Stress!

How do you feel when you get a promotion at your job? Or when you top your class? Or when you get detained for not doing your home works? Or when you have fever? Or when you get a new house as a reward from your company? Or when you are about to propose a girl (or a boy)?

It is true that you will feel differently at each of the situations, but Dr Steve Burns, a renowned psychologist defines all these as the causes of stress. That is to say, the word stress no longer means something that you need to worry about.

Psychologists, today, define stress as the human response to the changes going around them. The word stress was coined in 1930 by an endocrinologist Hans Selye. A bit of stress is always good. It makes your life exciting and worth living with the joy it demands. But too much of stress not only cause impairments to your memory and creativity, but also you social life and your health too. Here I present a stress measurement chart that will help you find out the level of your stress. The stress quiz given below is taken from the Academy Resource Centre of Sweet Briar College.

To each of the questions given below, rate yourself as to how you typically react in each of the situations listed below. There is no right or wrong answers.

1 = Never

2 = Sometimes

3 = Frequently
4 = Always

Top of Form

Enter a number in the box for each question. When you complete the questionnaire, add up you total number of points and match your result with the range given to know your stress level.

1. Do you try to do as much as possible in the least amount of time?

2. Do you become impatient with delays or interruptions?

3. Do you always have to win at games to enjoy yourself?

4. Do you find yourself speeding up the car to beat the red light?

5. Are you unlikely to ask for or indicate you need help with a problem?

6. Do you constantly seek the respect and admiration of others?

7. Are you overly critical of the way others do their work?

8. Do you have the habit of looking at your watch or clock often?

9.Do you constantly strive to better your position and achievements?

10. Do you spread yourself "too thin" in terms of your time?

11. Do you have the habit of doing more than one thing at a time?

12. Do you frequently get angry or irritable?

13. Do you have little time for hobbies or time by yourself?

14. Do you have a tendency to talk quickly or hasten conversations?

15. Do you consider yourself hard-driving?

16. Do your friends or relatives consider you hard-driving?

17. Do you have a tendency to get involved in multiple projects?

18. Do you have a lot of deadlines in your work?

19. Do you feel vaguely guilty if you relax and do nothing during leisure?

20. Do you take on too many responsibilities?
Ø If your score is between 20 and 30, chances are you are non-productive or your life lacks stimulation.
Ø A score between 31 and 50 designates a good balance in your ability to handle and control stress.
Ø If you tallied up a score ranging between 51 and 60, your stress level is marginal and you are     bordering on being excessively tense.

If your total number of points exceeds 60, you may be a candidate for heart disease.