Is stress making you
sick?
Add up your stress values to check
your risk
I am often asked whether stress can make you sick.
The answer is yes,
definitely and there are lots of studies proving this link going back many
decades.
(check table below )
Holmes and Rahe
did a study in 1967 where they looked for indications whether stress causes illness
in 5000 medical case files. They found a
clear correlation and they compiled the Holmes
and Rahe Stress Scale which gives numerical values according to the likelihood
of different stresses causing illness.
They found that positive experiences can often have similar
chances of causing illness as a negative experience. Buying a house seems to be almost as bad as
losing a house!
To
measure stress add up the values for your stressful events for the past year
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
.
Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale
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
|
This
table is taken from "The Social Readjustment Rating Scale", Thomas H.
Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Volume
11, Issue 2, August 1967, Pages 213-218, Copyright © 1967 Published by Elsevier
Science Inc. All rights reserved.
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