Figure Out if You are Stressed

When trying to achieve your dream life, many things affect your outcome, one of those being stress. Actively managing stress and keeping life simple can make a dramatic improvement in your daily life.

Determining if you are stressed is very difficult. Many times we think it is just part of life and not extra stress. Below is a s a quick way to get an estimate on your stress levels. In 1967, Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, published a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research that provided a table of life events and the corresponding amount of stress they cause. This table is different than many produced charts because the researchers interviewed people and had them rate specific events for the stress they cause in their daily life. Therefore this is a human rather than a medical appraisal of the degree of stress those events caused. The basis for the rankings were the stress that a new marriage would cause. The participants then ranked life events based on if they thought the event was more intense and required more change than a new marriage would need. They then took all of the collected numbers and created a final ranking from the median of each number and then dividing by 10.

In order to determine your current stress level you will add up the numbers next to the event that has occurred in your life in the past three to six months. The total of these numbers will help you determine your current stress level. Remember everyone manages stress very differently so there may be variation if you adapt quickly or slowly. In addition this data does not take into consideration regular stressful events such as using drugs, drinking, chronic illness, and other major negative daily influences. Besides that there are chance stresses such as car accidents that will also impact your score. Even positive changes in life can be considered stressful, you still have to learn to adapt to your new reality.

Below is the scale that they created. This is presented as information only and should not be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes.

LIFE EVENT

- Death of spouse 100

- Divorce 73

- Marital separation 65

- Jail term 63

- Death of a close family member 63

- Personal Injury or illness 53

- Marriage 50

- Laid off 47

- Marital reconciliation 45

- Retirement 45

- Change In health of family member 44

- Pregnancy 40

- Sexual struggles 39

- Addition of new family member 39

- Business of adjustment 39

- Change in money situation 38

- Death of a friend 37

- Change to different line of work 36

- Change in frequency of arguments with spouse 35

- Mortgage over $10,000 31

- Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30

- Change in job responsibilities 29

- Son or daughter leaving home 29

- Problems with in-laws 29

- Outstanding personal accomplishment 28

- Partner begins or stops work 26

- Beginning or end of school 26

- Change in living situation 25

- Revision of personal habits 24

- Difficulties with boss 23

- Change in work hours or circumstances 20

- Change in living location 20

- Change in school 20

- Change in recreational activities 19

- Change in church activities 19

- Mortgage or loan under $10,000 17

- Change in sleeping habits 16

- Change in number of family activities 15

- Change in eating behavior 15

- Vacation 13

- Christmas 12

- Minor violations of the law 11

So how can you deal with stress? There are many things you can do to help you adapt and reduce your stress levels! I am adding a few to get you started to a stress free life!

1. Exercise – one of the best ways to manage stress.

2. Decrease Debt – As you saw on the list, debt increases the amount of stress in your life. So decreasing debt will help you reduce stress and as a great side benefit you get a healthier money life!

3. Deep Breathing – stop for two minutes take a few deep breaths you will almost immediately be amazed at how great you are feeling afterwards. This is really great to do right before bed so that you can get a nice restful evening of sleep.

Less stress means you get to take pleasure in your life more. Begin to reduce your stress today. Less stress helps you to prevent your chance of heart disease. It is a win-win situation you get less stress, more enjoyment and a reduced risk of disease.

You can gain more power over your stress and attempts at Heart Disease Prevention by visiting http://hearthealthjourney.blogspot.com/

Technorati Tags: anxiety, Health, heart disease causes, how to tell if you are stressed, impact of life events on stress, life management, self improvement, stress, stress calculator, Stress Management, stress management tips, stress tips