Stress can creep up on us unaware.  If you put a frog into a saucepan of hot water it will jump straight out again, but put it in and heat up the water and it will boil, unconscious of the changing environment.

Like the frog, we’re often not aware of the signs of stress before it’s too late.

Of course, a bit of stress is good for us – it keeps us on our toes.  But sometimes it can overwhelm us and start to cause us mental and physical damage.

So what exactly are the signs of  stress?

1) Nagging physical ailments

Often our nagging aches and pains are the body’s way of telling us to take it easy.  It’s no surprise that the backache often goes away at the weekend and comes back on a Monday morning before work.  Sometimes the opposite is true – in which case we need to look at our home life.

2) Anxiety

It may seem obvious to say this, but the anxiety we feel when are stressed is often not related to what we are stressed about.  It may be as clear cut as feeling stressed about an upcoming exam or presentation, but it may be more complicated.  Sometimes we get very anxious about something seeming unrelated – projecting our anxiety onto another issue.

3) Obsessive thoughts

These are related to anxiety, but we often tend to obsess about stuff when we are stressed out.  Again, the obsession if often unrelated to the real cause of stress – a sign that we may need to investigate.

4) Forgetfulness

When our mind is racing and obsessing, we often don’t remember things we should.  It’s normal to forget from time to time, but if is happening a lot we may be more stressed than we realize.

5) Excessive eating or loss of appetite

Some people binge, others go off food completely.  If your normal eating habits are disturbed this might be a sign that you are stressed.

6) Insomnia or excessive sleeping

Again this varies from person to person.  Some people can’t seem to get out of bed, while others can’t fall asleep or wake up in the night.  Insomia is a classic sign of stress.

7) Fatigue

Fatigue can have many causes, but stress if often at the bottom of an unexplained bout of fatigue.  When the body is running continuously at a heightened state of alert, after a while it will burn itself out.  This sign of stress if the most dangerous.

Fortunately EFT can help with both the stress itself and the deep underlying causes of the stress in our lives.  Sometimes EFT will allow us to deal with the problems ourselves, at other times we will need to engage the services of a professional therapist.