Stress Tests

Stress and anxiety significantly affect our health and well being. Complementary health treatments and meditation can help to combat the negative effects that stress can have. Complete the following tests to access your stress levels

There are 3 steps in our stress test to get a good idea of your overall stress levels.

STEP 1: HOLMES-RAHE STRESS RATING QUESTIONNAIRE*
The Holmes-Rahe Stress Rating Scale is about choices – areas of your life which are in your control, providing an objective idea of the amount of stress that faces you and which you can alter, for weaker or stronger

STEP 2: THE HANSON SCALE – WEAK CHOICES
STEP 3: THE HANSON SCALE – STRONG CHOICES
The Hanson Scale of Life Stress Resistance is about choices – areas of your life which are in your control, and which you can alter, for weaker or stronger.

When you have completed the steps, the Grand Total of your stress points will shown at the bottom of the page.

These tests are totally confidential: no information is sent from you to any other party, so no-one can find out how you have rated yourself.

STEP 1
Click on the boxes corresponding to Life Events that you have undergone within the past twenty-four months. Use the "Other" box at the bottom to add in a figure for any of your stresses that do not appear on the Holmes-Rahe Scale. (You can assign numerical ratings to your particular stresses by comparing them with those on the scale.)

Life Event	Value	Select
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
Sex difficulties	39
Gain of a new family member	39
Business adjustment	39
Change in financial state	38
Death of a close friend	37
Change to different line of work	36
Change in number of arguments with partner	31
Mortgage or loan over one years net salary	35
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
Change in role at work	29
Son or daughter leaving home	29
Trouble with in-laws	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Spouse begins 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 work conditions	20
Change in residence	20
Change in Schools	20
Change in recreation	19
Change in church activities	19
Change in social activities	18
Mortgage or loan less than one years net salary	17
Change in sleeping habits	16
Change in number of family get togethers	15
Change in family get togethers	15
Change in eating habits	15
Vacation	13
Christmas	12
Minor violations of the law	11
Other - enter an appropriate number (optional)
Click on the button below to calculate your score.
Your Score is:

If your total is over 300, then you have an eighty per cent chance of a serious change in your health within the next year. We would in this instance advise that you seek qualified professional medical help for further guidance in a stress reduction program. Alternative medicine, including aromatherapy can help as part of such a holistic stress reduction program.

Now go on to Step 2.

STEP 2
Click the boxes that apply to you.

Bad Genetics	Select
Although the quality of health and the life-span of your ancestors is not within your control, it has been said that the key to a long life is to choose your parents carefully. If all the males in your family died in their thirties from the same heart disease, and you do not bother seeing a doctor until you are twenty-nine, it is quite likely that you could inherit their "bad luck". Click the box if you have bad health problems in the family.
Insomnia	Select
If you are chronically unable to sleep efficiently and wake refreshed, you will be at the mercy of the following day’s stresses. Caffeine and alcohol will interfere with sleep, as will a large meal before bedtime, a snoring spouse or a crying baby. For those who wake each morning still feeling fatigued, there are many valuable relaxation techniques. Click the box if you have problems with insomnia.
Bad Diet	Select
If you eat too many or too few calories or the wrong foods, or if you eat too quickly, you are choosing to weaken your resistance to stress. Fad diets often lack key food elements (essential fats, carbohydrates, protein, fibre, water and vitamins). Excess salt can be harmful to blood pressure, and low fluid intake (less then eight glasses of water a day) affects the viscosity of the blood and the function of the kidneys. Click the box if your your diet is unhealthy.
Obesity	Select
The body tends to lose weight when under stress, and thus requires determined overeating to stay fat. Even being ten per cent over your ideal weight, at which you look and feel your best, is a detriment to health and well-being. Real obesity affects the lungs, liver and pancreas (diabetes may result) and the heart will not last as many as it should. Click the box if you are more than 10% overweight.
Unrealistic goals	Select
The short person who dreams of being a basketball player and the tall person who wants to be a jockey are both unrealistic. Continual unhappiness resulting from unrealistic goals can have a very negative effect on a person’s ability to resist stress. Click the box if you consistently fail to reach your goals.
Poisons	Select
Excessive alcohol interferes with sleep patterns and the stomach lining; long-term tranquillisers decrease mental awareness; and excess caffeine can double the adrenalin in your bloodstream at a time when your body is already doing the same. Click the box if you exceed your weekly alcohol unit allowance.
Smoking	Select
This is a common and disastrous response to stress. During stress, when lungs are already being dilated and sucking in air to maximum capacity, the inhaled cigarette smoke is able to do its maximum amount of damage.The only way to salvage the remaining lung tissues at this stage is to give up cigarettes. Click the box if you smoke.
Wrong job	Select
Are you happy in your work? Lack of satisfaction on the job breeds discontent, lowered self-image, brooding, moody behaviour, and often increased arguments at home. This is true whether you are over-educated for the job or under-educated and poorly prepared. Click the box if you are always unhappy in your work.
Financial distress	Select
As evidenced in the stock market crash of 1929, a financial crisis can evoke a lot of ledge jumping. But financial distress may also apply to those people who are making a good wage, but lack perspective, discipline and organisation in managing their money. Without stress reduction, you will continue to spin your wheels, ultimately undermining both your health and your ability to perform well in your job. Click the box if you lack financial organisation.
Unstable home and social support	Select
This rates the highest score on our list. The typical workaholic, when under stress, tends to de-emphasise his or her family as being inconsequential. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Such an attitude can end in marital strife or even break-up, which will further add to the stress score. Family, friends, even pets provide much needed support. By relegating them to the back seat in your life, you could be greatly weakening your stress resistance. Click the box if you lack home support.
Click on the button below to calculate your score.
Weak Choice Total

