As the stay at home orders continue and quarantine gets longer, you are probably realizing you don’t feel like yourself anymore. You may be going through your daily routines but still feel like you're not accomplishing anything. In other words you feel stuck. No one on this planet has experienced a pandemic like this before, and these feelings of uncertainty contribute to increasing stress. Stress has interesting ways of showing itself within our bodies, it could be a physical indicator or a change in your mood. Sometimes these symptoms are so subtle and seemingly normal you may not realize that it is stress that is causing them to surface. It’s important to take time to listen to what your body is telling you before it gets out of control.
Physical indicators are changes in the way your body normally functions. These symptoms can easily be mistaken as effects of not getting outside or moving your body as much as usual. If you’ve tried stretching out or taking medicine and nothing has worked, you are likely experiencing increased stress. Stress can affect the way your body feels. At first glance, it’s easy to think that muscle and back pain could be a result of decreased mobility from being stuck in the house. When we are stressed our muscles tend to tense up unintentionally, meaning we are working them even when we aren’t moving. Not the ideal workout you may have hoped for, but tensed muscles for long periods of time leads to lasting and increased pain.
Emotional indicators are changes that occur in the brain. Stress can be a vicious cycle. Being behind on schoolwork can easily make you feel stressed out but feeling stress can increase your procrastination. Stress is very tiring, it tires out your body and brain and can make it feel like it is impossible to do anything more than staying in bed all day, letting more work (and stress) pile up. Changes in your sleep schedule can indicate that you are feeling stressed out. Having a sleep schedule that more closely resembles a raccoon’s than a human’s is common among people experiencing stress.
Stress is easy to ignore, the symptoms are subtle enough to not catch your attention until it’s too late. The best way to avoid letting stress pile up is to check in with yourself. If you are feeling unproductive or uninspired, take time to recognize how your body is feeling. Yoga and meditation are great ways to listen to what your body is telling you. The first step to fighting stress is acknowledging it.
Segal, J., Ph.D, Smith M., M.A., Segal R., M.A., Robinson L. (2020, March). Stress Symptoms, Signs, And Causes. HelpGuide. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-signs-and-causes.htm
Hurley, K. (2019, March 19). Stress vs. Anxiety: How to tell the difference. Psycom. https://www.psycom.net/stress-vs-anxiety-difference