You’ve heard that excess stress can cause health problems, but are you heeding the warnings? It’s so easy to get caught up in the raging river of life that many of us don’t even realize we barely have time to sit down and do nothing for a few minutes.
Part of the problem is our inability to recognize when we’re overstressed, so if you’re ready to take a good hard look at yourself and your habits, look out for these — the top 15 signs that you’re majorly overstressed:
1. Lack of Ability to Concentrate
Naturally, when there’s something in your life that’s worrying or troubling you and you’re stressed about it, you’re preoccupied. You may feel anger, sadness, frustration, or guilt, and these feelings keep you from focusing and concentrating on anything else.
This means that work, school, your loved ones and friends, your self-care, and other important things go by the wayside. Noticing this is often a sure-fire sign that excess stress is at play.
2. Trouble Making Decisions
Some people naturally have trouble making even the most basic decisions, but if you’ve noticed that you can barely decide between what kind of paper towels to get at the supermarket or what to have for lunch, it could be a sign that you are overall stressed in your life. That’s because stress can cause you to doubt yourself and lose confidence in the choices you make. This can trickle down to even the most rudimentary decisions, which is usually when it becomes apparent to you and others.
3. Hypochondria
Hypochondria is excessive anxiety about your health and the belief that you have a chronic disease that simply hasn’t been brought to light yet. Sometimes when people get stressed, they begin to reflect on their fast-paced, often unhealthy lives, and a wave of concentrated worry arrives in which they “realize” that one small symptom (a canker sore, an odd mole, the flu) could be related to a deadly disease. Searching frantically for illness symptoms online and overall paranoia about your health are textbook signs of this stress-induced condition.
4. A Temper
If people around you have been remarking how short of a temper you have lately, this is another sign that stress has taken over. Sure, a short fuse can happen anytime, but when you are consistently at your wit’s end, this doesn’t bode well for the future, and eventually, your friends and family won’t take it anymore. A constant quick temper is a sign that you need to make a change.
5. Hair Loss
Hair loss is a common sign of stress. It’s natural to lose some hair every day, but if you notice large tufts of hair in your hairbrush when you groom yourself or a lot of hair in the drain after you take a shower, this isn’t a positive sign. The good news is that calming your stress and improving your situation can immediately help stop you from losing more hair.
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