Measuring Stress
Quick Tips on Measuring Stress
Measuring stress in your life is a good way to find out your stress level. When you are aware of how much stress you face, you can take steps to alleviate it and protect your health from the negative effects of stress. One of the best ways of measuring stress is by getting to know yourself, your body’s reactions and how you feel.
You can become more familiar with yourself in the same way you get to know another person, by asking questions. When measuring stress, you have to ask yourself what you’re going through and how you feel, and then pay close attention to the answer.
Asking these questions about personal situations you have recently been through can give you a good stress reading right off the bat:
Have you recently had a major relationship issue, like a divorce or bad breakup?
Has someone you love died?
Have you or someone close to you been diagnosed with a chronic or serious illness?
Did you recently move away from loved ones or have someone move away from you?
Have you lost your job or gone through a major change at work?
A yes answer to any of these questions means that you have a high stress level, because all of these life situations induce physical, mental and emotional responses.
Any major life change comes with major stress – even the happy events like getting married and having children. Although a wedding is definitely a joyous occasion, the time leading up to the wedding – and even the big day itself – sends stress soaring. When a baby is born it is usually one of the happiest moments in life. But the soon-to-follow crying, late-night feedings and constant caretaking on no sleep can quickly send your body into overdrive because of the stress.
In order to judge your reaction to major life stressors, pay attention to the way you cope: Are you sleeping well?
How are you behaving? Are you drinking? smoking? Eating too much or too little?
When is the last time you really had fun?
Becoming aware of your own response to change is an excellent way to measure stress in your life and keep it from becoming a problem.
There are also ways you can measure your stress level in short-term stress situations:
> Do a body scan. If your muscles are tight and tense, you are likely under stress.
> Check your pulse. A rapid heart rate is a classic stress response.
> Breaking out in an unexplained sweat is another stress-induced reaction in the body.
> Focus a moment on your breathing and notice if you are taking nice, deep breaths or short, shallow ones. Shortness of breath means stress is in the air.
The benefit of measuring the stress in your life is simple: too much stress can be dangerous. Keeping track of it is a part of living a healthy lifestyle and should be practice by everyone.