Recognizing Stress Symptoms in Men

Men are not always good at recognizing stress in themselves, and stress is clearly an individual experience. What one man finds stressful, another will not, and what can be stressful at one time may not cause stress during another time of your life.

Stress can be measured in different ways, but testing usually takes the form of a self-report in which the person rates particular experiences, events or feelings on a defined scale.

Perhaps the most well known is the SRRS (Social Readjustment Ratings Scale) that was originally put together by two American psychiatrists in 1967 by Thomas H. Holmes and Richard Rahe. They listed a number of life events assumed to be stressful, such as moving or the death of a spouse or other close loved one, and they assigned a numerical value to each of these events based on the intensity of the stress. The death of a spouse, for example, was rated the most stressful at 100 whereas a minor violation of the law was assigned a value of 11.

Below are some of the physical signs and symptoms of stress experienced in men. Remember that stress is an individual experience and that symptoms are too. Signs of disease should not be ignored just because you believe they are stress-related. You must get more serious symptoms checked by your doctor.

• Chest pain
• Pounding heart
• High blood pressure
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Diminished or increased sex drive
• Muscle aches, such as back and neck pain
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Clenched jaws and grinding teeth
• Tightness, dryness or a feeling of a having lump in your throat
• Indigestion
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Increased perspiration
• Stomach cramps
• Weight gain or loss
• Skin problems

The psychological signs and symptoms of stress include:

• Sadness
• Depression
• Crying
• Withdrawal or isolation
• Insomnia
• Mood swings
• Worry
• Restless anxiety
• Irritability, anger or decreased anger control
• Overeating or anorexia
• Feelings of insecurity
• Decreased productivity
• Job dissatisfaction
• Changes in close relationships
• Increased smoking
• Increased use of alcohol and drugs

Here are some important facts that play a role in how we think about stress, its effects both physically and psychologically, and others.

• The language of stress is largely borrowed from engineering in which we talk of stress, strain, tolerance, resilience, breaking points, flexibility, elasticity, etc. of materials.
• Broadly speaking stress can be experienced in two ways, physically and psychologically, but the two are interrelated. For example, the psychologists Janice Keicolt-Glaser has demonstrated how chronic stress leads to decreased immune function, increased risk of infection and decreased the ability to fight infection or repair tissue.
• Stress is a protector in that it gives us a mechanism for dealing with threats. We have the ability to confront threats or avoid them; the so-called “fight or flight” mechanism.
• Stress can be good as well as bad. Without some stress, we would not get the adrenaline up to win races, solve problems, take exams and make important changes.
• Stress, particularly long-term stress, can be a factor in the onset or worsening of ill health and a shortened lifespan.
• Stress management is essential to wellbeing and something we should practice every day.