Are you aware when you’re stressed?
Some people have great stress awareness - they can feel their heart beating, perhaps more sweating, and some tension in the shoulders. Others have a more difficult time.
Why do we care about stress?
Long-term stress that goes unmanaged can lead to a plethora of downstream issues including high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. Before that point, however, unmanaged chronic stress can have huge impact on your quality of life. The good news, your body is great at communicating with you when your stress levels may be getting to high and need some extra attention.
10 common signs your body is stressed
1. Racing mind and worry brain
This may be in the moment, or in the middle of the night. It becomes difficult to quiet your brain.
2. Disrupted or non-restorative sleep
We need our cortisol levels to be nice and low for an easy transition into sleep and for a non-disrupted night of rest. Ideally, each morning we should wake feeling rested and restored.
3. Low energy or brain fog.
If you’re feeling a morning grogginess, a mid-afternoon lull, brain fog or difficulty focusing, your cortisol (your main stress hormone), may be where we need to look.
4. Poor digestion
Bloating, gas, irregular or uncomfortable bowel movements, undigested food in your stool, and indigestion - can all be linked to stress. Your nervous system is very tightly connected to gut (in fact, your gut is called your second brain!). We need to be in a relaxed state inorder to engage in healthy digestion Chronic stress leading to digestive change is very common.
5. Low mood or irritability.
You may notice your tolerance to deal with issues is lower, and your’e quicker to trigger irritation and experience low mood or depression.
6. Change to menstrual cycle
Stress is tightly connected to your periods. Hgh stress may lead to changes in your cycle length (shorter or longer cycles), PMS or cramping severity, spotting, and more. If you’re in perimenopause, stress may worsen some of your hormonal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, mood, sleep or vaginal symptoms.
7. Poor immune system
Stress directly talks to your immune system and long standing stress can lead to one feeling run down or frequently sick
8. Low libido or sex drive
Low libido or sex drive is a common symptom or poorly managed stress. Often the focus becomes on hormones, but sometimes the key is regulating your nervous system
9. Poor blood sugar balance
Do you feel “hangry” or crash after meals? High stress communicates directly with your blood sugar and insulin pathways. When stress is high, we signal our body to release sugar into our bloodstream to make more energy (for a fight or flight response) Chronically high stress can show up with a disruption to our blood sugar regulation and over time may lead to insulin resistance or diabetes.
10. Hair loss
Hair loss can be multifaceted, but stress is one of the common causes!
There may be other causes of the symptoms listed above. It’s important to work with a qualified healthcare provider that can run the necessary assessment and labs required to get to the root cause of what’s going on for you.
Recognizing how stress shows up in your body is the first step to finding the best way to manage stress for you. Often, this requires strategy - to figure out what’s going to fit into your lifestyle, it takes accountability - so you continue to actively manage for improvement in your symptoms, and follow up to make sure there is progress.
If you’re looking for a strategy or would like to learn more - book a free discovery call* and lets connect (*Note: this is available to those residing in British Columbia only).
In health,
Dr. Ashley Damm, BSc., ND
Naturopathic Doctor - Women's Health & Fertility