Measuring Your Stress Level



If you've been wondering what degree of stress you live under,
here is a quick way to get a fair estimate. Dr. Thomas and Dr.
Richard Rahe composed a table of events and the amount of stress
they cause. The most interesting feature of this table is that
the people they interviewed actually told them, how they could
rate specific events for the stress they cause, so this is human
rather than a medical appraisal of the degree of stress those
events caused  As you get used to certain changes in your life,
they become less stressful, so these ratings will not be
entirely accurate for you. If, for example, you take a vacation
only every five years, you might rate it a 25 instead of a 13.
The common starting point used was a standard rate of 50 for
marriage for all the people interviewed.

The combined total of both positive and negative stresses in the
past few months will give you an idea of your current stress
level. Keep in mind that people have varying stress-handling
capacities and this table does not take into account such
regular stresses as recreational drug use, alcoholism, chronic
illness, allergy, battering and random stresses such as car
accidents, contest winning to the dreaded tax audit. This is
presented as information only and should not be used for
diagnostic or treatment purposes.


                        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
- Fired at work                                                             47
- Marital reconciliation                                                 45
- Retirement                                                                45
- Change In health of family member                         44
- Pregnancy                                                                40
- Sexual difficulties                                                      39
- Addition of new family member                                39
- Business of adjustment                                            39
- Change in financial status                                        38
- Death of a close friend                                             37
- Change to different line of work                                36
- Change in number 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
- Trouble with in-laws                                                  29
- Outstanding personal achievement                         28
- Wife or husband begins or stops work                    26
- Beginning or end of school                                       26
- Change in living conditions                                       25
- Revision of personal habits                                      24
- Trouble with boss                                                     23
- Change in work hours or conditions                        20
- Change in residence                                                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 get-togethers               15
- Change in eating habits                                            15
- Vacation                                                                    13
- Christmas                                                                 12
- Minor violations of the law                                        11

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