What are the physical signs of stress? What does it mean when someone’s blinking a lot?
Chase Hughes explains that people tend to feel very stressed when they’re lying. So, monitoring someone’s behavior for signs of stress can help you determine whether they may be lying.
Continue reading for the physical signs of stress so you can tell when someone is stressed or lying.
The Physical Signs of Stress
Before we get into the signs, Hughes warns that the most important part of monitoring these signs is to notice change in someone’s behavior. Someone might display a stress-associated behavior, but if they display that behavior the entire time you’re interacting with them, you can’t accurately label the behavior as a sign of stress. However, if their behavior changes at some point in the interaction, you can deduce that their stress level has increased as a result of something that just happened in the conversation.
Now, what are the physical signs of stress? We’ll look at three of them that Hughes discusses: increased blink rate, closing or extending the fingers, and facial touching.
(Shortform note: Not every increase in stress during a conversation indicates lying. Research shows that simply being accused of doing something wrong increases stress signals (though this is less so for innocent people than for guilty people). Additionally, being falsely accused of something actually increases anger-related stress signals in innocent people, which can make others view them as guilty.)
Physical Indicator #1: Increased Blink Rate
According to Hughes, paying attention to how quickly someone blinks can tell you about how much stress they may be feeling. Generally, people blink around nine times per minute. However, people blink more frequently when they’re stressed. When you first start talking to someone, take note of how frequently they blink—fast, slow, or somewhere in between. If at any point in the conversation, you see their blink rate speed up, that’s likely a sign of stress. Conversely, if their blink rate noticeably slows, that’s a sign that they’re feeling relaxed.
(Shortform note: Research shows that people also blink more when their minds are wandering, meaning it’s not always an indicator of stress. If the person you’re talking to starts to blink more after you ask them a question, it may be because they need to think for a moment before answering. To get a better idea of why they’re blinking faster, pay attention to whether their blink rate slows again when they return their attention to you to provide the answer.)
Physical Indicator #2: Closing or Extending the Fingers
Hughes explains that watching people’s fingers can also give a strong indication of whether or not they’re feeling stressed. When people feel stressed, they often curl their fingers inward as if they’re going to make a fist. This movement is usually very slight; a person probably won’t clench their whole fist when a topic makes them uncomfortable, but you may be able to notice a minor inward twitch. On the other hand, extending the fingers is a sign of comfort and relaxation.
(Shortform note: You may be able to notice people closing or extending their fingers when even they aren’t aware of it. Research suggests that, because our bodies have evolved to feel our movements rather than see them, we’re often unaware of what our bodies and movements look like to others. Someone who’s lying may be so focused on the story they’re presenting that they don’t notice the ways their body signals their deception.)
Physical Indicator #3: Facial Touching
According to Hughes, people often touch their faces or cover their mouths when they’re feeling stressed. This is an instinctive response we frequently see in children—for example, if they’ve just said something mean to another child and then they realize their parents overheard it. This behavior is a sign of stress in adults as well.
(Shortform note: Experts suggest that the reason we touch our faces when stressed is because it’s a highly efficient self-soothing mechanism. The face has a high concentration of nerve endings that are very close to the brain, so stimulating them provides quick relief from stress and can release feel-good chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin.)
