How do you cope with
 Stress?
Answer the following 14 questions for an assessment.

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There are many ways to cope with stress in your life.  Some coping techniques are more effective than others while some techniques can wreck your health. 

The purpose of this checklist is to help you assess how effectively you cope with the stress in your life.

Once you've completed this checklist you will have identified many of the ways you choose to cope with stress.  At the same time, through a point system, you will be able to see how positive the techniques are that you currently employ.

This is a health education survey, not a statistical scientific assessment.  Its main purpose is to highlight the techniques you employ to cope with stress in your life.

For the best result, answer the following 14 questions honestly.

Question 1. Would you say that you have a supportive family? Yes No yes = 10 points, no = 0 points		Question 2. Do you actively pursue a hobby? Yes No yes = 10 points, no = 0 points
Question 3. Do you belong to some social activity group that meets at least once a month (other than family)? Yes No yes = 10 points, no = 0 points		Question 4. Would you say you are within 3kgs of your ideal body weight? Yes No yes = 15 points, no = 0 points
Question 5. Do you practice some sort of "deep relaxation" at least three times per week (such as meditation, imagery, yoga)?  Yes No yes = 15 points, no = 0 points		Question 6. How many times would you exercise 30 minutes or longer during the course of an average week? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 5 points each
Question 7. How many times would you consume a balanced and wholesome meal during the course of an average day? 0 1 2 3 5 points each		Question 8. How many times do you do something that you really enjoy, "just for yourself", during the course of an average week? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 5 points each
Question 9. Do you have a place in your home where that you can go to in order to relax and/or be by yourself? Yes No yes = 15 points, no = 0 points		Question 10. Do you practice time management techniques in your daily life? Yes No yes = 15 points, no = 0 points
Question 11. How many packets (20) of cigarettes do you smoke in the course of an average day? 0 1 2 3 subtract 10 points each		Question 12. How many evenings per week would you take any source of medication or chemical substance (including alcohol) to help you sleep? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 subtract 5 points each
Question 13. How many days during the course of an average week would you take any source of medication or chemical substance (including alcohol) to reduce your anxiety or just calm you down? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 subtract 10 points each		Question 14. How many evenings per week would you bring work home, work that is meant to be done at your place of work? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 subtract 5 points each

Your Score

What your score means:

Now that you have calculated your score, consider that the higher your score, the greater your health promoting coping practices. 

A "perfect" score would be around 115. 

Scores in the 50 - 60 range are probably adequate to cope with most common sources of stress.

Questions 1-10 represent adaptive health-promoting coping strategies, and items 11-14 represent maladaptive strategies are self sustaining because they do provide at least some temporary relief from stress. 

In the long run, however, use of maladaptive strategies (cigarettes, medication/drugs, bringing work home) services to erode one's health. 

Ideally, health promoting coping strategies (questions 1-10) are the best to integrate into your life and will ultimately prove to be an effective preventative program against excessive stress.

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Common Signs of Stress

Physiological	Behavioural	Cognitive
. Pallor	. Impulsiveness	.Mind blanks
. Sweating	. Trembling	. Forgetfulness
. Increased Heart Rate	. Sleeping problem	. Lack of concentration
. Muscle tension	. Increased consumption of alcohol and other drugs	. Lack of interest
. Increased blood pressure	. Accident prone	. Fixed ideas
. Headaches	. Eating disorder	. Blaming others
. Indigestion	. Over eating	. Negative thinking
. Shallow breathing	. Inappropriate laughter
. Frequent urination		Organisational
. Dry Mouth	Philosophical	. Absenteeism
	. Hopelessness	. Poor industrial relations
Emotional	. Questioning values	. High labour turnover
. Anxiety	. De--personalising tasks	. High accident rates
. Irritability		. Poor productivity
. Depression		. Poor morale
. Anger		. Job
. Withdrawal
. Embarrassment

Did you find the test above useful?