Our bodies are built to react to stress. Notice that I didn’t write  handle stress- just react to it. There are certain cues that our internal thoughts, stresses, and anxieties send to our bodies to subtle nudge us to slow down, take a deep breath, and handle whatever issues may be bothering us. When we fail to yield to the signals and cues, we really start to impact our own health.

While stress nationally is declining, it doesn’t meant that when we feel stressed- or when our bodies feel stressed and want to send us a cue- that these numbers are any comfort. Just for statistic purposes,  American stress levels have dropped from a 10-point scale’s 6.2 in 2007 to 4.9 in 2014, according to the American Psychological Association’s report, Stress in America: 2014. However, a healthy stress level, which the APA rates as 3.7 out of 10, still eludes many people, with 22 percent of people reporting they need to manage their stress better.

For example, teeth clenching is a huge cue for stress or anxiety. As discussed above, we may not feel like we are in the middle of a panic attack- but we could feel as if we don’t like a situation at hand and start to clench our teeth either trying to avoid it or trying to deal with it. The teeth clench is the cue that something is stressing us or causing anxiety. If we don’t sit still and deal with it, the cue of the teeth clench will be ignored and – eventually- turn into a full-blown panic attack.

In my new program, Burning the Candle at Both Ends, I discuss not only what types of cues / signals that our emotions send to our brain and body (such as teeth clenching), but how we (as humans) assess and then address the situation and/or environment that is causing the initial stress warning signals.

It is true. You can literally have had enough! Your body only sends out so many cues and signals before the stress takes a serious toll on your mental and physical state or you are so far into panic attacks that you become overwhelmed. Don’t let this happen to you. Please contact me for a customized program, consider buying one of my programs, and/or listen to the small changes (like teeth clenching) that your body is starting to navigate towards and ask yourself the real reason as to why.