Too Much Stress - When to Slow Down

If you start to get exhausted, feel awful, get sick for no apparent reason feel miserable, or even finding yourself exploding easily, you probably have pushed yourself too far into your "stress zone". Recognizing these early signs that you are beginning to overdo it is important for maintaining good health. You can catch yourself by knowing the signs before stress catches up with you. They can indicate that life is becoming too stressful for your own capacity to adapt to the daily pressures you face.

But unfortunately, many of us ignore these signals which can lead to disastrous results. One of the major reasons for excessive stress is the "I have to get ahead" attitude. Late hours at the office, taking work home, and working two jobs are just some of the reasons for stress.

Knowledge is power, so learning the early warning signs will help you decide on a change in your lifestyle. Some of the early signs are any significant change in a desire for food, social interaction, sex, or even sleep. Sometimes little problems in life can lead to small changes in your desires, but when they change significantly, and you don't know why, you can almost be assured that your body is trying to tell you something.

Say if you want to sleep half the day away, or can't sleep at all, or lose your desire for sex, there is definitely something wrong. When you notice such changes in your life, there are ways to help relieve your stress load. Keep a record of your patterns for a while. Your behavior may correct itself back to normal in time. But if it doesn't, then it's time to seek out professional medical help and/or counseling.

Another early warning sign of impeding over-stress is having strong emotions without having any causes that you can determine. If you feel depressed, angry or irritable when nothing apparent has happened to trigger these emotions, usually these emotions are indicating to you that you're under more stress than you know how to comfortably handle.