Most of us have nights where we don't sleep well. Sleep is a sensitive thing, easily disrupted by too much food or alcohol, excitement or worry, time zones or shift work, and it's a common warning sign that things aren’t OK.  

When we’re stressed the survival parts of our brain are active and alert to potential danger. This means we may have difficulty getting to sleep or wake during the night with a head full of worries. Once our sleep routine is disturbed it can become a vicious circle; we may nap during the day and so be less tired at bedtime, or our worry about not being able to sleep, can add to the stress that keeps us awake.

For more information on improving your sleep, visit the NHS website or watch these videos by the Sleep Council and NHS24 on how to improve your sleep. 

If you’ve had problems with insomnia for a while, please try the Sleepio app. It’s an evidence-based sleep improvement programme (based on CBT) that is free to Scotland’s emergency responder community.

Sleep disturbance is common after we’ve experienced a traumatic event. During the days and weeks that follow the event, our brain is “processing” this experience and so we may dream about it at night as well as thinking about it when awake. It’s important to know that if we avoid thinking about the traumatic event when we’re awake, then we are almost certain to dream about it. The best thing to do is to let yourself think (and talk) about it during waking hours. If nightmares and sleep difficulties persist then you may need some extra help to manage these. Have a look at the tips in the What can I do if I'm not OK? pages.

When our hyperarousal response is triggered, we tense our muscles ready for fight or flight. If we use them for action, the tension is released. If we don’t, then the muscle tension stays in our body and turns into aches and pains. Lots of the things that stress us don’t require a physical response and so our muscles get tight and sore.  We need to move our bodies to release the tension.

Any movement helps so try a stretch at your desk or getting out for a walk. We commonly hold lots of tension across our neck and shoulders (hence the headaches) so try a shoulder roll – breathe in as you bring your shoulders up towards your ears and out as you roll them back and down.

Have a look at Coping and Self Care for some more tips on releasing tension in your body.

When our bodies are in fight or flight mode all resources are geared towards being able to survive the here and now. This includes diverting energy away from our digestive system to our muscles, and emptying our bowels and bladders to make us faster and lighter. It explains why athletes need to go to the toilet just before a race and why, when we’re stressed, we often experience changes in our appetites, have upset stomachs, acid reflux, or need to use the toilet more.

Sometimes these changes bring their own problems. Because we don’t feel hungry, we don’t eat or because we’re tired, we may crave high energy foods or increase our caffeine intake.

Things that will help
When we’re stressed our body needs us to eat well even if we don’t feel like it, so try to maintain or re-establish regular eating habits. Eat as healthily as you can, stay hydrated and watch out for alcohol and caffeine. It might be helpful to plan out your meals in advance and stick to regular mealtimes.  

Please look at Coping and Self Care to get tips on switching off your stress response when it’s not needed. You can find more tips on eating healthily on this NHS website.

Our stress response prepares us for action, physically and mentally. This means when we’re stressed, we find it hard to settle and often feel jittery and restless. When it goes on for a while it’s exhausting, we're "wired but tired".

This explains why irritability (also known as being more crabbit than usual..) is a classic warning sign. Our body is primed to react and we’re on a shorter fuse which means we’re more likely to startle if someone bangs a door, or to lose our temper over small things.

This is a sign our family and friends often notice before we do. You can get your stress response under control through exercise and relaxation. Have a look at Coping and Self Care for some tips

Because you're part of the emergency service community, you know that random bad things happen. You probably worry more than the average person about teenagers learning to drive, older relatives doing DIY and switching off electrical appliances. Let’s think of this as your risk-o-meter. When we’re stressed, that risk-o-meter can get further out of kilter and feelings of anxiety are a classic warning sign to look out for. Our stress response prepares us for action, physically and mentally.

If it doesn’t switch off, then this affects how we think and feel. Because our body is tense and ready to respond to threat, our mind may think there is a threat to respond to. This can become self-fulfilling: the more anxious we feel, the more adrenalin our body produces, so we feel more anxious and may overestimate the challenges and risks we face. This can spiral until we feel panicky and out of control.

When we’re feeling anxious and worried it can help to recognise that our risk-o-meter is overheating. Try using exercise and relaxation to get your stress response under control and do things that keep your mind focused on the present moment. We want to avoid getting anxious about feeling anxious. Distract yourself from worries by doing something else, for example exercising, cooking, watching a film or talking with family and friends. Remind yourself that if you can calm your stress response down your anxiety levels should reduce too.

If anxiety doesn’t settle, have a look at the advice on the What can I do if I'm not OK? page. You can also try the Daylight app -It’s an evidence-based anxiety management program free to Scotland’s emergency responder community.

