Physical symptoms of work stress: Is your body trying to tell you something?

CREATED BY DAVE CORDLE Published: 10/09/2026 @ 09:01AM #WorkStress #PhysicalSymptoms #EmotionalWellbeing #MentalHealthMatters #SelfCare

The physical symptoms of work stress can sometimes be easier to dismiss than the emotional ones. You might put a headache down to a long day, blame aching shoulders on your desk chair or assume tired, uncomfortable eyes are simply the result of too much screen time ...

Experiencing physical symptoms of work stress? It may be time to listen to what your body is trying to tell you

Any of those explanations could be correct, but if symptoms persist, it may be worth considering whether your working life contributes to them. Recognising the physical symptoms of work stress does not mean assuming every ache or pain is caused by your career.

Physical symptoms can have many causes!

Headaches are a good example. Perhaps they regularly appear towards the end of your working day or become worse during particularly demanding periods. You might experience tension across your neck, shoulders or back, especially if you spend hours sitting rigidly at a desk while concentrating or dealing with pressure.

These physical symptoms of work stress can easily become part of your normal routine until you stop noticing just how often they occur.

Your eyes can also suffer during periods of intense work. Long stretches in front of screens can leave them tired, dry, or uncomfortable, and may cause blurred vision and headaches. Stress itself may not be the direct cause, but pressure can lead to behaviours that make the problem worse, such as skipping breaks, working longer hours, or staying glued to your screen because you feel unable to step away.

Fatigue is another symptom worth noticing!

There's a difference between feeling pleasantly tired after a productive day and regularly ending work completely exhausted. If your evenings and weekends are increasingly turning into recovery time just so you can face work again, that deserves your attention.

This is where the physical symptoms of work stress can become useful information about your career. Rather than simply asking how you can make the headache disappear, you can also ask what was happening when those symptoms appeared. Are there particular tasks, people, environments, or expectations that consistently coincide with them?

You may discover that the answer is something
relatively straightforward!

Perhaps you need clearer boundaries, more regular breaks, a better workspace, or a conversation about your workload. But you may also discover something more fundamental: the way you work now, or even the career you are pursuing, no longer feels sustainable.

Paying attention does not mean immediately handing in your notice because your shoulders hurt on Tuesday afternoon. It means becoming curious about patterns rather than automatically ignoring them.

Ultimately, noticing the physical symptoms of work stress gives you another source of information when assessing your career satisfaction. Your body cannot choose your next career move for you, but if it repeatedly seems unhappy with the one you are making now, perhaps it deserves a place in the conversation?

Until next time ...

DAVE CORDLE
Career Development Professional

07941 690 391

www.davecordle.co.uk / www.linkedin.com/in/davecordle

Everything you need for your career:  www.davecordle.co.uk/basecamp

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About Dave Cordle ...
I began my professional life training as a cartographer with the Directorate of Overseas Surveys, a department of the British government. I made maps of places such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Sudan and the British Virgin Islands. It was a fascinating time, being involved in planning the flights for aerial photography, interpreting the photographs and eventually producing the plates for the different layers of the final map. It was during my latter years as a cartographer and my career in computing that I undertook bigger mountaineering expeditions to the Andes, the Himalayas, the Tien Shan and the Caucasus. At that time I also held various leadership roles in scouting. I coached and trained young people successfully leading them to develop themselves and embrace new experiences. So that’s where my passion comes from to help young people learn the strategies for success that I share with my business and career clients. My journey in personal professional development and coaching has been amazing, and will continue to be so: it’s why I’m here, it’s my big passion. It’s what has informed my vision and mission. However unlikely your dream might seem, if you keep taking steps towards it, even small steps, you may well just surprise yourself.

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