12 ways stress negatively affects your behaviour

In this episode, I shared 12 ways stress make you behave the way you do.

These signs of stress have ruined beautiful relationships, gotten people fired, impacted negatively on health and well-being.

If you notice any of these signs, quickly manage your stress without delay.

Transcript

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Hello. It's another episode with, with E. How have you been guys? And importantly did. What did you learn? What was your takeaway from it? I'm really excited about the journey. I'm really excited about the awareness many of you're having now, regards to the impacts of stress on your lives and also how to manage it. If you've been getting value, please share my podcast. Share with your friends, your work colleagues, because. And you are not giving him or her my podcast to learn to learn how to manage your stress so it's free. Just do it for them. Okay? It doesn't cost just a single click. Well, you know what I'm talking about, just to share it. Okay, so today I'm gonna be sharing a very important topic that is there to my heart because I used to be a victim as well. When I didn't know anything about stress management, it used to affect me as well. And I've seen the impact of stress on people making them behave in certain ways. And now with the knowledge of stress, I cannot tell, Hey, hey, you. This, your behavior is not ordinary. It's probably because you're stressed and you see people trying, trying to sort out the symptom they're experiencing without knowing that at root course is poorly managed stress, or there's a, or there's something at the background that really needs their attention. And once. The other behavior normalizes. And what I'm trying to share with you is not just in adults like you and I, that's our working people. It's also occurs in children. But because I'm speaking specifically to professionals, let's bring it to workplace life. Workplace, yeah. Life, family, just everything else that make us professionals. Okay. And how it impacts our lives. So now you know how important this topic is. This topic is, I think I should just let you know that I'm gonna be sharing about 10 behavioral signs of stress. So if I ask you, when you get stressed, what happens? So many of you're going to tell me, oh, I get headache, I get dizzy, I get tired. I get irritable or what if I done it? There are other signs, like right now I'm going to share with you 12, and I want you to listen to this particular episode to the end because even as I'm talking you, you may likely be recognizing certain things, not just in your own life, but in the lives of people around you, your work colleagues, your partner, and every other person. Okay. It could be the very, the very, very obvious one, which is addictions. And when I mean addictions, I'm talking about various addictions. It can be addiction to smoking, addiction to cigarettes, addiction to pornography, when people are stressed. Sometimes they're trying to, either they're trying to look for a way to cope with the stress, or they're looking for something to distract them from the stress. Did you get what I said? I'll say it again. When people are stressed, sometimes they're looking for a way to cope with the stress, or they're looking for a way to distract themself from the stress. Okay? That is what makes some people to venture into things like alcohol. Maybe someone that used to drink maybe one bottle of beer in a day or, or even in one week when they are now stressed, you realize that there is a change from one bottle. They're drinking two, they're drinking three. Or somebody that don't used to drink at all is now drinking. Okay, so when you notice this, it's not, it don't just put, push it down to, Hey, he's now having more fun than usual. Oh, he's now becoming more outgoing. No, sometimes there is, there is stress. There is an issue going on in the background that needs to be tackled. The same thing with people that are now taking more cigarettes than usual, or people that don't need to smoke before they're now smoking, as in they're just looking for a way or something to probably mask the pressure they're feeling so that they, so that they'll be detached for meat for some season or for some time, you know? And then. For some people, they venture into distractions or things that cause that bring them pleasure. Even if it's momentarily, you find people that are becoming sex addicts, people that are becoming addicted to pornography, just looking for any source of outlet, distract themselves and rather. Feel themselves with pleasure, but the issue is still there unsolved. So no matter what you do, no matter, um, no matter what you do to try to distract yourself from the situation, it doesn't mean you've addressed the situation. So it's best to look for the root cause of why you are becoming addicted to these things right now. The second one is eating disorder. How stress affects our weight. In, I, I spoke to a group of women about this, whether I like it or not. If you are trying to lose weight, if you're on a weight loss journey, in all the things that you are being taught in that group, whether it's um, eating, uh, portion control, exercising more, or anything, if you are not managing your stress adequately, you're going to struggle. You're going to struggle. Now, why may you? Why would you likely struggle number one? Now I'm going to be talking to a particular group of people. You may not find yourself in this particular group. I'm going to talk about another group of people, okay? After I'm done with this. Now, the first group of people, those that are trying to lose weight now when they are stressed. They may realize that they are the among, they're among the people that gain weight when they're stressed. And why do they gain weight? Because there is increased craving for sugars. Okay. Increased craving for processed foods. If you listen to one of my episodes previously, I shared this, I shared this as well, so they're now craving Morey stuff. That is why some people are like, oh, when stressed. It's not because you actually want to have chocolates, it's because that is what your body's craving at that particular