Signs of Psychological Stress

Psychological stress is how the body and brain react to any need or demand seen as a challenge or obstacle.

Psychological stress is not necessarily negative; some people see short-term stress as motivating, as with an exam or job interview. However, being under a lot of stress can sometimes cause physical symptoms and health problems, especially if you're not managing your stress well.

This article discusses psychological stress, its signs, and how it can affect your health. It also offers suggestions for managing your stress.

Stress in Medicine

Within medicine, stress is the “body’s response to physical, mental, or emotional pressure.”

Types of Psychological Stress

There are different types of stress, which can all have effects on emotional and physical health. Situations and events that cause stress, called stressors, can occur once, briefly, or over a longer period.

Types of stress include:

• Routine stress: This relates to the persistent pressures of school, work, relationships, and other responsibilities.
• Sudden negative stress: Examples of this type of stress include illness, losing a job, financial difficulty, or divorce.
• Traumatic stress: This is caused by a major event like an accident, assault, disaster, or any event where someone is fearful they may be seriously hurt or killed.
  

Acute Stress

This is caused by a short-term stressor, and it goes away quickly. Everybody experiences this at some point in their lives, and it is caused by a variety of situations. Examples of acute stress include:

• Taking an exam
• Job interview
• Exhilarating short events, like skiing down a mountain
• Brief surprising events, like hitting the brakes to avoid a car accident
• Having an argument

Chronic Stress

This is stress that lasts for a longer time, such as for weeks or months. Someone may become used to it and not recognize it as stress or believe it is a problem. Examples of chronic stress include:

• Financial problems
• Unhappiness in a relationship or marriage
• Difficulty at work or school
• Having a chronic illness
• Problems at home or in your personal life
  

In one study that also examined an association with social media use, the Pew Research Center used the Perceived Stress Scale to evaluate the stress levels of American adults. The average score was 10.2 out of 30, with 0 being no stress and 30 being the highest level.

The researchers also found that women and men had different stress levels, with women being significantly more stressed overall. Older adults and those who are employed tend to have lower levels of stress.

Psychological Stress Symptoms

When responding to pressure, the body releases stress hormones, like epinephrine and norepinephrine. This causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, which is supposed to help you escape an immediate threat. As a result, stress affects multiple body systems, and it affects every person differently. Severity depends on the cause and person.

Cognitive or thinking-related effects of stress include:

• Difficulty focusing
• Memory issues
• Negative thoughts
• Lack of self-confidence
• Worrying
• Trouble making decisions

Emotional symptoms can include:

• Changes in mood
• Irritability
• Hopelessness
• Feeling tense, anxious, or nervous
• Unhappiness
• Inability to relax
  

Changes in behavior can also occur. These symptoms include:

• Eating or sleeping pattern changes
• Withdrawing from social life
• Nervous habits, like fidgeting, nail-biting, teeth grinding
• Increase in use of caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs
• Decrease in work or academic productivity
  

How Does Psychological Stress Affect Your Health?

Chronic stress can increase the risk of multiple health conditions, including:

• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Depression or anxiety
• Skin conditions, like eczema or acne
• Changes in menstruation (periods)

Physical symptoms caused by stress include:

• Headaches
• Muscle tension
• Digestive problems, such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
• Decreased interest in sex
• Increased heart rate
• High blood pressure
• Fatigue
  

When to See a Healthcare Provider

A lot of stress can be managed with coping strategies and self-care. However, when it becomes unmanageable, it is important to seek help from a mental health professional or another healthcare provider. This is especially true if you are experiencing overwhelming stress or stress affecting your functioning in life or health.

Your healthcare provider may provide a referral to a mental health professional, like a therapist or psychiatrist. This could prevent long-term effects and help diagnose a possible mood or anxiety disorder that needs treatment.

How to Manage Psychological Stress

It can be challenging to manage stress, especially if there are a lot of people in your life with high expectations of you. Advice to slow down may not be helpful, since people often have few opportunities to do this.

Finding ways to manage your stress can reduce its impact on you and stop it from getting worse. When your stress is well managed, you may avoid some of the health effects that go along with it.

There are many ways to cope with stress, and everybody has different preferences when it comes to managing it. Self-care methods people use, as well as good lifestyle changes, include the following:

• Don't be too hard on yourself. Stress is normal and everyone experiences it. If you can't meet everyone's expectations all the time, it is important not to consider it a failure.
• Ask for help. If your work at home or at your job is overwhelming, ask someone for help. Delegating tasks to co-workers or family members can reduce your obligations and your stress level.
• Balance work and life. Make sure to leave some time for yourself every day.
• Write it all down. Schedule your time so you are working on a reasonable number of tasks every day. It can also help to journal your thoughts and record the days you feel particularly stressed and what triggered the stress.
• Take care of yourself. It is important to make sure you've scheduled enough time for exercise and that you're eating nutritious meals instead of settling for food that is convenient but less healthy.
• Prioritize sleep. Pay attention to how much sleep you're getting. If you don't get at least seven to eight hours a night, or if you feel sleepy throughout the day, choose an earlier bedtime. If going to bed earlier doesn't help or if you're having a hard time sleeping, take a look at your sleep habits. For example, make sure your bedroom is dark and quiet and that you aren't drinking alcohol or eating too soon before bed.
• Practice relaxation and mindfulness meditation. These can help release tension. Some common methods include progressive relaxation and deep breathing. Mindfulness increases focus and concentration on the present moment, which may also help reduce stress.
  

Summary

Psychological stress is the way your body and brain respond to the pressures of life and the expectations of others. It can happen suddenly when an unexpected event such as job loss or the death of a loved one occurs, or it can be caused by routine daily pressures.

Stress can cause mental health problems and contribute to physical problems. These include trouble focusing, problems with memory, irritability, and more serious chronic problems like heart disease and obesity. Finding ways to manage your stress can reduce the risk of developing long-term stress-related health problems.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. National Institute of Mental Health. 5 things you should know about stress.
2. National Cancer Institute. Psychological stress and cancer.
3. National Library of Medicine. Stress and your health.
4. Hampton K, Rainie L, Lu W, Shin I, Purcell K. Psychological stress and social media use. Pew Research Center. 2015.
5. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Stress.
6. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Stress.
7. National Institute of Mental Health. I’m so stressed out!

By Alison Yarp, MD, MPH
Dr. Yarp is a public health physician with interests in mental health, violence prevention, and emergency preparedness.

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