UNDERSTANDING YOUR BODY’S NOT-SO-SUBTLE HINTS TO TAKE A MINUTE FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

By Kristina Benoist

You may think of physical health and mental health as two separate categories to focus on, but they’re completely intertwined. Sometimes those strange little (and occasionally irritating) things happening to your body are not-so-subtle hints that your mind needs a little more attention than you’re giving it.

Listen to what your body is telling you. You might be used to taking some medicine and hoping it just goes away. But this time, check-in and see how your mental health is doing too. It’s possible your physical problems are connected to something going on upstairs.

Here are some signals to look out for.

Your stomach hurts

Maybe it’s a knot in your stomach or feeling nausea all day long. This stomach ache could be telling you that your body is trying to cope with something going on in your mind. Studies have shown that when your nervous system is trying to cope with a message that your brain is sending out, your digestion gets thrown completely off track.

You’re shedding

Have you noticed more and more hair going down the drain every time you shower? Research shows that when you’re stressed, your brain produces cortisol. That release of cortisol can decrease the nutrients in your hair follicles – which means you may be shedding a bit more hair than normal.

You’re exhausted

A lot of our schedules have slowed down for the time being, but for some reason, you’re still feeling completely drained every day. Normally, cortisol (the stress hormone) gives your body a boost of energy when you need it, but if you’re always producing it, your energy crashes. So if you’re getting a normal night’s sleep but you’re feeling exhausted all day long, it could be your body warning you that you’re stressed.

Your face is breaking out

If you’re trying to juggle a lot of different responsibilities – and maybe it’s getting to you more than you realize – you may start to see acne in ways you aren’t used to. Cortisol increases and completely throws off your hormones, causing you to break out. And it probably won’t go away until you start working on your mental health – no matter what skincare routine you’ve got going for you.

You have a constant headache

Is your head pounding more frequently lately? Do you have a migraine most days of the week? Studies show that stress, anxiety, and depression can trigger headaches – or can even make an existing headache worse.

Your heart is racing and you have chest pains

When you're stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious, your body goes into “fight or flight” mode and releases adrenaline and cortisol. This causes your heart to race, and you may even start to feel chest pains. Maybe you weren’t even aware of how much stress something was causing you, but that fast-beating heart and pain in your chest could be a warning sign.

You can’t sleep

When your brain is working in hyperdrive and you can’t seem to shut it down, you may have a really hard time falling asleep at night. So you’re exhausted during the day, but you still can’t sleep at night because your mind won’t stop racing. If you’ve been dealing with any sleep issues, you know that even just one or two sleepless nights can impact the rest of your body, too.

7 Ways Your Body Can Send You Warning Signs About Your Mental Health