6 Signs That You Are Under Too Much Stress

For the most part, people can recognize the signs of being stressed out. You’re constantly overthinking, worrying and getting sick. Stress deteriorates our physical and mental health and is our reaction to harmful situations – real or not.

Yet, many find themselves in stress denial. There are two categories of stress: Acute and chronic. Chronic stress is dangerous because our bodies are not meant to deal with chronic stress, which releases stress hormones, including cortisol. These hormones cause us to gain weight and can lead to heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression and other fatal diseases. About 77 percent of Americans say they endure physical symptoms caused by stress.
Because of the way our stressful world works, we may think that our stress levels are normal, but they aren’t. Oftentimes people don’t see the symptoms of stress because they credit it to other ailments.
“Worrying about our financial future or driving in traffic produce a similar hormonal response to what getting chased by a lion would have triggered for our ancestors,” says Chris Kresser, M.S., L.Ac, expert on ancestral health, Paleo nutrition and integrative medicine.
The fact that we are so desensitized to modern-day stress we put ourselves at risk for fatal diseases without even knowing what the consequences are. Pay attention to chronic stressful situations in your life that may be triggering any of the following symptoms. Here are some secret signs that you’re stressing out.

1. Frequent headaches

Many headaches are tension headaches, which result from clenching your jaw, tensing your neck, shoulder or back muscles or grinding your teeth. We subconsciously tense the muscles around our neck and shoulders during work or when we sleep, which in turn, causes headaches.

2. Body aches and pains

Sometimes it’s hard to determine the difference between stress-related aches and workout soreness. According to Everyday Health, when we stress out our sympathetic nerve system activates the flight-or-fight response.
“Blood is then sent to major muscle groups that increase muscle tension and prepare you to fight or flee a situation. If you do not take any action, muscles can become sore or painful,” says Amy Przeworski, P.h.D. to Everyday Health.

3. You’re always sick

Think acne is just from eating bad the weekend before? It’s possible, but when you get one huge zit or totally break out, stress may be a trigger. We break out because of the cortisol released when we’re stressed out. Acne is caused by a hormone imbalance, hence why we get acne during our hormonal teenage years.

6. Increased sweating

The reason we sweat when we’re stressed is actually pretty repulsive. Some scientists say that sweating is an evolutionary role in sending warning signals to people around us. Sweat from exercise and sweat from stress are produced differently. Sweat caused by stress is from apocrine glands and is triggered by adrenaline, that causes us to react quickly when facing a threatening situation.