People usually can not think clearly when they are under stress. For most it triggers a fight or flight response. Technological evolution has outstripped biological evolution and that can be a great source of stress.
There are two types of stressors; specific events and situational conditions. But there are many stress mediators, physical relief, psychological relief, spiritual relievers, etc. The strains of stress psychologically include fatigue, headaches, depression, irritability, mood swings, and a sense of feeling threatened. Physiologically a person may experience an upset stomach, high blood pressure, and, or muscle twitching, among other things. Spiritually we may lose our creative ability, feel stuck, worn out, hopelessness, and an inability to enjoy life. This is the short list.
The symptoms of stress can be similar to the symptoms of grieving. The old school of psychological thinking says that type-A personality people may experience stress differently than type-B personality folks. Type-A people usually have a normal sense of urgency for just about everything. They often confuse doing with being, and they feel a need to be in control of everything at all times. So when a stressful event or situation comes along these characteristics are amplified.
Type-A persons can reduce stress by realizing what is within their control and what is not in their control. The type-B personality can regulate stress by focusing their attention, watching their diet, and exercising regularly. Either personality type can regulate stress by the way they think, our diet or intake, exercise, massages, relaxation techniques, and relaxing baths, among other things. Hugs work too, but unfortunately physically hugging is curtailed during this pandemic. How about a virtual hug.
I learned about four stages of stress response symptoms some time ago:
STAGE I:
The person may experience mild anxiety, nervous sweat, tense muscles, heartburn, headaches, feeling on edge, increased heart rate, irritability, sleeplessness, worrying, short tempered, and, or crying.
STAGE II:
Stomach cramps, or stomach ache, feeling shaky, intense anger, backaches, chronic tension in the body, shortness of breath/hyperventilating, cramps in legs or arms, severe or chronic headaches, and, or chronic insomnia.
STAGE III:
Depression, raging frequently, eating a lot when not hungry, stomach tied in knots, loss of sexual desire, heart pains, lowered self-esteem, diarrhea, migraine headaches, skin eruptions, heart palpitations, and, or easily exhausted.
STAGE IV:
Heart attack, ulcers, cancer, feeling suicidal, stroke, and, or rheumatoid arthritis. Stages-2 and 3 can make a person a candidate for serious illness, if those symptoms are allowed to persist.
A person may have symptoms from all of the stages at once, or a mixture from one or two stages. It is important to know when you are under stress, and to do and intervention on yourself as soon as possible. Having a stress program for yourself even when you are not under stress is also a good idea. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”