Here’s a simple check of your stress level: try to lower your shoulders. If you could – if your shoulders were tense – your body is in defence physiology. You are ready to defend yourself against attack. But you aren’t in danger – you are supposedly relaxed while reading this article. Keeping your shoulders raised is just one clue that you are not relaxed – you are “stressed out.” Other stress clues include sensations of a “knot” in your stomach or your heart pounding, feeling tense or nervous most of the time, habitual foot-bouncing or finger-tapping, teeth grinding or jaw clenching. Unless you are in a crisis situation, you should be reasonably relaxed.