What causes stress depends, at least in part, on your perception of it
and what you say to yourself about an event or incident. Something
that is stressful to you may not bother someone else or they may even
enjoy it. Everyday stress is subjective to a large extent, and can
take a bigger toll on some than others. In fact, not all stressors are
negative. Some very positive changes in life can trigger the human
stress response: getting married, buying or building a house, going off
to college, or even receiving a promotion. And stressors are not
limited to external factors like major life changes, work, relationship
issues, financial problems, being too busy, or juggling work and
family. Common internal factors could be: inability to accept
uncertainty, pessimism, negative self-talk or catastrophic thinking,
and even unrealistic expectations or perfectionism.
Certain
events will increase your overall stress for long periods of time, even
years. They are added together with the daily events to equal your
total stress load at any given time.
Here are the top 10 most stressful life events according to the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory:
1. Death of a spouse
2. Divorce
3. Marriage separation
4. Jail term
5. Death of a close relative
6. Injury or illness
7. Marriage
8. Fired from a job
9. Marriage reconciliation
10. Retirement
Much
of stress research is devoted to understanding vulnerability to stress,
why some people are more resilient than others, and how to help those
predisposed to the stress response to find ways to inoculate
themselves.
Return to Stress-Based Illness
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