It is exhausting being ready for action for extended periods of time.

Sometimes if our brain decides that being on high alert is not something that is going to resolve the stressor, it can drive us to “shut down” to save energy. This might impact our mood and make us feel low or numb. We might feel slowed down and unmotivated.

We call this fatigue being “wired but tired”; our body has run out of energy for the stress response and needs time to recover and recuperate. It is important to listen to this warning sign and rest. Don’t misinterpret these feelings as weakness and push yourself harder!

Be aware that if you’ve been working full tilt for a long period, you may not realise how physically and emotionally exhausted you are until you stop. Be gentle with yourself.  

‍Living Life to the Full is a free online course that will help you deal with low mood and stress. You can find other tips on how to recharge on at the Coping and Self Care and  What can I do if I'm not OK? pages for advice on low mood and depression

When we experience situations that are highly stressful the survival parts of our brain take the lead. When these parts are in charge, the part of our brain that allows us to concentrate and make decisions doesn't work so well and can become “sluggish”. The longer the survival parts are online the more sluggish it can get. This can also happen when we’re worried, tired or angry.

If you're having trouble with concentrations, recognise it as warning sign that you need to rest and recover. Find tips on what can help on on the Coping and Self Care page.

The ability to detach emotionally, when we’re involved in potentially traumatic situations, is a helpful part of our Protective Armour.  It is our brain’s way of coping with extremes of stress and allows us to focus on our professional role without getting distracted or overwhelmed.  However, if we stay disconnected from our emotions then this is a warning sign of too much stress.

Try to do things that give you pleasure and connect you with the people who are important to you. As much as possible, try to maintain a balance between your work and home life.  Have a look at the Coping and Self Care page for more suggestions on coping with these feelings

The memories we make during frightening or distressing experiences are different to our other memories; they are more vivid and are often jumbled or fragmented. Our brains are information processing machines and their job is to “process” these memories; they get a time code, so we know they’re in the past, and we learn from what happened, so we can stay safe in the future. To do this our brain will bring the raw data (smells, sounds, images) into our awareness during the day and while we’re asleep. This isn’t very pleasant because until the processing is complete, the memories are vivid, and it can feel like we’re right back in the frightening experience.

This is a light on your dashboard that you don’t need to worry about too much if it comes on in the days and weeks after a traumatic experience. It’s a sign that things are working normally and if we can allow the memories to come and go, then our brain will do its work and they’ll get filed away. They’ll always be more vivid than non-trauma memories, but they won’t pop up unless we choose to think about them. When the stressful situation goes on for a long time, our brain may not start to make sense of it until it’s over so don’t be surprised if the “processing” happens sometime after the experience.

However, if the bad dreams and daytime intrusions are happening so often that it is hard to sleep or function during the day, or if they’re not reducing after a month then they’re a warning light we need to pay attention to.  

One thing that can make intrusions worse is trying not to think about them. We need to trust our brains and allow the processing to happen. We can do this by talking with someone we trust or perhaps writing things down. Have a look at the What can I do if I'm not OK? page for more advice on dealing with trauma memories

When we experience something that is highly stressful or distressing it is natural to not want to think about it, so we may avoid reminders, such as the place where it happened or the people connected with it.  This is OK for a short while and can help us manage our distress. However it becomes a problem if we need to keep avoiding things, places, thoughts and feelings in order to cope. It’s a warning sign that we may be developing a post traumatic stress reaction.

Where possible, try not to avoid. Instead, remember that the event is over and in the past. You can do this by focusing on differences between then and now and keeping yourself grounded in the present moment. It can be helpful to speak to others about these experiences if you feel ready to do so.

Please look at the What can I do if I'm not OK? page for more advice on managing avoidance and post traumatic stress.

This is a warning light that you need to check out. Are you drinking more alcohol than usual? Are you drinking to reduce stress or to numb difficult emotions such as sadness, anxiety or fear? Are you drinking more to get to sleep or to block unpleasant memories?

It’s human nature to try to find ways to reduce emotional or physical pain but drinking too much alcohol makes us feel more anxious, lowers our mood and disrupts our sleep cycle.

If you’ve noticed that you're drinking more than usual, please use this website to find other suggestions to help you manage on the Coping and Self Care and  What can I do if I'm not OK? pages.

If you are worried about your alcohol use, you can find tips on how to reduce your intake on the NHS Inform website or get more information on our Find Help page.

We all have mental health and so some of us may have previous experience of (or be living currently with) mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, substance misuse or an eating disorder.

You may have recovered from or be managing these conditions well, but that can be affected by exposure to stress and trauma. Watch out for any changes in your mood or ability to cope and please access help if you need it.