How Stress And Anxiety Affect Your Daily Life (And Ways To Manage Them)
Author – Annapurna Thakuria, Counseling Psychologist & Psychotherapist
Have you ever kept something on the stove to cook and started overthinking or got yourself engaged in some other things that was keeping you stressed and totally forgot about the pot on the stove?
You only realized when something smelled and by then the pot was badly burnt! (along with whatever was cooking inside).
This along with many other signs remind that stress and anxiety affect your day-to-day life.
Stress and Anxiety are not new terms for you. You might have used it several times this week already! Maybe, you have used both terms interchangeably in different situations as well (of course without realizing it).
Stress is more like mental tensions. Tensions you take when things are difficult. They can be about small things, like ‘figuring out short cuts to avoid traffic jam’; or about big things like ‘managing your finances tight when your income source is less than the budget ahead’.
Anxiety is more about the worry and fear you feel when you think about your stress or ways to handle it or even imagine worst case scenarios in your head. Book Your Session
Understanding Stress And Anxiety:
Now you know that stress and anxiety are related but not exactly the same.
Stress usually happens because of some specific factors like-
- Upcoming exams
- Job interview
- Financial pressure
- Health related concerns
- Arguments with family
Anxiety, however, is that uneasy feeling that lingers inside you when you are stressed and sometimes even after the stressful event or situation ended. I am sure you have been in a situation in your life where you were really stressed. Maybe when you were preparing for your first ever presentation of your college or university life. You knew there would be other students, seniors and juniors, department teachers and even an external. Remember how you checked and re-checked your slides, your notes? How you could feel your heart throbbing in your throat?
Remember the constant thought you had which might have sounded like, “What if I mess up?” or “ What if I forget my lines?”Right here you can figure out that the presentation was causing you stress, which is a natural response to your body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ system. The nervousness, pressure and mental tensions you felt were all part of your stress response. Maybe that even motivated you to prepare harder for your presentation.
The constant fear or “what if” thoughts that kept running in your mind, was however nothing but, anxiety. Hear From Our Experts
What Stress Can Feel Like:
When you were stressed, you might have experienced all, or at least a few from the list below-
- You can’t concentrate on other things because that stress is behind your mind every time.
- You become irritated and frustrated over small things and remain moody.
- You feel mentally exhausted even after doing a very little task.
- You get headaches (mostly in the temples of your forehead or the back of your head).
- You feel your muscles tensed up including your jaws.
- You feel constantly tired even after a good rest.
What Anxiety Symptoms Feel Like
Imagine you don’t like drinking tea, and you go on a date and when being asked if you would like to have a cup of tea, instead of saying, “I don’t drink tea.”, you end up saying, “I don’t dink tree!”
These kind of situations happens very frequently when you are stressed. But when you go home and replay your conversation again and again, think of worst case scenarios in your head, imagining what your date might have thought about you, even though your date may not have paid attention to your mistake, and the rest of the date went fine; this is what anxiety looks like.
- You keep overthinking about situations long after they are over, or after situations that are upcoming in the future.
- You constantly flood your mind with “what if” questions.
- You can’t stop imagining worst case scenarios.
- You feel uneasy or restless even when there is no immediate danger.
- You try avoiding certain situations because of fear or embarrassment.
How Stress And Anxiety Start Affecting Your Daily Life:
Chronic stress and anxiety quietly affects both your physical and mental health.
Let’s take a look at them-
- You face sleep issues-
You might start getting nightmares, wake up in the middle of the night and then find it difficult to go back to sleep. In the long run, you might find it difficult to get even a wink of sleep in the whole night.
- Physical symptoms of anxiety-
Anxiety comes with visible physical symptoms like trembling of your hands, excessive sweating, difficulty breathing, sudden hot flush that make your ears hot and red, frequent urination or sometimes even upset stomach.
Severe stress and anxiety are also one of the main cause of PCOS & PCOD in women.
- Hair and skin health-
Another stress and anxiety symptom you can’t ignore since most of the young population today is facing this issue. Visible hair loss and skin issues like allergies and acne break out are common for those of you who are in constant stress and anxiety.
Some even bite their nails and pick skin (of lips or old wounds), which can lead to infection and other diseases.
- Memory fog-
Stress and anxiety can cause you to completely forget important dates and tasks because your brain remains constantly overstimulated.
