A “stressor” is called anything or anyone that causes the negative experience of stress. This vastly depends on the individual as something that can cause stress to me, might not be causing stress to you and vice versa. You can understand then, that there are thousand of things that can be a “stressor” for each one of us.
These triggers of stress can be found in work situations, home situations, cultural situations or environmental situations and can be experienced as the inability to cope with them either physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually. This is the reason stress is now considered responsible for 95% of illness.
According to the Holmes and Rahe research outcome, different types of events have higher impact on the individual than others. In addition, the accumulation of a variety of stressors can prove to be responsible for triggering illness.
Below I’m presenting the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, where the number of “Life Change Units” that apply to events in the past year of an individual’s life are added and the final score will give a rough estimate of how stress affects health.
|
Life event |
Life change units |
| Death of a spouse | 100 |
| Divorce | 73 |
| Marital separation | 65 |
| Imprisonment | 63 |
| Death of a close family member | 63 |
| Personal injury or illness | 53 |
| Marriage | 50 |
| Dismissal from work | 47 |
| Marital reconciliation | 45 |
| Retirement | 45 |
| Change in health of family member | 44 |
| Pregnancy | 40 |
| Sexual difficulties | 39 |
| Gain a new family member | 39 |
| Business readjustment | 39 |
| Change in financial state | 38 |
| Death of a close friend | 37 |
| Change to different line of work | 36 |
| Change in frequency of arguments | 35 |
| Major mortgage | 32 |
| Foreclosure of mortgage or loan | 30 |
| Change in responsibilities at work | 29 |
| Child leaving home | 29 |
| Trouble with in-laws | 29 |
| Outstanding personal achievement | 28 |
| Spouse starts or stops work | 26 |
| Begin or end school | 26 |
| Change in living conditions | 25 |
| Revision of personal habits | 24 |
| Trouble with boss | 23 |
| Change in working hours or conditions | 20 |
| Change in residence | 20 |
| Change in schools | 20 |
| Change in recreation | 19 |
| Change in church activities | 19 |
| Change in social activities | 18 |
| Minor mortgage or loan | 17 |
| Change in sleeping habits | 16 |
| Change in number of family reunions | 15 |
| Change in eating habits | 15 |
| Vacation | 13 |
| Christmas | 12 |
| Minor violation of law | 11 |
You can tick which of the above events apply to you and then add up the relevant numbers. Your total will give you an indication of your level of stress.
Score of 300+: At risk of illness.
Score of 150-299+: Risk of illness is moderate (reduced by 30% from the above risk).
Score 150-: Only have a slight risk of illness.
Of course this is quite general and there are other assessment tools which can give a more comprehensive understanding of the levels of stress.
If you feel that your levels of stress are high, then you might like to consider talking to an experienced stress management consultant or attend classes or workshops that can help you gain deeper understanding of the subject and most importantly ways to cope, neutralise and release stress from your life.
If attending a stress management course interests you, check out my “Stress –free Living” workshop at my website: www.specialised-therapies.com
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