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When you are trying to stay healthy one thing that can impact you is stress. By managing your stress and focusing on keeping your life simple you can begin to make improvement on your health and your daily life.
Stress can be sneaky and it sometimes does not make itself obvious. We often think it is just part of life and not extra stress. In 1967, Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, published a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research that provided a way for anyone to determine how much stress they were under the influence of. The researchers asked people questions about specific life events and had them rate them for the amount of stress they created in their life. The comparison tool for all the rankings was that of the stress a new marriage would cause. The participants ranked events based on if they believed the occurrence was more severe and required more adjustment than a new marriage would require. Then they took the collected data and formed 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 the researchers created. This is presented as information only and should not be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes; if you feel you need more help with stress please see a professional.
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
- Let Go from Job 47
- Marital reconciliation 45
- Retirement 45
- Change In health of a 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 in 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 requirements 29
- Son or daughter leaving home 29
- Trouble with in-laws 29
- Outstanding personal accomplishment 28
- Partner begins or stops work 26
- Beginning or end of school 26
- Change in living conditions 25
- Changing 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 gatherings 15
- Change in eating habits 15
- Holiday 13
- Christmas 12
- Minor violations of the law 11
Now that you know where you are with stress you can begin to work on reducing its impact on your life and health. Stress relief is a very personal thing, everyone is relaxed and happy in a different way. Yet many are the same, so below is a list to get you started with some new ideas.
1. Exercise - this is a wonderful way to have a double benefit to your body. Not only do you reduce stress but it will also make your heart healthier and gain control of other health issues.
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. Restorative breathing - our ability to stop and take a couple full breaths for a minute or two is a major help to our stress levels. It makes us stop and think and also get the right amount of oxygen flowing around.
Stress can easily impact our life, by taking control we not only build a better life today but the chance to have a longer life overall.
Stress can be sneaky and it sometimes does not make itself obvious. We often think it is just part of life and not extra stress. In 1967, Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, published a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research that provided a way for anyone to determine how much stress they were under the influence of. The researchers asked people questions about specific life events and had them rate them for the amount of stress they created in their life. The comparison tool for all the rankings was that of the stress a new marriage would cause. The participants ranked events based on if they believed the occurrence was more severe and required more adjustment than a new marriage would require. Then they took the collected data and formed 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 the researchers created. This is presented as information only and should not be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes; if you feel you need more help with stress please see a professional.
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
- Let Go from Job 47
- Marital reconciliation 45
- Retirement 45
- Change In health of a 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 in 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 requirements 29
- Son or daughter leaving home 29
- Trouble with in-laws 29
- Outstanding personal accomplishment 28
- Partner begins or stops work 26
- Beginning or end of school 26
- Change in living conditions 25
- Changing 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 gatherings 15
- Change in eating habits 15
- Holiday 13
- Christmas 12
- Minor violations of the law 11
Now that you know where you are with stress you can begin to work on reducing its impact on your life and health. Stress relief is a very personal thing, everyone is relaxed and happy in a different way. Yet many are the same, so below is a list to get you started with some new ideas.
1. Exercise - this is a wonderful way to have a double benefit to your body. Not only do you reduce stress but it will also make your heart healthier and gain control of other health issues.
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. Restorative breathing - our ability to stop and take a couple full breaths for a minute or two is a major help to our stress levels. It makes us stop and think and also get the right amount of oxygen flowing around.
Stress can easily impact our life, by taking control we not only build a better life today but the chance to have a longer life overall.
About the Author:
Stress increases your risk of heart disease for more stress tips to improve yourHeart Disease Prevention please check out http://www.hearthealthjourney.com/stress-relievers-that-work/
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