Stress Testing for Stress Relief

For some time my wife and I were involved in research on student with reading disabilities. Our interest was to determine the relationship between reading disabilities and stress. Using a self-report pencil and paper test, we measured the stress of a group of nine-year-old students. To our great relief, there was no significant relationship between stress levels and reading disability. So there was no need for us to worry about stress relief programs.

I’m often asked when people want stress relief therapy to tell them how to measure their stress levels. It is quite easy to measure stress levels. A psychologist can quickly determine whether you are stressed, depressed, or anxious. Most of the systems involve you telling the psychologist has stressed you are. With careful reflection, most people can report reliably their levels of stress, depression, and anxiety.

If you did want a relatively objective measure of your stress you could ask a medical professional to do a urine analysis. Blood analysis is also another way of measuring the cortisol in your system. There seems to be substantial evidence that cortisol levels increase with psychological stress. There is little doubt that as your stress levels rise, there are increases in physiological responses too. These include elevated heart rate, blood pressure, flushing, skin changes and so on. For many people there are also headaches and even migraines and associated aura.

But you don’t need to seek medical advice. There are plenty of online tests of nearly anything. Unfortunately, you would never know how reliable these tests are. I use a 10 item Stress Test to understand how my clients feel about their levels of stress and anxiety. If we use this test several times over a period of months, we can both track the client’s changes in mood. To meet the challenge of managing stress I have to check that my stress relief therapy is working.

Typical questions when testing stress include references to feeling worried and upset, noting changes in sleeping or eating, responding to questions about feeling refreshed after sleep, being able to relax, feeling physically ill, being inattentive and unproductive and having mood swings. These responses can be grouped under four main headings: Physiological and Physical Responses; emotional responses, inter-personal responses; and cognitive responses.

It is important to understand your levels of stress. Stress relief therapy is much more effective when people are able to track and measure their stress responses. Stress is a silent killer and the enemy of well-being. High stress levels, burnout, and being overstressed are all counter-productive emotional states. When stress is constant and severe it is very disabling. If one wants to have an effective stress relief program, one needs to know how to measure and respond to stress. My stress relief therapy incorporates 15 effective strategies. What makes the exercise challenging is choosing the most effective stress relief strategies. Neither me nor my patients want to have lives are characterized by excessive stress.

Relationships are the first thing to suffer when an individual demonstration elevated stress. The pity of this is that social support from loved ones is the best way to ameliorate stress. We can relieve stress effectively when we talk with friends and share our feelings. This is free therapy. Stress relief is afforded through sharing our worries. There are occasions when the stress is too high to be relieved through social support. The current problems with home foreclosures is a serious stress. This requires professional help.

There is a lot written about stress but I hope that my particular view about stress relief and stress management is helpful. I really want to be able to help people manage their stress. If you can engage in effective stress relief programs, even if you run them yourself, you will have a happier and more successful life.