And I didn’t know either until I took a step back and realised that it was most likely stemming from my hyper-stressed brain. The question I berated myself with was how on earth did I not notice just how overwhelmed I was before it started to take a toll on my body?

Why do we feel physical stress?

“We can often experience a disconnect when chronically stressed because humans are very adept at de-prioritising our mental and emotional states in favour of other focuses we deem to be more important like work, external commitments or child-rearing,” says health psychologist Dr Sula Windgassen.

“We stop noticing mental discomfort itself and the sensations in our body then become the warning sign that we need to put the foot on the break. In essence, we are very good at neglecting our feelings but it’s harder to ignore our physical, whole-body needs.”

Why do we notice visceral stress more than mental stress?