The body provides many signals when you are stressed. But for those who are chronically stressed the signals are always present and therefore undetectable.

It wasn't until my mid-30's where I was able to have some downtime and learn what a healthy mind and body truly felt like. With a healthy baseline I can now quickly detect stress signals. This can be a subtle as feeling my face is wrinkled, a slight acid/burning feeling in my veins, absent mindedness, depression, quick/aggressive responses, flatulence, slight backache/tension, sleeping poorly, etc.

When I detect any of the stress signals I use one of the following techniques depending on the severity: I make "no" my default response to any new requests. I take deep breaths and softly smile. I switch to 100% selfish thinking; "what do I want ?", "what are my short and long term goals and what is my next step towards them ?". I plan. I make the gym and sleep a priority. I triage my todo list, cancel trips, and communicate with anyone who might get impacted. I avoid the news. I drink more water. I focus on anything beautiful immediately in front of me (usually the beauty of my meal since my mind tends to wander while eating).