How Will Stress Manifest in Your Body?
Updated: Sep 16
Written by Tere Beard, Health Coach
Tere Beard is a Health Coach and helps professionals and executives improve their health and enhance their well-being. She specializes in techniques such as Brain Gym®, FDN®, Pranic Healing, and Functional Neurology, among others, to naturally and non-invasively balance the different systems of our body.
70% of chronic diseases are caused by stress, according to many studies published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Stress is not the only cause of these diseases, but it is the common denominator in conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, insomnia and many more. How can you tell if stress will cause one of these conditions?
Types of stress
People usually think that there is only one type of stress, caused by being on the go, so busy. Many use the phrase “so much stress” whenever one has many chores and “stress-free” whenever things are flowing. The reality is that there are many kinds of stress and they are all equally dangerous.
Physical stress
Physical Stress is manifested in the body. Examples are poor sleep, chronic pain, inflammation, illness, over-exercising, toxins and hormonal imbalance. Some of the symptoms are fatigue, headaches, muscle tension and digestive issues. When poor sleep is not resolved, many complications can arise, such as brain fog, depression, or mental fatigue.
Emotional stress
Emotional stress occurs from feelings and emotional experiences. Examples are fear, grief, anger, relationship conflict, feeling unsupported and unresolved emotions. Some of the symptoms are mood swings, overwhelm, sadness, irritability and emotional fatigue. If a person is not supported at work, feelings of anger or fear can take over. In the case of work, nobody wants a team member who is constantly angry or scared to participate.
Mental stress
Mental stress is created by the mind’s workload and thoughts. Examples are overthinking, decision overload, multitasking, work pressure and constant problem‑solving. Some of the symptoms are racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating and mental exhaustion. People who are always solving problems at work and/or home will sooner or later get overloaded and, if not treated, may end up in a mental shutdown, such as panic attacks.
Manifesting stress
How will stress manifest in your body? It all depends on your emotional state. Is the following scenario familiar? Every day this person wakes up in a hurry, rushing to get the kids ready for school, make sure everyone has breakfast and get to school on time because she/he must get to the office on time to finish the report everyone is waiting for. While at work, many come to interrupt and claim they need support. Meanwhile, the report is due and this afternoon the kids have soccer practice, and this person still needs to make it to the supermarket to have dinner ready on time.
Three possible scenarios
Did she/he have any say in this matter? Was she/he able to let everyone know they had to wait? For the sake of this example, let’s say no, she/he did not fight back and held everything up. The stress for this person could manifest in thyroid problems, taking into consideration she/he tended to remain quiet in moments of stress. Holding back feelings and not communicating what makes you stressed will have an effect on the body.
What if this person did yell back and tell everyone off? This person decided to eat junk food while working and cursing, expressing lots of complaints. In this case, stress might manifest with liver problems and high blood pressure, which are very common in persons who have anger issues.
What if this scenario has been going on forever? Then the adrenal glands might be overworked and this person is gaining weight due to the hormonal imbalance created by the excess amount of cortisol secreted. Now we have an overweight person with no logical explanation since he/she has been following a healthy diet for years.
As you can see, we have one scenario with three different ways that stress can manifest. Same cause, different outcomes. Why are there different outcomes? Simple, we are all different and react differently to every situation. Can you relate?
The old approach
So, what do you do? Typically, you go to a specialist, either an endocrinologist, a cardiologist, or even a psychiatrist and they all give you, after several tests, some magic pill, helping in the short run, but does it really help in the long run? I have seen people taking a second medication to deal with the side effects of the first medication. Is this what you really want?
On the other hand, some doctors will say, "What you are feeling is caused by stress, there is nothing to do, just learn to live with it." Really? Not acceptable.
A new approach
What if instead, this person explores the emotional aspect of what and why makes him/her swallow emotions, or curse so much? Think about it! When we fall in love, we are so happy, nothing affects us, we are healthy, we are healed. The same principle applies, but on the opposite spectrum. If we are stressed, our bodies are going to explode somehow.
It is time you allow yourself to measure how your emotions are impacting your nervous system and how it could be in the process of manifesting. Once we know this, then we can use one or more natural therapies and/or tools that help lower stress.
I have been applying this approach for almost ten years with great results. I use software to measure your stress levels and how it is impacting all your organs. With the information gathered, I recommend an action to take. Migraines are gone in less than five minutes, panic attacks and anxiety vanish, and people start focusing on their goals rather than their physical or emotional pain.
By understanding how you deal with your emotions, you can start making small but clever lifestyle changes that will help you heal and feel well. Isn’t it time you tried a new approach? Learn how to leave stress behind and go back to enjoying life.
Let’s start by analyzing your stress levels and finding out how they are impacting your body. It only takes one hour, and it can change your life. You deserve it.
Read more from Tere Beard
Tere Beard, Health Coach
As a passionate Health Coach, Tere specializes in helping people explore how stress is impacting their nervous system and establishing an all-natural approach to help them restore wellness into their lives. Her empathic approach and her corporate expertise allow her to understand and help professionals improve their productivity as well as their health.
