All of us have signs that indicate stress, fatigue, and overload. For example, many people get a headache after a long day. When stress symptoms are already a problem, it is too late to reverse the symptoms by resting. Headaches, back aches, stomach problems, heart palpitations, memory problems, and other symptoms often take time to subside, and when stress is high, the symptoms quite easily come back.
Prevention is the most effective remedy for stress symptoms, that is, stopping the symptoms before they reach their peak. To prevent stress overload and fatigue it is necessary to listen to the body. Just like we have signs of overload, we also have early warning signs that suggest we need a break.
Early warning signs can vary, but some common signs include:
- muscle tension
- slight irritability
- distractibility
- slight tiredness
- thirst
- hunger
- yawning
If these signs go unnoticed, they worsen. Your body is trying to tell you that a break is needed, and the signals will increase until you listen to the body and take a break. If you let things go to far, you will likely experience fatigue, stress overload, or other problematic symptoms.
Training yourself to listen to the body can be challenging because the early warning signs of fa tigue and stress are so subtle. Until you are accustomed to noticing them, the warning signs can easily go undetected.
The best way to learn to listen to your body is to set up simple reminders that help you remember to take note of how you are feeling and what your body is saying. Ideally, take a moment every hour throughout the day to pay attention to how your body feels and observe any signals your body is giving that tell you to take a break. You will probably need an external reminder at first, for example, setting a watch alarm to ring every hour to remind you to do a body awareness exercise.
