The Stress Scale: Why You're Exhausted (Even If Nothing 'Bad' Happened)

Change of all kinds can place a demand on your nervous system. The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale was developed to help people recognize how much accumulated stress they're carrying, based on significant life events.

Each event below has been assigned a point value reflecting how much physiological and emotional adjustment it typically requires. Both difficult and joyful events count — a marriage, a new baby, or a promotion can be just as taxing on the body as a loss or a setback.

Use this as a mirror The goal is awareness, so you can meet yourself with more compassion and make choices that support your body and nervous system. I'm here to help whenever you need.

If your score was higher than you expected, that's worth sitting with. The body doesn't distinguish between stress we feel justified having and stress we think we should be over by now. It just carries it.

A few things that genuinely help when your load is high:

• prioritize sleep over productivity

• reducing stimulants like caffeine and alcohol

• lean on people you trust

• be honest with a practitioner you feel safe with about what this past year has actually looked like

  
  

You don't have to be in crisis to deserve support. A high score on this scale is reason enough to start paying attention.

Take good care of you!