JAW held tight? Seething over something? Bit the dog this morning? Comforting yourself with that extra pint? Mind darting about like a ricocheting squash ball? Adrenalin pulverising serenity's last stand?
In ape man days, we fought the tiger or ran like hell. Hormones were unleashed, heart rates soared, blood sugar increased, breathing deepened, oxygen shot to muscles, circulation was rerouted and testicles hit base. Man stood primed for action.
Today when nasty bills and tax demands roar through the letter box the very same physiological reaction transforms us but neither fight nor flight are on anymore and our coiled bodily springs stay taut.
According to psychologist and psychotherapist Brendan Madden, who lectures with the Irish Association of Holistic Medicine, stress manifests itself differently in men and women. "Stress is an emotionally upsetting experience but men tend to feel more constrained in expressing their emotions. Men in work situations often express their emotional unease through aggressive behaviour.
"Women may have a network of support in female colleagues in whom they can confide and with whom they feel freer tub express their emotions. Many men may regard the expression of emotion as a sign of weakness and internalise their negative feelings of anger, frustration or fear."
So in fact the man who scorns his female colleague for showing her emotions in a stressful situation may actually be coping less well than she is and setting himself up for stress related problems down the line into the bargain.
"Men need some stress to respond to challenges in sport or at work. When they achieve their goal that kind of stress is not detrimental," adds Madden.
Some stress is needed to get up in the mornings. Any worthwhile, realistic goal we've set ourselves will increase our stress levels. So too will it expand our consciousness, implant self esteem and help us become more human.
However, if a person feels under pressure in a relationship or if his skills are not up to challenges in his job, he suffers unproductive stress which is very detrimental." According to Madden, the physiological responses are different for those who don't achieve their goals: "Cortisone and other corticosteroids are released which suppress the immune system when you're under continuous stress but don't achieve your goal." Studies have shown that over stressed individuals will soon get sick - if they're not sick already.
Not only are they more prone to heart attacks and strokes, they'd win wooden spoon trophies for catching colds and flu.
Excessive stress impairs your thinking. It diminishes creativity and clamps your brain - may even tow it away. "Men under pressure to perform may be less creative in their job and their thinking can often be more rigid," says Madden. "They can become more indecisive and find it harder to make logical decisions."
"The whole area of stress in the workplace is beginning to be looked at," says Fionnuala O'Loughlin, a psychiatrist at the Bon Secours Hospital in Dublin. "Some companies are beginning to wake up to it. Stress affects performance. It ranges from being underworked to over worked or having responsibility without power to implement change." Work has become more stressful with performance targets, contract employment, information overload, constant change and the new emphasis on individual accountability.
Like debt, stress won't go away by ignoring it. It builds up, advancing steadily towards our personal stress thresholds. Every stress we experience leaves us more vulnerable to the next beast of prey which stalks our path. Men ignore at their peril the classic symptoms of it: palpitations of the heart, a knotted stomach, a dry mouth, overeating or loss of appetite, headaches, muscular aches or rapid breathing, hitting the booze, sweating, working too hard or doing nothing at all, panic attacks, absentmindedness, a sense of lacking control over one's environment; a feeling of helplessness and insecurity, diminishment of sex drive, incapacity to perform sexually or brewing anger into depression.
So what's a man to do? Elizabeth Lawlor, clinical psychologist at the Dublin County Stress Clinic in St John of God's Hospital, Stillorgan, recommends "self observation" - head to toe body scans to identify areas of tension. Through its cognitive behavioural stress management programme the clinic educates people in self awareness, self care and healthy coping strategies such as exercise and relaxation.
It's plainly silly to suggest that stressful situations don't exist: incontrovertibly they do. And it is sometimes necessary to change the stressful situation or avoid it. However, strictly speaking, situations aren't in themselves stressful - it is you who react with stress to situations. You might love dogs but find speaking in public traumatic - your twin brother might captivate an audience with a great spiel but seize up at the sight of a poodle. Often, you can't change a situation but you do have the power to change your reaction to it.
Admitting you've a problem with stress is the crucial turning point. Wake up to your body and learn to listen to it. Learn calming breathing exercises, relax in a sauna, have a massage or go for a walk. Eat, sleep well and take time out.
Finally, take perfectionism by the scruff of the neck and consign it to a pit with an unfriendly Rottweiler. Decide when you're going to stop work, do the best you can in the designated time - and then knock off.
By the way, how's your jaw?