how body language reveal stress

How  Body Language Reveal Stress?

     The human body is a complex structure, sometimes it expresses variables that are occurring inside it. For example, our body can express the stress by moves known as body language.

Body language is a type of non-verbal communication in which physical behavior, as opposed towards, are used to express or convey information.

Stress is a state of or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.

Our study is based on linking between body language and stress which is that stress can affect our body thoughts; feelings and our behavior. Stress can be observed clearly by the nonverbal communication such as putting hands on the face, redness of the cheeks, and biting fingers..... Stress that is left unchecked can contribute to many health problems such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes (1). Knowing that if the body is under stress, the body think it under attack and switch to "fight or flight" mode, releasing a complex with mix hormones and chemicals as adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine to prepare body for physical action which consume lots of energy and then the glucose level will decrease. So after subjecting the teenager to a stress we will measure the glucose level in blood to be sure that they are really stressed, and also due to the release of these hormones, the blood pressure will increase.

In our study we will measure the blood glucose level and the pressure before and after the experiment. Since our body is always expressing, so the stress will appear through movements such as putting the palm of the hand on the back of the neck, they won't use their hands while talking they will rob their noses.(2)

Why teenagers?

Stress among teenagers is a concern for the teens. A Greek philosopher once said "change is only constant in life". Everything in life change people, circumstances and thoughts change. Teenagers find it a lot more difficult to cope with such variations. Hence this leads to acute stress anxiety and tension. Thus teens they can be easily stressed by many things like examination, friendships, and grades in school ......so. For this reason our target was the teens to examine stress and what it leads to and work to reduce it. (3)

Understanding how the emotions are commonly displaced will make us able to understanding body expression.it helps also to understand other people true messages and give the time to decide how to respond constructively.

Body language is the conscious and unconscious movement and posturer by which attitude and feelings are communicated. Also you can say it is unspoken element of communication that we use to reveal our true feeling and emotions. It is involved in our gestures, facial expressions and posture, for instance (4).  We can read the signs and complete the message of what someone trying to say to us and enhance our awareness of people react to what we say and do. We have two kinds of body language: the positive and the negative one. THE POSITIVE is when we are engaging and approachable by using open hand gesture, maintain good eye contact and without touching face with hands. Whereas the negative   one is like: eye down cast, put hands on nose, shakings legs touching back of the neck,…..and  folding hands in front of the body. These may cause a bad thought for other partner that is sharing with you a meeting, argue or other things.

This can say that body language is a sign that can

Reveal stress and can indicate that a person is stressed. (5)Then what are the body movements that reveal stress and tell us that a person is under stress?

First, Head: by monitoring the head you can monitor the stress level .It is unconscious attempt to cover up their throats and protect it, sometimes this could be because they do not want to appear threatening or because they feel shy. Also exposing the crown of the head down means that the person is subconsciously expecting some form of conflict and it is sign of stress.

Second, EYES: eyes can do a lot of things they can wink, blink, gaze off into the distance and glance make eye contact squared and stave even pupil can change its size. So if someone avoid eye contact with you it is sign of feeling defensive or worried.

In addition, we have ARMS and HANDS:  they are particularly expressive, so if a person is feeling insecure he would fold his arm in front of his chest. Also if someone interested they can squeeze tightly their fingers or they can put their hand in their pocket.

Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. (6 ) In other words Stress is the body's reaction to harmful situations whether they’re real or perceived. When you feel threatened, a chemical reaction occurs in your body that allows you to act in a way to prevent injury. This reaction is known as "fight-or-flight,” or the stress response. During stress response, your heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises. You’ve gotten ready to act. It is how you protect yourself. Stress means different things to different people, what causes stress in one person may be of little concern to another. Some people are better able to handle stress than others. And, not all stress is bad. In small doses, stress can help you accomplish tasks and prevent you from getting hurt. For example, stress is what gets you to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the car in front of you. That's a good thing.

Our bodies are designed to handle small doses of stress. But, we are not equipped to handle long-term, chronic stress without ill consequences.

But what are the consequences of stress on our bodies?

Concerning to the blood pressure it should be raised (7) body produces a surge of hormones when you're in a stressful situation. These hormones temporarily increase your blood pressure by causing your heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to narrow, while concerning to the glucose level it must increase which will also increase the blood pressure by making blood vessels less flexible.

As we mention up about stress and body language we can see that there a link between the both. So what is this relation and how our body reveal stress as mention above!!!!! Every feeling has an action that is represented by a movement of the body which is body language and we also explain how does stress affect our biological operation which include the raise of blood pressure and blood glues level but did we measure the blood glucose and blood pressure before and after applying a type of actions or question that cause stress like we apply a drop quiz that will be a part of final grade for several subjects in different sections and we choose like that because students are very caring about marks and competition between them. This can be an important answer or clue to be sure that students are under stress and what they can expressed to us is due to stress only. But the most important thing is that when we are exposed to a specific stress our body enters a situations of flight and flight which lead to many changes in our body as previously mention and our body exhibit series movement (reflex) that will avoid, reduce and protect our body. These movement are like hiding   the back of the neck, shaking legs, hiding mouth ……….and touching the face in different ways. Thus after examine this type of experiment we conclude that stress can affect us in different ways and different movement lead to a series serious effect that can be killer for society relations, emotions, ….and our work. So by mastering the body language and stress we can make such a change and work to reduce the stress and kill it. (8)

Body language is a type of nonverbal communication and stress is a pressure or tension exerted on a material object, . Thus by knowing when the body is in stress that is indicated by body language we can make a big difference such as reduce stress by body language or knowing what can do stress and avoid it.

References:

1.Body language. Retrieved from www.mindtool.com

5.Diseases conditions (2004). Retrieved from www.Mayoclinic.com

2.Detecting stress in the body. Retrieved from

www.themasternegotiator.com

4.How stress affects blood sugar levels? Retrieved from www.glucerna.com.

3.Segal,J. (2018, June). Teen stress. Retrieved from www.helpguide.org

7.Stress management (stress symptom). Retrieved from www.webmed.com

6.Unconscious body language signals. Retrieved from      www.Inspiringleadershipnow.com

8.What are the benefits of reading body language? Retrieved from www.benefitsof.org