How to Recognize When You're Stressed

I connect with many people on LinkedIn who believe they may be under stress but they’re not sure how to measure it. Particularly if they are used to experiencing stress over a prolonged period of time, working and living under stress becomes part of their everyday life.

WebMD lists quite a lengthy list of symptoms to consider:

Physical symptoms?of stress include:

• Low energy
• Headaches
• Upset Stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea
• Aches, pains, and tense muscles
• Chest pain and rapid heartbeat
• Insomnia
• Frequent colds and infections
• Loss of sexual desire and/or ability
• Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ears, cold or sweaty hands and feet
• Dry mouth and a hard time swallowing
• Clenched jaw and grinding teeth

Cognitive symptoms?of stress include:

• Constant?worrying
• Racing thoughts
• Forgetfulness and disorganization
• Inability to focus
• Poor judgment
• Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side

Behavioral symptoms?of stress include:

• Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much
• Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
• More use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes
• Having more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting,?fidgeting, and pacing

From my coaching practice point of view, I see that the Cognitive symptoms of stress lead to the other Behavioural and Physical Symptoms as listed above.

It is the experience of our mind and our thoughts that ripple out to the subsequent symptoms in our body.

Therefore for the purpose of this article, let’s focus on the cognitive symptoms to determine if you are experiencing stress.

Have you noticed that you have constant worrying or racing thoughts?

We all experience worrying or racing thoughts from time to time.

But the true measurement of ‘stress’, in terms of cognitive symptoms, would be worrying or racing thoughts that are interfering with your life in a negative way. Some examples are:

·???????You may find racing thoughts waking you up in the middle of the night which then lead to a difficultly falling back asleep and disrupting your need for a good night’s rest.

·???????You may have difficulty sitting still in quiet or enjoying having nothing to do during your time away from work.

·???????You may also notice racing thoughts interfering with your ability to be present at home and enjoy spending time with your loved ones.

·???????And you may generally feel as if you have no control over your mind or the ability to slow down your thoughts.

The above experiences are common when you spend a lot of time in your analytical mind, the “CEO Brain”, also known as the Prefrontal Cortex.

The Prefrontal Cortex takes up only 4% of your brain’s volume but uses 80% of its energy.

It is the part of your brain that thinks approximately 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day.

However 95% of all cognition (“thinking”) occurs in the subconscious mind, which means, it is thinking that is running on autopilot. It commands an immense proportion of your life, yet it is just beyond your intentional awareness.

For example once you learn to drive a car, the required knowledge moves into your subconscious mind as the skills are ingrained in your mind and you complete the majority of the tasks while your brain is on autopilot allowing you to think about other things while actively driving.

This means that if you are experiencing racing or worrying thoughts on a regular basis, those thoughts are likely running on autopilot through your subconscious mind as part of the prefrontal cortex.

So what do you do about it?

Because the work that I do is focused on how cognitive function determines stress, feeling, and general life satisfaction, I recommend working at the level of thought.

Now traditional psychology primarily uses the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) framework to work through stress, anxiety, and depression. CBT encourages you to change your perspective, or your thinking, around certain situations in your life.

However in my experience this just adds more noise to your system.

I have seen incredible results in my clients by going beyond the thought.

This means rather than replacing an old thought with a new thought (as in CBT), there is much more value in going into the space before the thought.

Every single person is capable of tuning into the space within them that is before the thought. That is where you are always calm, peaceful, and content.

It’s a meditative state of mind that can be accessed without meditation.

There are a series of tools that can help you access this space and working with the right practitioner can find which tool which fits your personality the best. These tools range from conceptual frameworks to mindfulness to meditation to flow state; and many others.

But if you’ve read this far and you have considered you may be experiencing stress, I want to give you a tool that you can use right now to help quiet your mind and alleviate cognitive symptoms of stress which in turn will begin to alleviate physician and behavioural symptoms.

Breathwork is a simple and practical activity that you can use in 30 seconds or less and instantly feel better. Breathing is the gateway to the mind, and breathing exercises are amazing tools that regulate emotions, cognition, and stress.

When we’re under stress, we often do not notice that we’ve been taking short shallow breaths high into our throat for prolonged periods of time, exacerbating the stress that’s already present in our system.

Right now, pause for 30 seconds to try this powerful tool with me.

Sit up straight in your chair with your feet flat on the ground and place one hand on your belly.

Take one deep breath into your belly for a count of 5, keeping your mouth closed and breathing into your nose.

Then hold the breath in for a count of 5.

Breath out for a count of 5, keeping your mouth closed.

Hold the breath out for a count of 5.

Now repeat this 4 more times.

Once complete, notice you feel any differently after pausing to take 5 deep breaths.

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Only you can make your well-being a priority. It’s time to start enjoying your life more.

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Tracey Gazel is a Neuroscience-Mindfulness Executive Coach and #1 Best-Selling Author. She specializes in helping high achievers accomplish the same amount of work with less stress, enhance their decision making with clarity of mind, feel calmer on a regular basis, and simply enjoy their life more. She is on a mission to help others use neuroscience and insight principles to change the way you use your mind so that you feel calm and relaxed at home with the people who matter most.

If you would like to connect with Tracey for more information, contact [email protected]