Although individual physical and emotional reactions to stress vary, the results are similar. A stress overload activates areas of your brain that then send involuntary impulses to organs elsewhere in your body. You can blame your general adaptation reflex an involuntary series of physical reactions as well as your ancestors for your biological inability to handle excess stress without getting sick.
When you become frightened, your body switches into its emergency "fight or flight" mode. This is a completely natural, normal response involving your endocrine system, your autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamus in your brain, and your limbic system.
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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNS OF STRESS |
| Ask yourself the following questions: |
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Are you nervous, anxious?
Do you feel depressed or sad?
Are you irritable or moody?
Do you often become frustrated?
Are you forgetful?
Do you have trouble thinking clearly?
Can you make decisions without agonizing?
Is it difficult to learn new information?
Do you have insomnia?
Are you plagued by negative thoughts?
Are you fidgety?
Are you accident-prone?
Do you bite your fingernails or cuticles? | |
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Excerpted from the American Medical Women's Association The Women's Complete Healthbook,
edited by Roselyn Payne Epps and Susan Cobb Stewart.
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