time. It's craving sugars. Okay, so chocolates and other sugary stuffs are more like comfort foods. That way you eat them, you are like, okay. Like you, you feel comforted, just like the word implies, right? So you realize that you're taking more sugary stuff, you resorting to things, processed trying. Comfort yourself. Emotional eating. You know, it happens to most of us when you feel, and then another group of people when you feel, oh, you've worked really hard, you've been so stressed, uh, throughout this week. Therefore, you deserve a treat. And what's that? Treat Ice creams, chocolates. And every other processed food out there. So it's more like I'm giving myself a treat. It reminds me of one of my colleagues. I, I went on break one day and I had the, the office where we stayed to eat, where we stayed outside our break and this guy had a large pizza. That's a very big box of pizza. I. What's going on here? Are you celebrating something? You know what he told me? He said, I've really suffered this week. I've worked hard doing night shifts back to back, so I believe I deserve the treat. What I'm talking about is if you see this piece, I, it is like these are for like five people, and I'm not kidding. I have, I didn't, it was really, really funny. He said he deserved a treat, and that is what happens to most people. You feel that you've worked out, you feel like, you feel like life has really, really dealt with you. And then you tell yourself you deserve a treat. And what's that? Treat unhealthy foods. And then when you finish eating them, like when you, when you finish eating them. You start asking yourself and you can climb the skill, and you start asking yourself, why is this weight loss program not working? How will it work? You're always under repeated levels of stress, increase repeated, um, high levels of stress, and you are always comforting yourself with discomfort, with discomfort foods or what's called emotional eating. And then you wonder why you're not losing with, because you haven't even addressed the root causes. Okay, so in that your weight loss program, make sure that stress management is part of it. Now, the, on the other hand, we have people that eat very little when they're stressed. I think I'm in that category, like when we are stressed, uh, we even forget to eat. And then you realize that you are losing weight, small stress like this, all the weight you've gained in the year, you've lost it in months. And then people are wondering what's wrong with you, the at the root cause? Sometimes it could be poorly managed stress, right? Or stress in just anything, whether it's positive or negative stress. Yes, there can be. What I mean by positive stress is stress caused by, um, positive situations like when you're excited about planning your wedding. Sometimes you forget to eat. You are doing the runarounds cheerfully, not because something is bothering you, your it is a positive thing, but at the same time, your body does not know what you're talking about. Whether it's a positive event or a negative event. What it knows is that there is so much pressure on this body and it'll react or respond in the same way. Okay, so. Eating disorders is a common behavioral sign of stress. Either you are eating too little or you are eating too much. And then at the extremes you have things like anorexia, If you have things like bulimia, these are now medical conditions that need urgent attention right now. The third one is sexual issues, sexual disorders. And what I mean by these sexual issues, I'm going to talk about it in the context of marriage or in the context of marriage. Um, lemme give you an instance. You are stressed out at work because of the repeated high levels of stress. You have reduced sex drive because you are so stressed. Like the last thing on your mind now is, is to have sexual intercourse with your spouse. Because of what's going on with you. You are constantly worrying. You just, you just can't, you just, you are just not in control of what, of what's going on in your life. So because of that, you've lost interest in sex drive. The libido has reduced so much, and you now try to force yourself because your spouse is now complaining. You are like, okay, let me just try so that I can make this. Man or this woman happy you. Now try. Now this is, let me talk about men. Okay? For instance, so you now try and in the process you realize that either you are struggling to at, to achieve erection or you are struggling to sustain erection. What do you think will happen in such relationships? Very strain is going to strain that relationship. It's going to strain that marriage badly, and then your spouse starts complaining about, um. Then your spouse starts complaining and even starts thinking, probably you are cheating somewhere. You're cheating with somebody else. Probably they don't. They're no longer attractive to you, probab. You know, all these assumptions come, start springing up. And when these assumptions start springing up, what do you think? Why don't you save yourself? You don't need. To help you achieve erection or sustain it when it achieved. You don't need all these things. What you need is tackle the root cause of the problem, because once you set up on that track and it starts training your marriage, imagine the impact on you. It's going to worsen the outcome. It's going to even make you suffer more. Now, you're no longer dealing with the stress at work. You're now dealing with stress in your marriage. Do you understand? So. When we talk about managing your stress is a very big issue, like a very, very serious issue that can scatter marriages. You hear people talking about, oh, we had difference. We have this one. We had that. Think about it at the root cause of whatever issues it's, or most of the issues you find stress at the bottom of it. Start be, I mean, becoming intentional in taking control of your stress. You don't wanna lose that beautiful wife. You don't wanna lose that, that handsome span that you guys have grown in love with. Okay, so let's go to the next one. And that is, um, sleep disorder. If I, before I go sleep disorder, lemme drop this. And that is, this is how you can tell if, um, if erectile