What happens when you get too stressed?

The holiday period can be a stressful time, lots to do in such a short amount of time. Gift Shopping, cooking, driving back and forth, cleaning up the house, visiting friends and family… it keeps going. This can be a stressful time for many people, especially with the year that 2020 has turned out to be. A little stress is healthy, too much is not.

So what actually happens to you when you get stressed? Well, there are physiological changes in the body but also psychological ones. Let’s break it down.

You hit the stress limit and it’s not going away any time soon, these are some of the things that you’ll experience

• Memory problems

• Inability to concentrate

• Poor judgment

• Seeing only the negative

• Anxious or racing thoughts

• Constant worrying

• Depression or general unhappiness

• Anxiety and agitation

• Moodiness, irritability, or anger

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Loneliness and isolation

• Other mental or emotional health problems

• Aches and pains

• Diarrhea or constipation

• Nausea, dizziness

• Chest pain, rapid heart rate

• Loss of sex drive

• Frequent colds or flu

• Eating more or less

• Sleeping too much or too little

• Withdrawing from others

• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities

• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax

• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

Sounds pretty awful right!

The good news is that stress will not become chronic stress unless you don’t find ways to balance life out a little. That’s where a massage is actually really helpful. Maybe a one hour massage once a week is enough to get through a period of immense stress. Maybe it means that your symptoms of stress drastically reduce because you were able to fully let go for a little while for the first time in a month.

There are many ways you can reduce your overall stress in life, but realistically, if you have a very busy or intense job, a family life and external commitments… there is only so much reduction you can do before you need to actively engage in stress relieving activities.

All of our massages are aimed to be stress relieving and the tension relief alone will usually do the trick! You don’t have to hold it in your jaw, shoulders, neck, back….etc anymore!