7 physical signs of stress you're probably not aware of.

by Kahla Preston April 24, 2015

Image: iStock.

Despite what stock images want you to think, stress doesn’t always manifest in that classic ‘hands grasping clumps of hair; panicked facial expression’ way (see above).

In fact, stress symptoms don’t always present in an emotional or psychological way — often, they’ll appear in parts of your physical body you’d never expect. “As far as I’m concerned, you can’t separate the mind and the body; they’re so intricately related they directly affect each other,” says Leanne Hall, a Sydney-based clinical psychologist and mind and body expert.

The two main culprits behind these physical symptoms are the hormones cortisol and adrenaline, which tend to increase when the body is under stress. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; they can help the body deal with stressful events in the short-term. The problem arises when this increase is chronic and ongoing.

“When we’re getting around our daily activities with elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline, that has a major physical impact as well as psychological. Our body goes into complete disarray,” Hall explains. Here are some common physical signs and symptoms of stress you might not be aware of:

1. Muscle pain

Ouch. Muscle pain could be a sign that you're under stress.

Ever been under the pump and desperately wished someone would give you a shoulder massage? That's no coincidence. According to Matthew Squires, principal physiotherapist at Physio Gym Physiotherapy, the influence of stressors often manifests as pain, tightness or rigidity - i.e. hypertonicity - in the muscular body. Yep, stress can literally be a pain in the neck.

"There's a chemical element and a biomechanical element to stress. The biomechanical element tends to be more the fatiguing of muscles and the fact that muscles are trying to hold up compromised body mechanics; the chemical element tends to lower your awareness of pain and your threshold to managing it," Squires explains. "So if you're emotionally stressed, your threshold for pain decreases, and the physical and mechanical element is more noticeable." (Post continues after gallery.)

5 yoga poses that'll fix your dodgy back

Legs up wall

This pose has a multitude of benefits for your mind and body. If you suffer from arteritis, headaches, high blood pressure or insomnia, the legs up move can be therapeutic. It can also relieve lower back pain and tired or cramped legs, and ease the symptoms of PMS, menstrual cramps and menopause. Added benefit: itll give you an energy boost and help ease anxiety and stress.

Puppy pose

The Puppy pose (best name ever) does great things for your upper body. Itll expand your chest, improve flexibility in your spine, and relieve any tension in your upper arms, shoulders and neck. It also stretches out your abdominals, opens your hips and stretches your hamstring. In terms of wellbeing, doing the Puppy pose will calm your mind and relieve symptoms of chronic stress, tensions and insomnia.

Corpse pose

It sounds morbid, but the corpse pose is the ultimate relaxation pose and will rejuvenate your body and mind. It can physically relax you, help to lower blood pressure, and reduce the symptoms of headaches, fatigue and insomnia. The pose can also calm your brain and help to ease stress and mild depression.

Standing forward fold

This pose positions your head below your heart, so straight away the rush of blood to your head will give you a big boost of oxygen. This has some great results - it can help to ease feelings of nervousness, stress, anxiety, depressions and fatigue, and relieve symptoms of asthma, menopause, headaches and insomnia. Physically, it stretches your hips, hamstrings and calves, keeps your spine strong and flexible, and strengthens your thighs and knees.

Hypertonicity tends to appear in the weakest, or most compromised, muscles or vertebrae during periods of stress — commonly in the cervicothoracic region between the neck and the mid-back, and in the lower back.

Being able to recognise which areas of your body hold stress and emotion is crucial in managing these symptoms. Squires says stretching, or getting up and moving away from your desk at regular intervals, will help alleviate the pain. Developing an exercise-based solution with the guidance of a physiotherapist will also help you manage this issue in the long term.

2. Breakouts

Leanne Hall says your skin is affected by stress for a couple of reasons. For one, during periods of stress it's common to drink more caffeine for stimulation, or alcohol for sedation, which send toxins into the body. "Those toxins then mean the liver under pressure, and one of the main organs that helps clean our systems out is the skin. So we might notice acne or breakouts," Hall explains.

"Cortisol also activates our sympathetic nervous systems — our fight or flight response — which means our parasympathetic nervous system is depressed. That's what helps the body with digestion, restoring and conserving energy levels in the body, and it can affect the skin."

3. Sweet food cravings

Ever felt as though you needed a mountain of chocolate when stressed? Yeah, we feel you.

Cravings for sweets and carbohydrates are common among people experiencing chronic stress, as their cells tend to be starved of energy.

"Increased cortisol can make us resistant to insulin, so it can elevate our blood sugar. If that happens chronically over a long period of time, it puts stress on our pancreas and we basically end up running around with way too much blood sugar," Hall says, adding that this can also cause inflammation in the body.

"Because our cells have been programmed to be insulin resistant, it means they're starving of energy ... what that does is send hunger signals to the brain for a quick energy fix, even if you've already eaten an hour ago." (Post continues after gallery.)

Healthy snack ideas

(Image via Instagram @sarahs_healthyfood.)

4. Gut troubles

Some people find stress plays havoc with their stomach — and we're not just talking about that fleeting, fluttery butterfly sensation. Elevated levels of cortisol can really mess with your sympathetic nervous system, thereby impairing the body's ability to absorb nutrients and digest food.

This can result in short-term gut pain or diarrhoea, and for people with Crohn's disease, IBS or coeliac disease stress can provoke flare-ups.