5 signs that stress may be affecting your health

Your 30s are a time of huge change. You may get married, have children, or even find yourself going through a divorce. Your career might take off, or you might feel you’re falling short of the expectations you had of yourself in your 20s.  

“Experiences involving significant change can all cause stress, which can affect you in various ways,” says Dr Joanne Leach, a Cape Town GP who focuses specifically on family health. “Physically, you might experience increases in your blood pressure or cholesterol levels, or fatigue and a flaring up of allergies,” she says.

In addition, Dr Leach says that anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts are psychological indicators of stress, and friction in your personal and working relationships could suggest that stress is affecting you socially. She advises that you watch out for the following indicators that your stress may becoming unmanageable:

  1. Decreased or increased libido

“Shifts in your sex drive over time, no longer looking forward to sex or experiencing it as mechanical and routine could mean that stress is taking its toll,” says Dr Leach. Erectile dysfunction could also be a symptom of this and, especially for younger men, is often the result of psychological rather than physical causes.

  • Increased anger or irritability

Do you feel like you’re on a short fuse? Are you snapping at your partner, children, friends or colleagues? Pay attention to shifts in your mood. “Having a short temper is a common symptom of stress becoming unmanageable,” says Dr Leach, who adds that men in their 30s tend not to identify this as a stress indicator.

  • Decreased concentration

A stress-free mind can often focus on a task – or even multiple tasks – for extended periods of time. If you’re struggling to concentrate during meetings, or even while leisurely reading a book, this could be the start of stress taking its toll on your career and professional life, so it’s worth looking more closely at the underlying causes.

  • Decreased or increased appetite

“Stress can often impact how much you eat, the way you eat and whether you enjoy eating,” says Dr Leach. The health effects of this can be severe: you might lose or gain an unhealthy amount of weight, or develop a problematic relationship with food.

  • Lack of motivation

Losing interest in activities that would normally excite you is a common indicator of stress. While this might not immediately appear to have an effect on your health, refusing opportunities to connect with others can make things even worse, resulting in a continuous downward spiral.

The stresses you encounter in your everyday life can be stealthy, silently sneaking up on you until they really start damaging your health. “If you identify with one or more of the items listed above, it’s possible that your stress levels are affecting your physical and mental health,” says Dr Leach. In these cases, she advises that you speak to your GP or a therapist and ask for help.

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