You now probably have a minus score total. The best score total is zero; anything worse than -10 should be improved. Now you’re ready to start calculating your positive responses to stress, so go on to Step 3.

STEP 3
Click the boxes that apply to you.

Good Genetics	Select
Bad genetics need not automatically mean a shorter life and good genetics should not give false confidence. However, copying good points of your ancestors life-style and making the correct choices in responses to new stresses, could certainly help you. Click the box if you have good genetic health
Sense of humour	Select
One reason why comedy makes you feel good is that it helps you forget your woes; it also gives some medical benefit, in that laughter seems to increase the body’s level of endorphins, which can "ease the pain" and aid resistance to stress. Click the box if you can laugh at yourself.
The right diet	Select
The best diet for stress is natural, with few additives; calorifically correct to maintain your ideal weight; eaten at a reasonable rate; and balanced, with no more than thirty per cent fats and at least 30g of fibre a day. Eats lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and whole (unprocessed) foods, such as wholesome bread, and preferring white meats and fish to fatty joints. Click the box if you are careful with your diet.
Alternative Stress	Select
The best way to unwind is to switch to something else which is also stressful, but which involves different circuits of the brain and body. Thus obviously stressful activities such as racket sports or mountain climbing have tremendous value in the reduction of your ordinary stresses. Click the box if you find alternatives to stress
Realistic Goals	Select
Proper goal setting involves getting to know yourself. Financial goals and career choice are important, and in deciding what assets you wish to own, it is better to underestimate potential earnings. Also, decide how much time you wish to spend at work, and how much with family and friends. If you are realistic, you have a greater chance of resisting the effects of stress. Click the box if your goals are realistic
Understanding of stress	Select
Know your body, identify stresses around you and learn correct ways to manage stress. This sort of understanding is one of the best weapons of defence; with proper knowledge, you can avoid the ill health and possible premature death that attend cigarette smoking and many other stress related habits. Click the box if you are in tune with your body’s stresses
Relaxation skills and efficient sleep	Select
During even the most stressful day, some people can count to ten, suddenly be at complete rest, and then wake up refreshed. They have learnt relaxation skills which slow the pulse and breathing rate and reverse many of the natural stress responses in the body. You can use similar relaxation skills to help in getting to sleep at night. Click the box if you follow a relaxation program
Thorough job preparation	Select
Ideally, in the right job you should be at your level of competence, with all the appropriate skills.You should know if you need to take on extra-curricular activities to increase your efficiency, or if you should say know to any added duties. This combined with thorough preparation for that day’s tasks, gives you a better ability to resist the stresses of those tasks. Click the box if you are organised at work
Financial security	Select
Not vast riches, but spending habits within your net means, and enough in the form of positive cash flow, assets, skills or insurance to avoid being thrown on the street if you loose your job. This provides a crucial "control button" to fight stress. You should also allow some money for stress defence, as simple as going to the cinema regularly or employing a home help. Click the box if you are financially secure,
Stable home	Select
Maintaining an adequate network of friends and support from your family is the most valuable defence you can possibly have against stress. Strong faith in a religion and/or high code of ethical behaviour can also be of tremendous solace. Cuddling pets decrease their owner’s blood pressure and pulse. And married people also tend to live longer than single people. Click the box if you have a stable home life.
Click on the button below to calculate your score.
Strong Choice Total

OVERALL SCORE
The combination of your Weak and Strong totals is
Subtracting your Holmes-Rahe stress score gives a Grand Total of
Now we can get a realistic picture of your risks from stress.The higher your net score (in a positive direction), the better you are at harnessing your stresses, and the less likely you will be to have any serious health crisis or to cause inefficiencies at work. With a negative score (worse than -300), your risks are deadly serious. Even with no recent stresses on the Holmes-Rahe Scale, you could still be in the high risk group because of your weak choices on the Hanson Scale. We would in this instance advise that you seek qualified professional medical help for further guidance to organise a stress reduction program. Alternative medicine, including aromatherapy can help as part of an holistic stress reduction program.

*Holmes-Rahe: Social Readjustment Rating Scale reprinted with permission from Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol 11, no 2, copyright 1967 Pergamon Journals Ltd. All information provided without Legal Responsibility