dysfunction was due to, was due to a health issue or due to psychological issue. Okay, so if you are still able to have early morning erections when you wake up from sleep, just know that whatever is going on at that time, it's most likely due to psychological issues. But if you are not able to achieve. Sorry. If you're not able to have, um, erections when you wake up from sleep, it's probably, it's English will not be the end of me to not embarrass me in this life. So if you are not able to have erections in the morning when you wake up, then it's most likely to health issues. I, if you understood what I. And get the explanation again. Okay. Now, um, the next one is sleep disorders. There are people that when they, when they get stressed, they sleep or forget about their lives. Then on the other hand, there are people that now struggle to sleep. So which category are you? And you know what? When you are not sleeping adequately, it's even worsen the symptoms of stress you're having. Okay? So this is another sign for you to start dealing with any stressor as quickly as they're happening, because you don't want to get to the point where you are not having all these behavioral signs I'm talking about. Okay? Now the fifth one is social withdrawal withdrawal. Draw out. There are people. That you know that. Oh, every time. Maybe your work colleague, when they come to work, they want to talk with everyone as in they're so cheerful, happy people, and then all of a sudden they just want to be on their own. They don't want to talk to anybody. And even when you try to initiate conversation and talk to them, they kind of withdraw as in they just give you like one, one word responses. They don't. You, uh, even if they organize, um, social gathers, they just don't want to be around. They just don't want to be around people. They don't want to come out. Okay. And then you start wondering what's going on. Lemme tell you, most of the time there is something going on. It doesn't have to be, it doesn't mean that they just suddenly became into robot. No. Or they've suddenly grown up and don't want to be around other people. No. Most times there is a deep rooted issue that is yet to be solved. So if you can help such people, please do. If you can't help them, refer them to the appropriate persons to help them. Okay, now the sixth behavioral sign is regular sick leaves. If you're among the group of people that are always taking sick leaves to the point that you've even been called for a meeting for it. I think it's possible for you to get checked. Like what could be the reason? Okay. There are people that, let me give an instance with my workplace. So in my workplace, the rotta is, is really tight because the rotta is such that, um, you, you, you are at work most of the time. Okay? Now why we feel it like that is because the job itself is stressful. We are working in a high pressure work. You. Sometimes you need just extra time to rest, but because you're not getting that more than extra time, I'll call you more than extra time because if you calculate the, that it feels like you're resting adequately. But if you're not getting that more, that extra time, you are going to feel so tired. And then when you want, um, come to work the next day and you're allow, you're not like, no, I just need to rest now because you how to do it. You realize that people are now calling in. Just because they need that extra day to rest, that extra update to rest. So if this becomes a pattern, it means probably this is a response to stress. Probably this is a response to a stressful road. Stressful route, that stressful work pattern, stressful workload, you know, so it probably could be a, could be, um, a sign that you are under tremendous level of stress. Okay, so regular sick leaves is a sign, and then the next one is difficulty resting. Now, there are people that you see and they're like, um, they're always working back to back. Sometimes they take pride in being a workaholic. Hey, this sounds so much like me. Back in the days before I knew about stress. So back then I used to work back to back. I used to take pride in doing so many things at the same time. For instance, during my N-Y-I-C-I was, I was working in the hospital as a medical officer. At the same time, I was learning how to sew. Yeah, I was learning how to sew. At the same time I was preparing for my exams. So you can imagine what my day-to-day life was. I wake up really early and start my day and I go to bed really late, you know? And the thing is that I was taking pride in doing it in the sense that if someone asked me, Hey. You are working too much, don't you think you need to rest? I start telling them all the things I'm doing and how superhuman and I I was, how super, how superhuman I was, how I was able to achieve so many things in 24 hours and I didn't realize that my body was shutting down, you know, because I didn't take my regular brace one of the days. I just couldn't function and I ended up in the hospital and. And what was meant to be one day stay in the hospital? Yeah. What was meant to be Just the hospital visit ended up being a one day stay in hospitals and inpatient, and by the time I got back home, I needed extra weeks of rest to help me recover. Okay. So when you notice somebody that is just walking back to back, back to back, it's not usually a good sign. It could be a sign that they're under high levels of stress, that they don't even have time to rest. Okay. Now the next one is excessively worrying. Have you seen people that when you tell them, Hmm, I think it's going to rain, they tell you something like, Hmm, it's not just rain. It may even be storm. What if storm comes? Now what if there is flooding everywhere and then they start getting panicky if it starts flooding? Oh my God, I'm. The things I've worked hard for, they're going to be carried away by water. How do I handle this? My certificate? Oh God, my roof may get blown away and I'll lose my source of income. My life is due. Have you seen people like this? It can be really exhausting. Excessively worrying the think about the worst possible outcome in situations. Sometimes it could be stress response, it could be they're on already on that