Signs of Short-term Stress

Often occurring in quick 'bursts' in reaction to something in your environment, short-term stress can affect your body in many ways. Some examples include:

• Making your heartbeat and breath faster
  
• Making you sweat more
  
• Leaving you with cold hands, feet, or skin
  
• Making you feel sick to your stomach or giving you 'butterflies'
  
• Tightening your muscles or making you feel tense
  
• Leaving your mouth dry
  
• Making you have to go to the bathroom frequently
  
• Increasing muscle spasms, headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath
  

While this burst of energy may help you in physical situations where your body needs to react quickly, it can have bad effects on your mind and performance if there is no outlet or reason for your stress. These effects may include:

• Interfering with your judgment and causing you to make bad decisions
  
• Making you see difficult situations as threatening
  
• Reducing your enjoyment and making you feel bad
  
• Making it difficult for you to concentrate or to deal with distraction
  
• Leaving you anxious, frustrated or mad
  
• Making you feel rejected, unable to laugh, afraid of free time, unable to work, and not willing to discuss your problems with others

Extracted from www.mtstcil.org