By Diana Kelly Levey
When you feel anxious and worked up as pressures mount in your life, you’ve probably felt some tension in your neck, back, or may have experienced a tension headache. And while rubbing those areas, applying heat, and adjusting your posture might help you relieve some of the tightness and pain, there are a few other areas in your body that you’re likely to hold stress. Here’s how emotional stress is causing you physical pain in unexpected places.
More:Quiz: How Stressed Are You?
Eyes
If your eyes feel fatigued and sore, you might blame the aches on too many hours of looking at a screen. While it’s true that staring at computer screens and phone screens for too many hours can strain your eyes, anxiety and mental pressures can lead to physical aches in this area as well. In that same Japanese study, fatigue or eye pain was related to teachers who were more likely in an unhealthy mental state. Other studies found that individuals with anxiety, depression, and stress were more likely to experience dry-eye disease. This eye disease’s symptoms include burning, itching, redness, a feeling of something in the eye, as well as pain. When you find that you’re experiencing eye pain, try to minimize screen time, add moisturizing eye drops, and talk to your eye doctor if the pain becomes severe or you experience vision changes.
