Try Free, Powerful Stress & Well‑Being Survey
National polls show that as much as 75% of Americans were discouraged by the nation’s direction. Those polled said they were angry, scared and stressed out.
People are hurting, in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia and elsewhere in the world, as the international financial crisis worsens and its impacts are beginning to be felt at local levels. Each new day seems to be more unsettling than the previous. So much is happening on so many fronts that people everywhere feel powerless to do anything about it. They get up each morning, dress and go about their day, numb to it all.
Around the world people are losing their jobs, while those still employed watch as the value of their hard work diminishes and their savings dry up. Dreams of better lives for themselves and their children are threatened. Poverty is on the rise, wars drag on and political strife seems unending. With the eyes of the world upon it, the U.S., where the global financial meltdown began, has been consumed by a bitter presidential election season marked by frequent nasty partisanship.
When people are subjected to such stressful events in the world around us, they naturally can become fearful, angry and easily caught up in the drama, pointing fingers and demanding answers and fast solutions. It is vitally important at such times to step back and make sure we are taking care to preserve our well-being. If we don’t, the calamity from without can spread within. Without our realizing it, stress builds silently within us at such times. Harboring feelings of hurt, anger, betrayal and hopelessness tears at our physical, mental and emotional fabric. There is serious risk in troubled times of deteriorating mental and physical health and increases chemical dependency, violence and even suicide, which prior to recent events already had been on the rise among certain groups in the U.S.
HeartMath Provides Free Vital Stress Tool
It’s true that no single one of us can control world events, but each of us does have the capacity to manage our own stress, and the Institute of HeartMath, long an international leader in stress research and emotion management, can help. IHM has developed a sophisticated online self-assessment tool that people can use in these uncertain times to regularly monitor their mental, emotional and physical states so they can begin managing stress levels and bringing balance back to their lives.
HeartMath’s new Stress & Well-Being Survey™, incorporating the institute’s more than 19 years of research, is perhaps the most comprehensive and accurate assessment tool of its kind available free over the Internet today. The 72-question survey, which takes about 15 minutes, looks in-depth at your stress level at home, work, school and in your relationships.
More than a thousand people have already taken the survey at www.heartmath.org, taking an active role to control their stress levels and manage their emotions during these difficult times. Taking the survey monthly or every few months can help you keep tabs on the stress in your life and track of your stress management progress.
For all categories of the Components of Total Stress, those who took the survey between May and early October 2008 exhibited stress levels exceeding that of our reference database of 1,200 respondents collected in 2006. Also, all measures in the Components of Well-Being were lower than that of the reference group.
The Emotional Distress scale had the highest average score, being in the 77 percentile means that this groups average level of emotional distress was higher that 77% of the respondents in the 2006 reference group. "This high score is an indicator that an individual should be seriously concerned about the effects of emotional stress and take prompt steps to lower this level", says psychologist and author Deborah Rozman and author of the book Transforming Stress: The HeartMath Solution for Relieving Worry, Fatigue and Tension.
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This graph represents the percentage of respondents that demonstrated greater stress levels than the 2006 test group. |
Rozman, CEO of Quantum Intech, stated recently in a press release unveiling this powerful tool, that the Stress & Well-Being Survey is a great opportunity for people to slow down for a few minutes, perhaps weekly or even daily, to do something that could help improve the quality of their lives.
"In today’s world many people might know they’re stressed, but they don’t know where to start when it comes to getting a handle on it, Rozman explained. "An important factor for relieving and transforming stress is to understand where it is stemming from and how much it is impacting your health, emotional balance, mental clarity, ability to focus and make good decisions. This assessment tool enables people to take a quick inventory of how they’re doing when it comes to stress and their emotional well-being. Then they can start to take intelligent and proactive measures to take back control. None of us are immune to stress, and today we know so much about how it can adversely affect our health, relationships, mental clarity, even our energy levels."
Emotional stress is just one form of stress caused by events like those of the last couple of months. The Stress & Well-Being Survey also will show you whether stress stemming from relationships, finances or your job are adversely affecting you. In the Components of Total Well-Being section you’ll learn how well you are adapting physically, mentally and emotionally to events and circumstances around you, and how well or poorly you are coping with and managing your stress.
Whether you’ve lost your job recently, are going through a divorce, fatigue easily or have trouble controlling your anger, this survey gives you an opportunity to take a quick, effective and personal assessment of how you’re doing. You’re the one providing the information (your name is never requested so your privacy is assured), so you’re in charge of constructing an accurate profile of you. Once you’ve given your information, through simple clicks, an accurate assessment is made of your stress levels and emotional state through the scoring system. Then, helpful tips are offered based on your scores.
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