Signs That Your Stress Levels May Be At A Critical Level

When does enough stress become too much stress? How would you know if your stress levels were at a stage where you really need to be taking some action?

Very often as we move through the busyness of life, we never really take the time to check in and acknowledge how we are actually doing, or how we are feeling. Very often our stress levels can get to a level where they are overwhelming, and we don't even realise what is going on.

Here are my top 3 signs that it might just be the time to take some action to help reduce your stress levels.

1.Sleep disturbance.

When we have a fight or flight reaction during the day, the stress neurochemical Cortisol is released into the body. This brings on a full stress reaction with many of the physical signs including increased heart rate, shallow breathing, tightening of the muscles especially around the base of the skull and the neck area.

If we have several stress reactions back-to-back in other words if we are ping-ponging from one stressor to another without getting back into a calm and grounded state in between, this will result in there being a build-up of Cortisol in the body by bedtime.

If you are feeling exhausted going to bed, then the chances are that you will probably fall asleep but when you move into the light sleep, the cortisol in the body will wake you up and what ultimately happens then is, there is enough cortisol in the body to keep you awake ruminating over what might happen tomorrow as well as replaying what happened yesterday repeatedly. You then end up getting up tired and are more easily stressed and distracted over the course of the day because your body is tired and cannot cope with the normal challenges presented in everyday life let alone those associated with a demanding career. The whole cycle continues and begins to negatively impact on all areas of your life and most importantly on your health and wellbeing as it is well documented that sleep deprivation reduces immunity to your ability to fight off simple coughs, colds and viruses is compromised.

2. The second sign your stress levels may be at a level that you need to take action is that your ability to focus concentrate and on a task is reduced.

You may be spending lots of time completing a document or task of any sort but your ability to stay focused on the particular task is compromised. Much and all as you try to concentrate, your mind is continually drifting to the source of your stress draining the little energy you have left. This of course has a detrimental impact on your productivity as even though you are spending hours on the task, the quality of the work you are producing is not reflective of the time you are putting in. This ultimately begins to erode your self-belief and confidence as your ability to perform at your best is compromised. Ultimately you may find that you are spending longer and longer at your desk with very little time for anything else adding to your already elevated stress levels.

3. Heightened emotions.

The third sign that it is time to address your rising stress levels is a change in your emotions. You may feel that you are continually frustrated, anxious or even angry and are directing these emotions towards the people around you. If you stop and reflect, this may be totally out of character for you. Very often if you are finding the workplace very stressful and your stress levels are rising, it is those nearest and dearest that bare the brunt of these emotions and unless you stop to check in you may not even be aware of it. You may start to believe that everyone else is being unreasonable but actually what has happened is that your stress levels have built up to such a level that you are overwhelmed with heavy negative emotions and cannot seem to shake it. If this is left unchecked, it can have a detrimental impact on the relationships in your life.