Are you in the office, is your mind is racing, have you got a headache, are you finding it difficult to remember what you were meant to be doing today. If you feel like that, it’s quite possible you may be suffering from stress although these are not the only stress-related symptoms you may be feeling as there are many more. If you can recognise how stress makes you feel, then you start to tackle it.

Stress can hit anyone at any point in their lives. Half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill and 12 million adults see their GPs with mental health issues - much of this is stress related. Wednesday, 2 November is Stress Awareness Day so why not use it as an opportunity to look at your life and find out exactly how much stress you are experiencing.

Physical symptoms of stress include:

• Breathlessness, headaches, restlessness, chest pains, pins and needles, high blood pressure, lack of appetite or craving food, sleeping problems, constant tiredness.

You may feel:

• Aggressive, irritable, dreading failure, depressed,having no interest in life, that you are losing your sense of humour, believing that you are bad or ugly.

Your behaviour may be affected in the following ways:

• You may find it difficult to make decisions, have problems concentrating, be denying there is a problem, have an inability to show true feelings, avoiding difficult situations, frequently crying or feeling tearful.

Why not try the stress test and see how you score? You can find the test by clicking here.

If you are suffering from stress, try these 10 tips to tackle it:

1. Make the connection - could the fact that you are feeling under the weather be a response to too much pressure?

2. Take a regular break - give yourself a brief break when you feel things are getting on top of you.

3. Learn to relax - follow a simple routine to relax your muscles and slow your breathing. Click here for some tips and ideas of how to relax and take notice.

4. Get better organised - make a list of jobs and tackle one at a time. Swap between dull and interesting tasks.

5. Sort out your worries - divide them into those that you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t worry about things you can’t change.

6. Change what you can - look at the problems that can be sorted and get what help is necessary to sort them out. Learn to say no.

7. Look at your long-term priorities - examine what it is about your life that is giving you too much stress. How can you introduce a better balance between work, social life and home life?

8. Improve your lifestyle - find time to eat properly, get plenty of exercise and enough sleep. Avoid drinking and smoking too much. Find out more ways of living well click here.

9. Confide in someone - don’t keep your emotions bottled up.

10. Focus on the positive aspects of your life.

In Kent and Medway, local support is available, Mental Health Matters, a 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year emotional support and advice phone service on 0800 107 0160.

If you are an employer or manager and would like free support and advice on reducing stress in the workplace, go to Kent Mindful Employer by clicking here. Or look at out work and employment pages to find out how you can make your workplace healthier click here to access this information.

If you are stressed or worried about debts or money we also have some information that you can access on how to get free debt help, click here to see this information.