Symptoms of stress: in what situations is it worth thinking about?

Symptoms of stress are obvious signs that always accompany the reaction of the human body to an unusual, extreme situation that disrupts the calm and emotional balance of a person. The cause of stressful situations can be any situation that causes excessive excitement and a flurry of emotions. Contrary to some opinions, the stress reaction of the body can occur not only as a result of events with a negative connotation, but also after experiencing sudden positive emotions.

The very concept of "stress" means pressure, tension. The body is constantly exposed to various types of environmental influences. When faced with any problem (physiological, psychological), the body first examines the problem (difficulty, task), then moves to the action stage. In practice, it looks like this: when faced with a virus or protozoa, the immune system recognizes aggressors and makes a decision - to destroy strangers. In the case of the phenomenon of higher nervous activity, when faced with a new task, problem, an orienting reflex (active or passive) is activated and the additional data discovered is analyzed, after which the person moves to the stage of decision-making and action. Modern man is stressed by various factors, and viruses and parasites are the most common causes of physiological stress, which, as a rule, do not particularly attract our attention. But problems of a psychological nature, stressful situations that the body is unable to overcome due to the experience of centuries of evolution are precisely what lead a modern man to a state in which he seeks help from specialists or self-medicates.

Thus, stress in a person in modern society occurs only under the condition that the pressure experienced by the psyche exceeds the psychological resource of adaptation, in other words, the threshold of stress resistance is different for each individual. This threshold is formed by the type of nervous system (strong, weak), its ability to recover and the person's life experience.

Doctors define stress as a protective reaction of the body to extreme factors that occur at a time when a person does not expect it. During this state, the body begins to produce the hormone adrenaline, the effect of which causes a desire to fight irritants.

The state of stress develops quite slowly, its manifestations can be noticed by others or the person himself. If a stressful situation requires an immediate solution and arose suddenly, then, as a rule, the more ways out of the stressful situation the person sees, the easier it is to overcome the stress itself. In the most optimal case, there should be more than 3 ways out, when deciding on the possibility of only 2 ways out, we can talk about neuroticization of the personality (neurotic choice). Very often, stress symptoms can manifest themselves as a "nervous shock" - in the form of loss of consciousness, hysterical attacks, loss of a short period of memories, etc.

However, sometimes stressful situations do not end completely, conflicts do not end and stress does not decrease, stress becomes chronic. So, what symptoms of stress can tell a person about its presence, if a person is practically accustomed to living in a "stressful situation"?

In the presence of stress factors, the body reacts to them with increased readiness "for battle" - certain hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline) are released, which help to reduce the lumen of blood vessels, increase blood pressure, increase heart rate, reduce pain sensitivity, etc. These methods of response have saved humanity for thousands of years in the struggle for survival in the wild world, but now this method of physiological response has become redundant, since almost all types of emerging problems are solved with the help of intelligence.

According to Selye's theory, our body reacts to provoking external stimuli in the following way:

• First, the body mobilizes all available resources – an alarm reaction;
• Then the person tries to cope with the stimulus – the resistance phase;
• Eventually, the adaptive resources are exhausted and the stage of exhaustion begins.

One of the problems in modern society is the lack of release, due to which the symptoms of stress are smoothed out, become chronic and destroy the body.

Experts divide stress symptoms into several categories depending on the reasons that caused the body's non-specific response. Just as stress can be psychological, emotional, physiological, so stress symptoms can be divided into several groups.

Let's take a closer look at the simplest manifestations of chronic stress. So, if a person has insomnia (nightmares), pessimism, problems with concentration, difficulties in learning and decision-making, forgetfulness and disorganization - these are all cognitive symptoms of stress.

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Symptoms of stress related to physiology

In the absence of discharge at the physiological level, a feeling of suffering is formed, a person can grind his teeth, suffer from diarrhea (constipation), experience the urge to urinate frequently, experience a "bouquet" of problems with the gastrointestinal tract (heartburn, flatulence, belching, nausea), pain in the chest, feel difficulty breathing, often suffer from acute respiratory infections, stutter, hear ringing in the ears, blush and sweat, feel dry mouth and have difficulty swallowing, endure muscle spasms - this entire list of problems is characteristic of physical (physiological) symptoms of stress.

Physiological stress symptoms are considered the most dangerous and harmful to the body. They are also the most difficult for a person to bear, as they usually affect several functions of the body and have a negative impact on health. There are symptoms of stress associated with nutrition. One of the common signs of this condition is a sharp decrease in appetite and, as a result, weight loss. The downside can be uncontrolled consumption of any food and overeating. Nightmares during sleep, fear of falling asleep and, as a result, prolonged insomnia are also vivid physiological symptoms of stress. If we talk about pain, doctors say that not only a headache can be a sign of stress, but also pain in the back and cervical spine. Body temperature tends to increase by several degrees during stress: if you are sure that there are no inflammatory processes in the body, pay attention to the emotional state. Such features of the body that a person was previously unaware of may appear: allergic reactions to common foods, blood pressure surges, sweating unrelated to the ambient temperature, severe tremors of the upper limbs and mild convulsions. Problems with the digestive system are also symptoms of stress: heartburn, vomiting, stomach cramps. If most of the above symptoms are present in the absence of serious and chronic diseases, they can be considered the first signs of stress conditions.

