I‘ve been under a lot of stress lately. Life in the modern age can be a lot for almost everyone, but if that’s not enough, there is a lot of things happening in both my professional and personal lives at the moment. Well, I need to find a way to get this under control, because our health and our stress are more connected than we think. So, here are some of the ways in which your body is telling you that you need to relax.

First, you will find that your mind is not working as usual. You will find yourself having trouble concentrating and staying in focus. Also, you might find yourself having problems in short term memory, as it’s been proven that high levels of stress can affect your cognitive function and memory.

Second, when you’re under a lot of pressure, you’re more likely to feel impatient and view things negatively. I can say from my experience, that I often found myself feeling angry or upset because of my stress. I can have an outburst on those closest to me, project all my anger towards them, even though they don’t deserve it. Later, when I ask myself why I did that, I see it was the stress coming out of me.

In addition, you should expect some digestive issues. Our stress can spread out to other parts of our body. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, chronic stress and anxiety can cause many digestive issues, such as abdominal cramps, pain, nausea, bloating, and diarrhea. Apparently, that’s because stress can change the balance of bacteria in the gut.

Another aspect of your life it may affect is your sleep. This can go one of two ways. First, you may not be able to sleep through the night; Constantly stressing over something, will prevent you from getting the quality sleep you need during the night. The other way in which stress may affect your sleep is that you’ll feel tired all the time. As stress affects our energy levels, it can wear us out, causing us to feel tired.

This is, of course, just a small list of ways in which stress can affect our health. These symptoms are the ones I felt the most personally. I hope that I will be able to control my stress levels over time. I am full of hope as I embark on this journey.