- Overwhelming tasks-
Small daily tasks like tidying up your room or washing your clothes can feel overwhelming for you. You end up ignoring those tasks and they pile up, which make you more stressed.
- Your relationships get affected-
Since you are either inattentive, irritated, angry or overthinking; you tend to appear rude to people around you. You might notice that your friends and family start complaining.
You might make more mistakes at work, start misunderstanding small things, and might easily get triggered.
- Headaches and loss of appetite-
As already mentioned before, stress causes headaches and sometimes these headaches become unbearable and make your everyday life difficult.
At the same time, severe stress and anxiety makes you lose your appetite and skip meals.
- Difficulty in taking decisions-
You might find taking simple decisions very tough and end up taking a wrong decision. This is because your brain is already engaged with the other things and so it finds it hard to focus on new issues.
- Anxiety disorder-
Okay wait. Here’s something serious. All the effects that we have discussed so far are faced by everyone at least once in their lifetime. But things take a different and difficult turn when these same signs don’t disappear after a certain time period or are caused without any explanation. It might then be more than just plain stress or anxiety.
It can develop into anxiety disorders.
A Few Things To Try To Manage Your Stress And Anxiety:
If you could relate to at least a few of the signs mentioned above, you must be already wondering about the management techniques. I got you. Go through the list of things that you can try to calm your nerves but here’s the catch- these won’t work if you don’t try them wholeheartedly. Management tips are not magic buttons. You really have to put in the effort, 100% effort, to see the change.
Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the tips!
- Jot down your thoughts-
This is my personal favorite. Whatever stresses you out, the cause, the situation and whatever uneasy thoughts come to your mind (could be fear or worry), just jot down on a notebook, a sheet of paper or if those are not available, use your phone ‘Note App’ to write.
Writing down your thoughts act like ‘brain dumping’ and it has potential to clear your brain fog a.k.a. memory fog.
- Deep breathing-
I know you were expecting this one! But this really helps. Whenever you are undergoing some stress or anxiety, try deep breathing.
First slowly inhale for 4 seconds (through your nose), then hold it for 5 seconds, next exhale (through your mouth) for 6 seconds.
It’s gonna work. For sure. (try doing it now, before continuing reading)
- Move your body-
Try moving your body every single day. If you can go to the gym or do workout, great. But if you can’t then simply move. Walk 10 minutes after every meal, or while you are talking on the phone or try moving and grooving while listening to your favorite playlist every morning (yes, even while doing chores).
Moving can burn off the excess adrenaline that the stress creates and you start feeling lighter.
- Socialize outside your phone–
Socialization doesn’t end just in your Instagram DMs or even WhatsApp texts. You need to start talking and connecting with friends in real time. Maybe doing it old school, like meeting for a coffee, or going for a walk in the park.
When you engage in socializing via talking or sharing life updates or old jokes, your brain gets recharged and that makes your nervous system calm.
- Set personalized boundaries-
Don’t let anyone cross your boundary. Try saying “No” to things you don’t want to commit to. Your mental peace is more important that pleasing people.
This is a form of self-care and if you can practice this, you’ll be able to see clear difference in no times.
- Nutritious food and hydration-
This might feel overtalked about but it is so important. A good, balanced diet and proper hydration will fuel your body and mind.
- Less caffeine and less alcohol-
Now don’t roll your eyes on this. I know you think caffeine is important for you to keep grinding but that’s not the truth. Intaking high caffeine in the form of coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc. is only making your stress and anxiety worse.
Caffeine mimics the symptoms of anxiety (eg. Racing heart beat).
Alcohol, well it just ruins your sleep cycle and your internal organs.
- Sleep at a regular time-
Try sleeping at a regular time everyday and let your body catch up with the natural sleep cycle. When sleep gets better, body feels better.
- Seek professional help-
If you feel none of these helps you, you can look for professional guidance. There are experts available who can help you.
Anxiety treatment is available and you don’t have to go through all this hard times by yourself.
Therapy for anxiety and stress are effective ways to regain control over daily lives.
Final Words:
Remember stress and anxiety are part of the human experience but small consistent lifestyle changes can be the building blocks of a calmer life. While you can’t always control what life throws at you but you can control how you respond to it.
If you feel like learning more on topics that talk about managing your mental health and well-being,.
Take it one breath at a time. You’ve got this!
