For this weeks blog assignment I was given the opportunity to take three stress level/personality related tests. These tests are designed to help a person gauge their current stress levels, gain a deeper understanding of their own personality, and learn how stress may affect individuals in different ways. The first test I took was the Holmes-Rahe’s stress inventory test, resulting in a score of 181. This score reflects a fairly average amount of stress that may be going up slightly upon graduation and all the life changes that come with it. What I found surprising is that with my current score I would be at a 50% higher chance of a major health breakdown in the next few years. The second/third tests I took were on phycology todays website. Scoring 69 on the coping and stress management skills test and 22 on the type A personality test. My takeaways from these tests is that there is slightly more stress in my life than I realized and that I could improve on my stress management skills overall. Furthermore, I confirmed that I am not very type A but could learn to be more patient in times of elevated stress.
Although stress is unavoidable, there are ways to improve how one deals with stress. Learning to deal with stress in a healthy way is also important for ones physical/mental health. Highlighted in an article I found that breaks down a recent study of how stress negatively impacts heart health (Brody, 2022). The article concludes with some tips for lifestyle changes that help people limit the amount of exposure to stress.
Moving forward I plan to try and reduce stress in my life that stems from my career. Based on my personality I know that I tend to thrive with companies that offer a good work life balance. Luckily there are many companies that intentionally support work life balance and there are rating systems that can help you find the best fit. I found a list on business insider that ranks the top 25 companies in the U.S. based on work life balance. I plan on using information like this to help me start and build my career after graduation while I continue to work on stress management skills as well.
Sources:
Brody, J. E. (2022, January 3). Stress May Be Your Heart’s Worst Enemy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/well/mind/stress-heart.html
Hoff, M. (n.d.). These 25 large companies have the best work-life balance. Business Insider. Retrieved May 30, 2024, from https://www.businessinsider.com/large-companies-best-work-life-balance-comparably-ranking-2021-10#21-whole-foods-market-5
Links to the tests I took:
https://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/bin/transfer
https://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/bin/transfer
https://www.stress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/stress-inventory-1.pdf
Leave a Reply