Surprising signs of stress

Stress can creep up on you when you least expect it.

Many of us lead high-pressure lives, with the competing demands of work, children and family life.

It's when that pressure turns to stress that the problems really start.

Stress can manifest itself in some pretty surprising ways, from sickness to sleepiness. It pays to take notice of these SOS signs from your body to help nip stress in the bud:

1. You are not quite yourself

This is a difficult sign to recognise. Often it's other people who point it out to you.

Stress expert Professor Cary Cooper says: "Your behaviour changes if the pressure you are under exceeds your ability to cope and you enter the stress zone."

He says: "Maybe you are usually gregarious with a good sense of humour and you become withdrawn."

2. Pain in the neck

Tension around the shoulders and neck may not be down to sitting at your computer for hours on end it could be a sign of early stress.

Health and wellbeing consultant Liz Tucker says: "If you are stressed it makes your neck and shoulder muscles tighten which may affect messages to the brain and can give you problems with concentration."
It may pay at this point to take time out and have a massage. Not only are you hopefully alleviating the symptoms, you are recognising you need time to relax. You could also do some simple deep breathing exercises or go to a yoga or Pilates class.

3. Biting nails

Biting your nails down to the quick and picking at your cuticles could be a telltale sign of stress. Consider using anti-biting liquid which tastes bad and discourages biting, or invest in some false nails, so you can't get to your real nails, and then address the reasons for the stress.

4. Twitching eye

We've all occasionally felt that fluttering feeling in our eyelids, especially when we are tired but if you have repeated spasms of blinking if may be down to stress.

It's known as blepharospasm and each spasm can last anything from a few second to a few minutes. The exact cause isn't known but stress and tiredness may trigger it.

5. Feeling sick

You've heard of the phrase 'sick with worry' well stress and anxiety can make you feel nauseous.

Clinical psychologist Dr Angharad Rudkin says it's a classic response: "When we think anxious thoughts the brain sends adrenaline into the body. This is the ancient fight/flight response we still have inside of us.

"Adrenaline has a number of effects other than giving us the strength to fight or run away, some of which are butterfly tummy, nausea, shakes, sweating and your heart beating faster."