My mom often says a little stress at work is good for you. She says it pushes you to your limits. Consistently experiencing stress at work is however unhealthy. A person who has chronic stress from work or wherever is at risk of being overweight and developing heart disease. Such person is also very prone to depression and sleep disorders.
Chronic stress is not built overnight. It develops over time: accumulated stress and episodes of stress events. The surprising thing about stress is this: Unlike most other conditions, the bearer almost never knows until there is a breakdown. A lot of times, the signs and symptoms of stress are overlooked.
Five signs that you are stressed (that you mostly have ignored)…
- You are very irritable at work. Everything little thing upsets you and you just snap at anything and anyone without reason. You may also become unduly emotional and grumpy, crying at every slight opportunity. If you notice this, then you may be stressed.
- Inability to sleep well at night. Most times, a sign of stress at work is when you just keep turning and tossing around in bed and you can’t sleep well except you use a pill. After a long day’s work, when you retire to bed to rest your body, your brain is active… maybe thinking about the next day at work or a project you are undertaking. It can be extremely overwhelming when you have so much to do. It is a serious pointer when you keep waking up in the middle of the night. You should take some things off your plate at least for the mean time to steady yourself.
- Serious body aches. When you experience stress at work, It manifests in your body. Your whole body feels sore. Especially your shoulder, joints, legs and arms. Back pain is also another serious pointer. Again, if you have been experiencing this lately and they aren’t as a result of an injury or other known condition, there is a high probability that you are stressed.
Image by © Tomas Rodriguez/Corbis - You can hardly concentrate at work and your memory is usually short. Even though you are fully aware of what you ought to do and maybe a deadline is drawing near, still you can hardly bring yourself to focus. Stress at work just keeps you getting distracted or staring into blank space. Such that an activity that normally takes you one hour takes you more than that and still you don’t do it as well.
- You may also experience withdrawal from people, lack of sex drive. Some other times, it is loss of appetite and lack of interest in what you normally would enjoy doing.
If you identify with any of these fives signs mentioned above, then you may need to take a step back to pay more attention to your body… Find some tips here.
