If you choose to disregard advice, make sure it's not the guidance of your own body.
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Despite being equipped to handle healthy amounts of stress from our personal or professional lives, our general emotional and physical wellbeing generally takes a toll when burdened with too much anxiety and stress. According to the American Psychological Association, mediating this kind of overwhelming stress starts with recognizing the symptoms and setting boundaries — whether they’re entirely mental or starting to take root in your physical experience.
Your body communicates a variety of unusual signals when stress levels rise, and the first step to understanding them is to be mindful of your physical self. By dedicating time to consciously engage with your own being and identify harmful patterns in your daily life, you can create a more harmonious existence that is less affected by stress.
Here are 10 unusual signals your body may exhibit when you're experiencing excessive stress.
1. Mental haze
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According to the Bangkok International Hospital, brain fog, or the experience of struggling to concentrate and being riddled with fatigue, is often associated with higher levels of stress. By overworking yourself, disregarding healthy work life boundaries, or failing to prioritize breaks, self-care, and space to recharge, you overload our brain, making it difficult to truly unwind or live a balanced life.
Hormonal imbalances, often triggered by high-stress lifestyles, are not only responsible for brain fog but can also lead to a variety of other health problems, including digestive disorders, irregular menstrual cycles, and difficulties in emotional regulation.
2. Feeling fatigued upon waking
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According to psychiatrist Nicole Washington, stress has significant consequences on our sleep schedule when left unregulated, promoting insomnia, difficulty falling and staying asleep, and getting a healthy amount of quality sleep.
When chaotic routines spike our cortisol levels — our body's stress hormone — our sleep patterns tend to fluctuate, making true rest nearly impossible to achieve.
When we're consistently overworked, especially without work-life boundaries or at home, we tend to also take our anxious thoughts with us to bed, ruminating and stressing out over the small things while trying to fall asleep.
3. Constantly experiencing stomach discomfort
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Experts from UChicago Medicine argue that stress often causes our digestive muscles to enter a "fight or flight" mode that can lead to an upset stomach.
When anxiety and stress are persistently ignored and not managed, they can intertwine with unpleasant digestive issues, compelling us to confront not only physical unease but also mental strain in our everyday lives.
Especially for people who already have digestion issues like IBS or a reflux disease, stress can make pre-existenting symptoms more harmful, making you feel worse when you're already feeling bad.
4. Perspiration
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When we're in a stressful situation or battling anxious thoughts, it's not uncommon to sweat — it's a natural physiological response triggered by stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, like Piedmont Health experts suggest.
Nevertheless, when you experience burnout or are constantly dealing with excessive stress, this physical reaction may occur more often than usual, usually without an increase in body temperature and at a quicker pace than the standard methods of bodily regulation.
By prioritizing mindfulness techniques and setting healthy boundaries, people experiencing high levels of stress can help to combat this bodily response, being present in their anxiety and actively working to relieve it, rather than combat it.
5. Tensing your jaw
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According to experts from Johns Hopkins Medicine, people battling high levels of stress often clench their jaws and grind their teeth more than the average person, experiencing a condition called bruxism that can occur both at night and during wakeful hours.
Individuals who unconsciously tighten their jaw muscles may face significant repercussions for their dental health and daily comfort, potentially leading to headaches, jaw pain, and increased tension due to stress.
Although it may appear to be a minor issue, the unusual signals your body emits when you're experiencing high levels of stress can significantly affect your overall quality of life, introducing unpleasant sensations and physical symptoms into an already hectic schedule.
6. Difficulty breathing
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The body's "fight or flight" response often sparked by stress and anxiety tends to lead to a heightened heart rate, breathing rate, and shortness of breath. Sparking tension in the head and chest, many people battling the consequences of burnout and overwhelming stress struggle to relax, both emotionally and physically.
Although this experience is frequently associated with anxiety episodes such as panic attacks or emotional breakdowns, persistent shortness of breath can also stem from ongoing, unresolved stress. In the absence of proper boundaries and effective de-stressing practices, our bodies may be under constant strain, attempting to manage internal conflicts, often compromising our physical and emotional well-being in the process.
7. Experiencing a higher frequency of illness than usual.
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Stress also has the power to directly impact our immune system, deteriorating typical defense mechanisms against illnesses like the common cold. When our bodies are too busy mediating stress and anxiety from our chaotic routines, our immune system responses tend to be suppressed, like Cleveland Clinic experts suggest, ensuring we're more susceptible to illness.
Additionally, unrecognized anxiety and stress can lead to increased inflammation and the production of stress hormones, significantly affecting our physical well-being and our capacity to manage daily activities effectively.
8. Persistent headaches
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According to an article published in World Psychiatry, muscle pain and headaches are often associated with unacknowledged levels of stress and burnout. Resulting in experiences like chronic back, shoulder and neck pain, and fatigue, our inability to emotionally relax often impacts our bodies as well.
Our bodies frequently transform emotional distress and stress into physical sensations, sending us unusual signals to indicate that we are overwhelmed. These signals encourage us to find ways to relax or establish healthier boundaries.
9. Lightheadedness
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Considering stress tends to spike cortisol levels in the body, a stress hormone response also associated with the body's balance, people feeling burnt out often feel dizzy in random moments throughout their days. Whether it's feeling dizzy standing up or being unable to concentrate while working, the best way to manage this uncomfortable experience is by managing the stress itself.
Whether it's a lifestyle change like getting a new job or adopting a new healthy habit or more internal emotional regulation, figure out how to mediate the consequences of stress to promote better mental and physical well-being.
10. Significant changes in body weight
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Whether you're constantly looking for comfort foods, coping with stress with sugar, or struggling to maintain a consistent schedule with food as a result of your overwhelming schedule, stress has the power to spark weight fluctuations in people who refuse to acknowledge their burnout symptoms.
Like a study from Frontiers in Endocrinology found, stress can also affect a body's ability to store fat alongside higher releases of hormones like cortisol that have severe implications on our weight. While it might be a subtle change in your body, recognizing changes to your routine — especially with food intake — can be a sign that it's time to set clear boundaries into your routine.