tremendous levels of stress that they can't see the positive side of situations, and it's usually difficult to get them out of that kind of situation. It's usually difficult because no matter how much you tell them, no, no, don't do that. Don't think like that. No, it's usually not enough. They need behavioral therapy. They need, they need what's called cognitive behavioral therapy to help them talk through the thought process, the behaviors, the feeling to help them get outta that situation. Okay? So when you see people like this, it's okay. Don't blame them. Don't be, be quick to judge them. They probably need help. And then when you subject them to, to further stress, let just stop there. Don't even try. Don't even try, because. Even you, you'll be tired. You'll not want to do that again. So when you see people like that, it means they really need help and you really need to be patient with them. Okay, now the next one, which is the NI number nine, is struggling with self-care. Now struggling with self-care in the sense that there are people you see the belly have time to trim your nails. So have their head done to even apply cream on their body because they're always rushing. They're trying to sort out things and not just that because they're so stressed that they belly have time to think about themselves. So when you see yourself losing interest in things you used to do before, losing interest in taking care of yourself, like your biggest self-care achievement is just showering. That's even, that's if you even shower with soap. Your biggest self-care achievement is just showering. And this is not yourself. This is not your usual self. Usually go extra mile. You're taking care of yourself in arranging your room. That means there is an issue that needs to be addressed and I, I'll use myself as an instance again back then in my NYC, the story I shared earlier, one thing that was obvious was that I barely had time to eat and properly. In fact, I don't even remember to eat. Okay. And to some, and some people go to the extent of their rooms are always messy. Like they don't even have time to take care of their rooms, to clean it up. Time to just do the basic, basic things they used to do before. So when you see people like this, or if this is you, it means that you need to, you need to schedule. Find the root cause of that work-related stress or family stress, and start addressing it because this is not your behavior. This is not your usual self. And these are the kind of things that make people that get names easily. You hear people being called, oh, that man, he's just a dirty man, or that girl. Oh, she barely sleeps. She's, she's just, um, she's, she just, she behaves somehow, you know? People start give, giving you names, giving you tasks, whereas you know that is not the truth about you as much as you can please start managing your stress more properly. And then the 11th one is irritability and anger. There are certain people that when they're stressed here, eh, hey, chin, don't even come near them because just that you cough. Did. Crawl and they start, they start getting angry, they start getting frustrated. They start lashing out at you then you start wondering. Why are they behaving this way? What did I do? You know, as in just little things you do to them, their body start itching them. They start getting so irritated, they start getting angry at you. The attitude change, the mood changes. See guys, if you don't manage your stress properly, people run from you. Nobody wants to be about to be around people that are only shouting at. Always moody. He's so thoughty. He gives up. So he gives up so much negative vibes and nobody wants such around them. Okay, and then the final one is easy. I can't even do it. I used to bite my nails probably why they're like this. So there are people that are always biting their nails. It's just a nervous habit. It's just a sign that, okay, they're really nervous. There is an under underlying issue that's making them that way. Okay, so I have listed like 12 things. 12 behavioral signs of stress. If you see yourself in any of these. Please take control of your stress. You don't want to be tagged as that I colleague. You don't wanna be tagged as that. As that. That's one with temper such that when you get angry here, everywhere is shaking, everybody's vibrating, everyone gets so uncomfortable, and then you say things that you regret. You say things that at the end of the day. Or you've destroyed things because, uh, you couldn't just take control of the stress at that time. Anger. Okay. You don't want to have that sta you don't want friction in your marriages because of, uh, poor sexual habits, because of poor sex drive or, or difficulty sustaining erections. You don't want that cheating allegations or assumptions to even stay up in your marriage. You don't want to get addicted to things that will harm you, the alcohol, the smoking, the pornography. You just don't. Eating so that where you're just gaining weight, becoming, um, giving space to obesity, which further worse your health outcomes. Okay, which will further worse your health outcomes. You don't wanna be a victim of poor sleep, which will predispose you to high risk of heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's later in the future. You don't wanna be taking regular sick and make your employer. Um, wonder about your competence and they start questioning you and which may even get you fired. There are so many consequences that will further worsen our stresses and ruin our lives, and also our physical health. You just don't wanna get there. I'm really, I'm really concerned about you if you find yourself in any of these situations. So please. Take control of your stress and start now to start managing your stress. I beg you, please don't let that stress linger. If you are struggling to cope. If you are struggling to cope, please get help. Get help. Okay? I've written for you and I know you've got this, and if you found this particular episode helpful, please share with someone. Don't keep this information to yourself and also subscribe to my podcast. Leaving your review out. Really, really appreciate that. Thank you for joining me again.