It’s no secret that being overworked is harmful to your mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. But despite this common knowledge, many of us go through our days and nights feeling mentally exhausted, anxious, or depressed.
How do you know when you are experiencing something more severe than just feeling tired? How can you tell the difference between what’s normal and what isn’t?
Here are 15 warning signs that you might be suffering from a severe overload of stress:
1) You have trouble sleeping.
The demands of life can keep you up at night with constant worry or anxiety. Other people may experience it as restless leg syndrome or insomnia. Without adequate restful sleep, your body doesn’t have time to recover, and your mood suffers and fluctuates erratically.
2) You don’t know what you feel.
Sometimes, our emotional experience of life is simply numbness. We cannot identify specific emotions, or we find ourselves reacting in inconsistent ways to events that trigger profound feelings for others. This lack of clarity can make us anxious about how unpredictable our reactions are and confuse who we are as people.
3) You “can’t even.”
The most basic daily tasks seem impossible when they require any level of concentration or effort. Whether it’s getting out of bed, making food, doing work assignments, or completing household chores, the simple things that are otherwise easy become tremendously tricky when you are in a state of overload.
4) You have trouble making decisions.
Life is full of choices. And when It overloads with stress, it can feel overwhelming to choose between housekeeping chores or cooking dinner. Sometimes, the most straightforward decisions can lead to anxiety and self-doubt about even thinking clearly enough to make them.
5) You lose motivation for things you used to enjoy.
Even if there are people in your life, who depend on you, nothing feels essential anymore. Because the pressure distracts you from what matters, like spending time with friends or family, pursuing hobbies or interests that bring you joy, or simply remaining calm while reading a book.
6) You feel like you can’t be yourself.
It may sound difficult to believe, but your personality and sense of self-worth become muddled by mental overload. You find yourself feeling more judgmental or critical towards others. Even if it’s entirely out of character for the person you know (or think) you are.
7) You dissociate from your body.
The feelings of disassociation range from mild detachment to pervasive disconnection between your head and heart. Diminishing some or all aspects of what is traditionally called “self.” Prolonged periods in this state will link to chronic dissociative disorders. It can drive people deeper into a cycle of shame. Because it feels safer to disconnect from the world than it does to show up as you are.
8) You have health problems.
The fight-or-flight response includes a dramatic rise in blood pressure, sometimes accompanied by chest pain or rapid heartbeat. When this system activates for prolonged periods, these physiological responses can contribute significantly to existing health issues—including heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.
9) You feel overwhelmed by life’s demands.
Whether it’s work, family responsibilities, or personal obligations that are wearing you down. The cumulative weight of all your commitments overwhelms your ability to manage them effectively. Your well-being becomes secondary to getting things done. And even then, you might not be able to accomplish all you meant to.
10) You feel like your mind is racing.
It can become difficult for your mind to settle on one thought, even when trying to calm yourself down or relax. Like neurotic thoughts that pop into the head but won’t go away. The mental overload makes it hard for people to find their “center.” Physical symptoms often accompany these racing thoughts. The result is a constant state of high alert that doesn’t let up.
11) Your moods are out of control.
You might feel up one minute and down the next with very little rhyme or reason to your emotional behavior. One moment you’re happy, the next you’re angry for no apparent reason at all. You can be sweet as pie one day and downright bitchy just. Because someone looks at you wrong! It isn’t uncommon to feel like this when under extreme stress. But if it becomes chronic, then a professional needs to address something more deeply wrong.
12) you’re always tired but can never sleep well.
When you lay your head down at night, it takes forever to doze off, and when you do, you’re often jolted awake by anxiety or racing thoughts. When you finally do wake up in the morning, it can be hard to muster any genuine desire to get going and start your day because you’re just so exhausted—physically, mentally, even spiritually. Life can become a blur of endless to-do lists that beg for completion but always seem impossible to tackle.
13) You experience headaches or migraines regularly.
The stress of life can often manifest in physical forms like migraines, muscle tension, pain, stomach issues, etc. These are all signs that your body is trying to tell you something about how you’re living your life – but it isn’t always easy to hear.
14) Your skin is breaking out more than usual.
Not only does this make you feel less attractive. Suppose you break out with acne-like spots where typically there aren’t any (the jawline is one commonplace). In that case, your body is probably struggling to cope with the extra toxins that come from exposure to environmental stresses.
15) Your hair is falling out more than usual.
Your hair is a barometer of your overall health-how much you are eating, how much water you drink, how well you sleep. When there are nutrient deficiencies or when your body feels overwhelmed with stressors, it will often manifest in the hair by causing increased breakage and loss of hairs that may be smaller in size than average.
Conclusion:
We must maintain a good sense of mental health as well as physical health. Our mind affects our body and vice versa, So if we find ourselves exhibiting some of these signs.
Author Bio:
Sarah has been writing for a decade and now for the learn online Quran Website. She obtained her Master’s degree at the University of London. Her main objective is to write insightful content for those people who read and like it.
