How stressed are you? Find your stress score

I disappeared from Hub Pages for the past two weeks, as we sadly lost another baby to miscarriage.  Not quite as far along as the other pregnancies but still a sad and lonely time.  I’ve bounced back as best as I can, perhaps I am getting better at this grief thing – or maybe I am getting tougher skin.  
 

The thing I noticed about this pregnancy was how stressed I was.  I woke up in the morning with an aching jaw from clenching it at night.  The hormones don’t help - I felt like I had PMS on steroids! I am sure it was not good for the baby I was carrying, and definitely not good for me.  So this has sent me off to research stress and how to handle it - we are not giving up our baby-making journey, so I am going to need to know how to handle my stress better.

 

The Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale was developed as a way to measure the effects of major life changes on our lives.  It ranks life events according to their intensity and the time people take to adjust to them. You look at how many stressors you have experienced in the year and add up the score – 150-300 is indicative of normal stress, anything over 300 is seen as high and an indicator that you are more likely to contract an illness because of it– illness includes accidents, alcoholism, cancer, or something less serious, like a cold or flu.

I have listed some common life events that might have affected you in the past year.

Complete the chart and work out your score.  Insert how many times the event has happened to you over the past year and add up the totals.  For the full list of

Death of a spouse: 100 x ________= _____________

Divorce: 73 x ________= _____________

Marital separation from mate: 65 x ________= _____________

Detention in jail or other institution: 63 x ________= _____________

Death of a close family member: 63 x ________= _____________

Major personal injury or illness: 53 x ________= _____________

Marriage: 50 x ________= _____________

Being fired from work: 47 x ________= _____________

Marital reconciliation with mate: 45 x ________= _____________

Retirement from work: 45 x ________= _____________

Major change in behavior or health of a family member: 45 x ________ = _____________

Pregnancy: 40 x ________= _____________

Sexual difficulties: 39 x ________ = _____________

Gaining new family member (birth, adoption, older family member moving in): 39 x ________= _____________

Major business readjustment: 39 x ________= _____________

Major change in financial state: 38 x ________= _____________

Changing to different line of work: 36 x ________= _____________

Major change in number of arguments with spouse: 35 x ________= _____________

Taking on a mortgage greater than $10,000: 31 x ________= _____________

Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan: 30 x ________= _____________

Major change in responsibilty at work: 29 x ________= _____________

Son or daughter leaving home: 29 x ________= _____________

In-law troubles: 29 x ________= _____________

Outstanding personal achievement: 28 x ________= _____________

Major change in living conditions: 25 x ________= _____________

Revision of personal habits: 24 x ________= _____________

Troubles with the boss: 23 x ________= _____________

Major change in working hours or conditions: 20 x ________= _____________

Changes in residence: 20 x ________ = _____________

Major change in usual type or amount of recreation: 19 x ________= _____________

Major change in social activities: 19 x ________= _____________

Taking on a loan more than $10,000: 17 x ________= _____________

Major change in sleeping habits: 16 x ________ = _____________

Major change in the number of family gatherings: 15 x ________= _____________

Change in eating habits: 15 x ________ = _____________

Your Total Score________________

1. If you have a score that is over 300, you are going to need to be very careful with your health and stress management over the next few months.
2. If you have a score of between 150-300, you are in a better situation, but you still need to manage the stress in your life to make sure you stay healthy.

I had a score of 688! I definitely need to be careful about my health in the next year.  I have a bad habit of becoming very accident-prone when I am stressed out, so I'll need to take extra care.