--- title: 7 Ways One Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language description: How your body unconsciously works to alleviate psychological pressure canonical: https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/ author: Business Insider article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T16:10:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:28.403Z og:title: 7 Ways People Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language og:description: How your body unconsciously works to alleviate psychological pressure og:url: https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7 Ways People Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language twitter:description: How your body unconsciously works to alleviate psychological pressure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 7 Ways People Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language by [Samantha Lee, Shana Lebowitz / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Samantha Lee, Shana Lebowitz / Business Insider Oct 22, 2015 4:10 PM UTC by [Samantha Lee, Shana Lebowitz / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Samantha Lee, Shana Lebowitz / Business Insider Oct 22, 2015 4:10 PM UTC The problem with trying to conceal anxiety — in any situation — is that we’ve evolved to do exactly the opposite. According to Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent and the author of [_What Every BODY is saying_](http://www.amazon.com/What-Every-BODY-Saying-Speed-Reading/dp/0061438294?tag=bisafetynet-20), we’re hardwired to display anxiety and to recognize it in others as well. Back in our caveman days, this was a means of quickly recognizing danger. Here are some of the most common universal, nonverbal expressions of nervousness that are pretty hard to control. _This_ [_article_](http://www.businessinsider.com/7-ways-your-body-betrays-you-when-youre-nervous-2015-9) _originally appeared on_ [_Business Insider_](http://www.businessinsider.com) _More from Business Insider:_ * [7 rules for making a great first impression](http://www.businessinsider.com/make-good-first-impression-tips-body-language-2015-9) * [Body language mistakes successful people never make](http://www.businessinsider.com/body-language-mistakes-successful-people-never-make-2015-8) * [6 body language secrets of powerful people](http://www.businessinsider.com/6-body-language-secrets-of-powerful-people-2015-7) * [6 experts on what you should know about body language at work](http://www.businessinsider.com/6-experts-on-what-you-should-know-about-body-language-at-work-2015-8) * [10 proven tactics for reading people’s body language](http://www.businessinsider.com/10-tactics-for-reading-peoples-body-language-2015-5) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/"},"headline":"7 Ways People Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language","datePublished":"2015-10-22T16:10:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:28.403Z","description":"How your body unconsciously works to alleviate psychological pressure","url":"https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/","keywords":["Living","Anxiety","Stress","communication","advice","body language"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Lee, Shana Lebowitz / Business Insider"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4083354/nervous-body-language/","name":"7 Ways People Can Tell You're Nervous From Your Body Language"}}]}] ```