HealthInfo Aoraki South Canterbury
Overview of stress
Tirohanga whānui ki te pōkaikaha
Many people use the word stress when the demands of their life seem to be too much to cope with. Everyone copes differently. What one person finds stressful may not be a problem for someone else.
Most of us have symptoms of stress at some stage. Overcoming challenges is just part of life. But long-term stress is bad for our health and most of us want to get some control over it.
Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between stress and anxiety. They have similar symptoms. With stress, most people can work out what is causing it. But anxiety often affects all aspects of your life without an obvious cause.
Symptoms
Different people have different symptoms, but there are three broad types.
Physical symptoms
Stress can make our body react in ways we cannot control.
- Aching joints, muscles and headaches. These happen when we tense up physically for long periods of time.
- Digestive problems. These can include losing your appetite, feeling sick, diarrhoea, constipation and bloating.
- Uncontrollable twitching. This can affect your eyes or mouth, for example.
- Dizziness or palpitations. Being short of breath, feeling faint or having a rapid heartbeat.
- Panic attacks. Panic attacks are intense bouts of stress that can happen suddenly. During a panic attack, you can have any of the other symptoms of stress.
- High blood pressure. Stress can make our blood pressure rise suddenly.
- Inability to relax. Feeling tense and uptight all the time.
- Insomnia. Having problems going to sleep or waking up and not being able to go back to sleep.
- Lethargy. Being tired and lacking energy.
- Skin problems like rashes.
- Losing interest in sex.
- Sweating a lot.
- Shaking or trembling.
Emotional symptoms
When we are stressed, we often have upsetting feelings or thoughts that we cannot control. Emotional symptoms can include things like:
- Anxiety and fearfulness. Worrying all the time about future or past events or how other people behave towards you and what they think.
- Feeling like things are out of control or that you are overwhelmed by negative events or other people's behaviour.
- Lacking self-confidence.
- Phobias. Being terrified of situations or things that do not bother other people.
Behavioural symptoms
When we are stressed, we can start acting in ways we know are harmful but feel that we cannot control our behaviour.
- Self-medicating. Eating, drinking alcohol, smoking or taking drugs to comfort yourself and blot out negative feelings and thoughts.
- Repetitive behaviours. Clenching and unclenching your fists or jaw, tapping your feet, biting your nails or other behaviours that you cannot stop or are unaware of.
- Feeling irritable and angry for no reason. Losing your temper easily.
- Being easily distracted. Having problems concentrating because you are worrying or upset about something.
- Being unable to switch off and relax.
HealthInfo recommends the following videos
- NHS – Stress
This video gives an overview of stress and how it can affect you.
On the next page: Causes of stress
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed December 2023.
Sources
See also:
Review key: HISTS-111503
