“Unusual Physical Symptoms of Stress: What Your Body is Telling You”

We experience big and small stresses in our lives. The causes range from external factors such as schoolwork, employment, and conflicts with friends to internal factors such as perfectionism and work addiction. Appropriate stress increases concentration and maintains tension. However, when excessive stress is received for a long period of time, various abnormal symptoms begin to appear in the body.

Stress｜Source: Clip Art Korea

Signals Your Body Sends When You’re Stressed
It is well known that stress often causes mental symptoms such as fatigue, nervousness, and tension. However, when unusual physical symptoms appear, it may also be due to stress.

1. Palpitations
When you’re stressed, you can feel your heart beating, causing ‘palpitations’, a feeling of anxiety or discomfort. This is caused by the activation of the sympathetic nerve due to stress, and the sympathetic nerve is activated to secrete adrenaline and noradrenaline hormones, resulting in increased heart rate and constriction of blood vessels, resulting in these symptoms.

2. Headache
Some people feel a headache when they are stressed. This condition is medically referred to as ‘tension headache’. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache and are caused by continuous contraction of the muscles distributed on the scalp. In some cases, you may get a headache from biting your teeth due to stress or straining your body. Tension headaches are usually worse in the afternoon and are characterized by appearing on both sides of the head. In general, the pain does not last long and the symptoms are easily relieved by taking simple painkillers.

3. Indigestion
When the nerves are sensitive or under a lot of stress, the stomach does not function normally and symptoms of indigestion may appear. This is called ‘functional dyspepsia’, and it means indigestion caused by stress, overwork, etc. without any abnormality on examination. Symptoms of functional dyspepsia are characterized by pain in the upper stomach, discomfort in the stomach, and symptoms of indigestion.

4. Change your eating habits
When cortisol secretion increases under stress, our bodies stimulate appetite to keep blood sugar levels high. At this time, our body strongly wants carbohydrates that can quickly raise blood sugar. It is for this reason that when you are stressed, you crave sweet food.

In addition, if you look at the results of domestic studies, the higher the stress, the higher the possibility of having bad eating habits. Sahmyook University Department of Food and Nutrition Professor Hyo-Jeong Hwang’s research team announced the results of a study that found that men who were under a lot of stress usually enjoyed processed meat and alcohol, while men who were less stressed had a pattern of eating healthy foods such as soybean paste, tofu, and vegetables. In addition, Bae Yoon-jeong, a professor at Shinhan University’s Department of Food and Culinary Science, presented an analysis result that found that women who are under severe stress tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables than the recommended daily intake.

5. Stomatitis
When you’re tired or stressed out, you may get ‘stomatitis’, which is a sore or white inflamed mouth. The most common stomatitis is ‘aphthous stomatitis’, which is caused by bacterial infection, stress, and malnutrition. It is characterized by white, round inflammation of about 5 mm on the mucous membrane.

Stress can also cause ‘herpes simplex stomatitis’. This occurs when the herpes simplex virus remains dormant in the nervous tissue and then becomes stressed and the immune system is weakened. Herpes simplex stomatitis is characterized by the occurrence of clusters of small blisters of about 1 mm on the oral mucosa and lips.

6. Smartphone Addiction
High stress can also be the reason why you can’t let go of your smartphone in your hand and can’t stop using YouTube and social media. The higher the stress level, the higher the risk of smartphone addiction. In 2017, a team led by professor Min Kyung-bok of Seoul National University College of Medicine published a study that found that the risk of smartphone addiction is up to 2.24 times higher if you have mental health problems such as symptoms of stress, depression, or anxiety. The research team explains that if there is a problem with mental health, it affects brain function and results in failure to control self-control and impulse control.

When stress is severe, other symptoms such as △ hives △ memory loss △ muscle pain may appear. When symptoms like these appear, you should try to relieve stress in a healthy way, such as meditation, exercise, or hobbies. Lump, if the extent is severe or does not improve despite efforts, it may be helpful to receive treatment from the Department of Psychiatry.

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