Stress is one if the greatest destroyers of health.  Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life, but excess stress can create high blood pressure, heart problems, stomach ulcers, and even sexual problems.  It is very important to be able to identify the symptoms of excess stress in your life, and then work to eliminate it.  Here are 6 of the most common symptoms of stress:

1.  Your hearting beating faster than normal.  When the body is under stress it prepares itself for quick action, and increases your heart rate.  If there were true physical danger, this would be appropriate, but this is one of the stress symptoms which can cause excessive work on your body, leading to elevated blood pressure, and potentially other heart related issues.

2.  Going right along with the accelerated heart rate, normally comes fast breathing.  Many times this breathing is shallow and quick, maybe you feel as if you can’t really catch your breath.  Your body is reacting as if you have been on the run physically, when all that is really occurring is excess stress.  This form of breathing does not allow you to oxygenate your blood as effectively, and can result in even higher levels of stress.

3.  Tight, stiff, and sore muscles is another one of our stress symptoms.  The tightness in your muscles is most often felt in your neck and shoulders.  You feel like you’ve been clinching those muscles all day, and in reality, you probably have.

4.  One of the stress symptoms you will not be able to ignore is lower back pain.  Due to your excessive stress, and muscle tightening, you may begin to experience frequent lower back aches.

5.  With all of the constriction of muscles and blood flow, it isn’t long until the next of our stress symptoms will come to visit you.  Headaches are a very common sign of high stress levels.  You are not providing proper oxygen to your brain, and soon it will respond.  Some people even begin to experience severe migraine headaches due to their stress.

6.  Nausea, butterflies in the stomach, an upset stomach, and other stomach conditions are additional stress symptoms you may experience.  It is normal for people to feel butterflies at moments of new experiences, and nervousness about certain of life’s situations, but to have these feeling on a regular basis is uncommon, and likely associated to stress.

This short list of stress symptoms gives you a good starting point to evaluate your level of stress.  If you are experiencing these symptoms on a regular basis, it is time to start learning new techniques to reduce your stress.  You may even want to visit with your Doctor.

The start to reducing your stress symptoms is to recognize you are a victim of stress.  Once you become aware, then you can setup a regular plan to reduce your stress, and to reduce the chances of succumbing to one of the many medical conditions which can result from excess stress.  Do a self evaluation, and get started on a solution today.