effectively managing stress can be done in many different ways:
Physical activity: moving around intentionally for roughly 10 minutes is plenty of time to communicate to your nervous system that the threat has passed. Once your brain recognizes the stressor is gone, it can relax.
-Cognitive Reframing: Oftentimes, when in fight-or-flight mode, your brain overthinks and makes things seem more permanent than they are. The “3-3–3 rule” is an effective method where you name three things you see, three things you hear, and move three parts of your body. This will keep you grounded.
Boundary Setting: Give your body the rest it needs, and make it non-negotiable. Set a boundary with yourself that you need to block out a specific time to rest prior to returning to your daily responsibilities. Your body depends on rest to not only re-energize but also to prevent you from feeling overtired or overworked.
The truth of the matter is, a stress-free life does not exist. To be alive is to experience stress.
Remember, your body is your best friend, and it sends you a variety of signals in a variety of ways. Listen to your body, and remember to use these different forms of stress management to get yourself back to ground zero as healthily and efficiently as you can.
You don’t have to do this alone. Our providers here at Nebraska Mental Health Centers strive to offer individuals the skills to manage life in the most enjoyable way possible. Fear not, because this path of life is a journey, and nobody should go on that journey without a support system.
