How Mom Stress Turns into Body Pain

As you can already guess, motherhood comes with this constant low-key pressure that never really clocks out. Even on those rare quiet days, the brain’s still running through kid schedules, snack requests, school emails, and tiny emergencies that somehow happen every five minutes. And yeah, everything might look totally fine on the outside, but then your shoulders feel tight for no reason, your stomach acts up the second you sit down, and your head starts aching. 

For some moms, this is on a daily basis, for others, it might just be during the rougher periods of life. But overall, some moms will try natural ways to get stress out, others just hope that somehow the stress and the aches will just end eventually. So, the point here is that sometimes, stress can actually show up physically speaking. But how? Why? Better yet, what can you even do about this?

Muscle Tension Shows Up Out of Nowhere

There’s a lot that moms literally carry every single day. No, really, think about it, be it kids on hips, diaper bags, backpacks, groceries, laundry baskets… pretty much everything. Oh, and on top of that, there’s the mental load that never gives anyone a break. So yeah, the shoulders end up creeping toward the ears, and the jaw stays clenched, and sometimes even the muscles in your legs and arms hurt too. 

Now, some moms will look into doing acupuncture to try and help ease all the clenching and muscle tightness. So you could look into this; some will take more showers or warm baths, or even use a heating pad (or lots of Tylenol). It’s hard to say what a “fix” as it just really depends on the issue itself.   

Having Any Stomach Issues?

If you have IBS, then you’re already more than familiar with this, as the moment you get stressed out about anything, the stomach pain and the intense need to go to the bathroom just hit within seconds (maybe even milliseconds after seeing or hearing bad news. 

But anyway, even outside of those with IBS, you can probably still count on your stomach to instantly reply when things get heavy. For some, it’s one bad thing after another, after another. Sometimes it’s bloating, sometimes nausea, general pain, diarrhea; it goes on and on. 

Of Course, there’s the Headaches

Now, maybe this is the worst of them all because it’s like those headaches often arrive right when you’d love a peaceful moment. Well, it’s like your brain waits until everything is finally calm and then decides to pound away because it’s been holding in stress all day.  Well, migraines are a whole other story, too, of course. 

Your Nervous System has a Limit

Has yours ever reached it yet? Chances are, it has plenty of times. But yeah, there’s the planning and the worrying and the mental checklists that never end. And even when kids are asleep, the brain doesn’t fully clock out.  Basically, it isn’t ever going to clock out either; that’s just long-term stress for you, it just stays and stays, and it probably never leaves. Well, it feels that way at least, so it’s like one small thing from having a total meltdown.