Having a traumatic experience affects you in more ways than you may realize. It’s more than having flashbacks or nightmares reliving your trauma; it can manifest physically and weigh you down more than you think. It doesn’t matter how long ago you experienced your traumatic event; it needs to be dealt with in order to rid yourself of its harrowing effects.

Most commonly, trauma is known to affect people emotionally, mentally, and psychologically. It can make you feel angry, depressed, guilty, and helpless. Or it can make you feel disoriented and out of touch with yourself and the world around you. Trauma can make you have difficulty concentrating due to your racing thoughts, self-blame, intrusive memories, or even suicidal thoughts. There can be apathy, restlessness, avoidance, and isolating behaviors as a result.

These internal effects are the ones that everyone tends to associate with traumatic experiences. However, trauma has an even stronger impact as it also manifests physically. Some immediate physical effects can include shivering, body tremors, elevated heartbeat, quick breathing, high blood pressure, and an overactive startle response.

Trauma’s physical effects can also appear over time. One of the most common delayed effects of trauma is exhaustion. After a traumatic experience, we are in a state of fight or flight, constantly agitated or jumpy and anxious. Our minds are usually racing with elevated levels of cortisol present. Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone. Having elevated levels of cortisol causes your body to digest glucose quickly for a quick burst of energy during a perceived threat. However, having too much cortisol present or having these quick bursts of energy can lead to exhaustion and fatigue. You can also experience exhaustion from sleepless nights when you either lie awake thinking about your traumatic event or when your brain is telling your body you are in a state of emergency and need to stay alert due to your past stress levels. Either way, feeling overwhelmingly tired is a common physical response to trauma.

Another delayed physical effect of trauma is appetite changes. Sometimes, after experiencing trauma or reliving another traumatic flashback, eating can be difficult. It takes too much effort to make a meal and chew it. Your trauma can seemingly drain the will to live from you, and one of the first things to go is your appetite. For some people, even if they do eat, they can be so stressed out by their trauma that they can’t digest the food, and they throw it back up. Trauma affects everyone’s body differently, but it is important to reach out for help to ensure that you don’t allow your trauma to take control over you. Having a professional therapist, health professionals, and a close confidant to talk to about your trauma and its physical and psychological manifestations is significantly important.

Do not be ashamed to let people in and tell them about how your trauma is affecting you. You may experience other side effects from your trauma than the aforementioned ones but that does not make it less important or upsetting. Seek guidance on how to heal and recover from your traumatic experiences from professionals. Your trauma does not define you; take back your power and find the strength inside to keep going.