Stress has become a part of life now for most of us. Impossible deadlines to meet, arrival of the mother-in-law, children's exams coming up, juggling home and career … the causes are many but the end result is the same: stress.
While the reasons for your tension are sometimes obvious, quite often, you may not even know you are under stress. But there are tell-tale signs that help you to find out why you are behaving the way you are. Pay heed to these 15 hidden symptoms of stress, before they snowball into something serious.
You experience a small anger at small things
You don't explode, you smoulder, rather like to damp squib. You snap for reasons which wouldn't have ruffled you earlier - like when your 5-year-old daughter spills a glass of water. Normally you'd have told yourself children do spill things, got a mop, and cleaned up. But not now. You don't scold her, rather, you get irritable. That's because you are emotionally exhausted and not prepared to tolerate small inconviences or take on additional responsibility. If this behaviour persists, take it as an early warning symptom of stress.
You also experience unprovoked anger and excessive guilt. Reason: under stress you interpret events and emotions differently. Your reactions are disproportionate to the cause, making others wonder why you are overreacting.
You cut your conversation with people you enjoyed talking to and being with earlier.
Because you feel drained, you have no energy for further interaction. You want to quickly get away and be by yourself.
Your personality undergoes a change.
If earlier you liked being with people, you now prefer solitude.
On the other hand, the reverse could be true, too. If your earlier routine had limited interactions with people, and you were content being on your own, now you may seek company. You want stimulation and excitement. You want to be around people.
You stop paying attention to your personal appearance.
There are many people who are content to walk around in a disheveled state, but if you are the kind who took pains over you grooming earlier but have now become neglectful, it indicates that something is troubling you. Getting clothes from inside the cupboard is too much trouble now. So you just pull out what is right on top of the heap and wear it, even if you wore the same clothes just a couple of days ago. You don't have the energy to sort out your clothes or even remember what you wore when. If you once took pride in your personal style and now can't be bothered, it doesn't mean you don't have the time rather, it indicates you've lost the desire to attend to such personal details.
You become slightly neglectful of your children.
No, you don't love them any less, nor do you forget to feed them, but you are not all "there" mentally. It is rather like there is a cloud in your mind and you are functioning from behind this slightly foggy curtain. When your mind is preoccupied, the intensity of your perception goes down, and you don't always register things around you.
You forget small things.
We all forget things it is one of the mind's defence mechanism against information overload. But forgetfulness under stress is of a different kind. For instance, you don't remember where you kept the keys and then hunt around for them frantically, getting more and more impatient and angry. Forgetting small, routine things indicates that your mind is elsewhere, probably worrying over.
Do You Fret Too Much?
Take this quiz developed by Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, to see whether your fussing is typical or deserves special attention. Decide how often you'd answer yes to these questions, and note your points on each. |
