Do you have a kind of red warning flag that indicates too much stress?

Stress is inevitable. People working round the clock or simply the working class has experienced stress in one way or the other. This generation of human is more productive and less optimistic. They are aggressive and constantly focus on the present scenario. No doubt with a lot of productivity comes a great deal of responsibility. And responsibility, on the other hand, invites stress. Stress can be a minute or at times acute. Minute stress can be tackled at times through various counseling processes and work-life balance procedures. But when stress goes up a level where it is difficult to tackle, it is termed as acute stress. 

These days a lot of people are being targeted to acute or severe stress problems. Several indications start showing like memory problems, emotional stress, physical exhaust and at times insomnia. These conditions are broadly described by researchers as Cognitive, Emotional or Physical symptoms. While there are several categories that come under these headings, there is a red warning flag that can be termed as an indication of too much stress. Although a red warning flag has been described by me below as a sign of severe stress related issues, people have different other signs to prove that their work life balance is not controlled in a systematic way.

The sign which I follow up to get an indication of too much stress is Insomnia. Insomnia or lack of sleep for repeated intervals is an alarming signal that the body is exhausted. On a fair note, we get to sleep when we are tired, even a sound sleep occurs at the time of too much tiredness. But on the other hand, if a person is exhausted by the stress of work and life, he cannot get enough sleep at night resulting in Insomnia. Heavy work related issues can make the brain think more than it should. The brain at times gets too much jammed up in tackling issues. People who overthink about their work too much, have a tendency to think about different solutions even at night.

Thus the brain functions continuously without getting a substantial amount of rest it should get. I remember during initial days of my job, I used to handle everything too seriously. Getting up in the morning, making breakfast or even reaching in time to office mattered a lot. And at night I used to think how I would manage the next day’s schedule. This cycle went on and even on the weekends, I developed a habit of thinking about the next working day. This created a lot of stress in my mind and I noticed that I had developed Insomnia and I was hardly getting four to five hours sleep a day. When things went out of control I managed to take a week off and got into stress management process and planned to do things in a more casual way. Less tension about work and less thinking about goals was the first step. Gradually there were fewer thoughts coming over my mind and I could get 7 hours sleep at night without thinking about the other day.

Sleep Deprivation or Insomnia can lead to several other problems in a row. Without getting a good night's sleep, people develop anxiety disorders. Anxiety, on the other hand, has been the main cause of anger and memory problems. It affects the social life or even at times the personal life of a person. Short temper is the most noted symptoms during anxiety disorders. People get angry at small things and yell at other people for doing something wrong. The people who are involved with them develop certain distances which at times create tiffs. People who develop anxiety disorder can also be seen becoming nervous at certain things. For example, if they reach a place 5 minutes late than usual, they become so nervous that they begin to sweat. This, on the other hand, has an effect on the heart. During stress period the heart beats heavily resulting in too much loss of energy and the person being exhaust too easily.

At times, Insomnia also leads to lack of concentration. People are unable to pay attention and focus on different things and have difficulty in remembering them. Along with this, fatigue and stomach problems also get into the list. Everyone has different reactions to stress problems, therefore at times, people don’t even recognize these problems as stress related. They just get used to some pills that give them short term relief from Stress and Insomnia. But on the long term, their body gets jolted to the core, because of stress and less sleep, resulting in severe complications which at a time can be fatal. Therefore sleep deprivation or Insomnia is a red flag indicating people should take their work casually and have a good work-life balance.

With the ongoing rat race, no one wants to sit down and lag behind. In the process of showing others what we are capable, we loose our original capabilities. Stress can affect a lot of productivity. It is annoying to see that people who get stress for productivity are unaware that stress can decrease their productivity to the core. Therefore a good work life balance along with a red flag indicating a high level of stress should be maintained by individuals. No doubt in my case, I suggest to check for sleep problems and try best not to get Insomnia