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