Secret Signs of Stress You Can’t Afford to Ignore

Your mouth is always dry

Everyone gets thirsty from time to time. If you haven’t had any drinks (particularly any water) for a while, your mouth will naturally feel dry. However, if you can’t remember the last time your mouth didn’t feel dry, then your body may be trying to tell you it is stressed out.

When you are really stressed, it can actually block your body’s salivary glands, causing your mouth to feel dry. Correspondingly, you will probably have trouble swallowing your food. Fortunately, clearing up your stress can also clear up your dry mouth.

Red spots appear on your skin or your mouth

Many people get red spots on their skin from time to time. This could be acne or maybe an allergic reaction to something. If you’re getting spots on your skin or even inside your mouth and don’t know the cause, though, then stress is most likely the culprit.

Intense stress can cause your body to release a whole host of chemicals that can change how you react to different things. Long story short, dealing with the stress of a major emotional rollercoaster can cause you to keep breaking out, but bringing that coaster to a stop by dealing with the cause(s) of your stress can clear your skin and mouth up.

Being sweaty most of the time

There are a surprising number of things that may cause you to sweat. That includes extreme heat, intense exercise, or even being scared. As with the dry mouth, though, you should treat being sweaty almost all the time as a symptom of stress.

Why is that? Basically, stress can trigger the same kind of fight-or-flight response that you experience when encountering something scary. Unfortunately, the anxiety caused by stress can make you feel this way more often than not, but getting away from the things that are stressing you can help you get this sweating problem under control.

Grinding your teeth

By now, you have probably noticed many of the symptoms of stress can also be symptoms of something else, so it’s important to rule out other possible diagnoses. However, there is one symptom that is almost exclusively stress-related, and that is grinding your teeth.

Those who are stressed out will often grind their teeth in their sleep. Interestingly, you may not realize you are grinding your teeth, but a sore jaw is usually a telltale sign. In the short term, a mouth guard is the best way to protect your teeth while you sleep. In the longer term, you are better off trying to remove the source of stress altogether.

You’re starting to lose more hair

Before you freak out, take a deep breath: it’s perfectly normal to lose small amounts of hair from time to time. You might see the occasional hair on your brush or maybe even a stray hair that has fallen to the floor. However, if you’re seeing more hair than usual and don’t know why, the answer is most likely that you are very stressed.

When the body is stressed out, it can cause such an emotional reaction that your body’s hair growth cycle is disrupted, resulting in you losing hair. In a way, this gives you a powerful incentive: the quicker you deal with what is stressing you, the quicker you will stop losing hair!

Your eye is constantly twitching

Have your friends or family mentioned your eye twitching lately? Or maybe you’ve noticed such a twitch in the mirror? Believe it or not, eye twitching is another telltale sign that you are dealing with too much stress.

The feeling of stress can cause your brain to send some strange signals to your body, and that’s what results in the eye twitching. If the stress remains, then this twitching could last for weeks or even for months, so it’s important to deal with it sooner rather than later.

You always feel cold

Some people naturally get colder than others. Because of that, it’s not necessarily a bad sign that you get a bit colder in cool weather or sometimes need to sit under a blanket. However, if you experience quick bursts of sharp cold with no other explanation, then you are probably very stressed out.

Extreme stress can cause the blood in your head, arms, and legs to run cold. So cold, in fact, that your body might feel numb, and this sensation can last for hours at a time. If this experience sounds very familiar, then it’s time to see someone (like a good therapist) about your stress level!