Physiological signs of stress:

• Back pain, headaches, stomach cramps not associated with typical somatic diseases;
• Sudden change in blood pressure;
• Digestive disorders (diarrhea, constipation);
• Chronic muscle tension;
• Tremors, shaking, cramps in the limbs;
• Allergic rashes without contact with an allergen;
• Change in body weight (decrease or increase);
• Excessive sweating as a vegetative reaction;
• Insomnia;
• Disturbance, loss of appetite;
• Loss of sexual desire, activity.

Symptoms of stress related to emotional state

If suddenly a balanced person becomes capricious, irritable, panicky, anxious, begins to complain about a feeling of loneliness, isolation, anxiety, guilt, begins to overly concentrate on unpleasant details - these are emotional symptoms of stress.

Symptoms of stress related to the patient's emotional state are less dangerous than physiological ones, as experts believe that a person can cope with them even without medical support, they are controlled by a strong body. Lack of incentives and goals in life, a feeling of insecurity and unbearable loneliness or unreasonable melancholy, fits of anger, unmotivated anger directed at others are the main symptoms of stress with an emotional coloring. A person who is in a stressful situation may have panic attacks and feelings of anxiety, he becomes insecure and constantly thinks about the possibility of making a wrong decision, about his own unproductivity and hopelessness. A person in a stressful situation causes a lot of trouble for others: he becomes capricious, unpredictable, dissatisfied with himself and everything around him. Symptoms of stress are similar to symptoms of depression: thoughts of suicide appear, a person cries incessantly, an inferiority complex and insolvency grows.

There are also behavioral symptoms of stress - sleep disturbances, a desire for self-isolation, abuse of medications, alcohol, a desire for gambling, obsessions, impulsive actions, suspiciousness and lying, slurred speech.

Various somatic (physical) symptoms are especially indicative of the course of chronic stress. These symptoms include muscle pain of unclear etiology (for example, often pain in the neck muscles, "writer's cramp", "twisting" of the joints of the arms and legs are evidence of the body's internal protest against loads that exceed its capabilities), as well as arbitrarily appearing and disappearing nervous tics, especially twitching of the eyelids. Some symptoms of stress are hidden under pseudo-allergy, forcing the immune system to work intermittently and appear on the skin in the form of a red rash or blisters with liquid.

Despite such a variety of manifestations, stress symptoms in one person are not always diverse, as a rule, the body is prone to some leading types of response, for example, a reaction to stress can be persistent disruptions in the work of the housing and communal services, while other somatic disorders will be absent. A constantly recurring stress situation not only develops a harmful response, but also consolidates it to such an extent that it is often extremely difficult for the patient to independently get rid of their leading symptoms of stress. For example, everyone can easily imagine how difficult it is for a person to get rid of the habit of biting their nails or making obsessive movements.

Emotional signs of stress:

• Sudden anger, chronic irritability;
• Apathy, indifference, loss of interest in significant events, subjects, objects;
• Depressive state;
• Anxiety, worry;
• Feeling of isolation, loneliness;
• Unreasonable feelings of guilt;
• Unobjectively low self-esteem, dissatisfaction with one's actions.

Social and behavioral signs of stress:

• Atypical errors, an increase in random minor errors in routine work;
• Inattention, absent-mindedness;
• Loss of interest in appearance;
• Active use of alcohol as a relaxant, cigarettes;
• Increased level of conflict – in the family, at work, in society;
• Chronic overload of work responsibilities, workaholism as compensation, avoidance of internal reflection;
• Loss of interest in previously beloved work, atypical disorganization, unreliability;
• Constant time pressure, lack of time, inability to manage time resources.

What to do if you have symptoms of stress?

Methods that are developed by specialists to help people who are subject to stress are aimed at making it possible to manage negative emotions. If a person has managed to find a way to control their own emotions, they can be considered to have independently coped with stress.

Symptoms of stress are obvious when the body is significantly overloaded intellectually. During deadlines, exam periods, a person suffers from the abundance of information and the nervous system often cannot withstand the stress. Most often, such symptoms of stress can be noticed in teenagers who pay too much attention to their studies. Absent-mindedness, inability to concentrate on a question, lack of perception of information are signs of intellectual fatigue, which can be eliminated with the help of rest and rest from communication and sources of information.

Intellectual signs of stress:

• Problems with memorization, forgetfulness;
• Viscosity of speech, repetition of what has already been said;
• Obsessive thoughts, constant thinking, getting stuck on one thought;
• Indecision, problems making decisions;
• Thoughts are mostly negative.

There are many ways out of stressful situations, for example, full awareness of the causes of what is happening (rationalization), art therapy, psychoanalysis, gestalt therapy, psychodrama - all these methods lead to an understanding of the causes of somatic disorders, the connection between the manifestations of diseases and being in a stressful situation. However, it should always be remembered that no stress can be the cause of all ailments and before linking physiological disorders with stress, it is necessary to exclude true diseases of the same organs and systems that a person may suspect of realizing stress symptoms.