QUIZ: HOW STRESS SAVVY ARE YOU?
by Suzanne Zoglio, Ph.D.
Author, Recharge in minutes: The Quick-Lift Way to Less Stress, more success, and Renewed Energy.

True or False?

1. Stress is all in your head.
2. In the U.S., the most stressed people are corporate executives.
3. Increased pressure makes people perform better.
4. Stress is inevitable…there’s nothing you can do.
5. The best way to cope with stress is to take more vacations.

Answers:

1. False…while beliefs certainly impact the level of stress a person experiences in  response to a situation, stress is definitely not ALL in your head. Very quickly, the mind triggers a whole set of bodily responses, including production of the stress hormone cortisol, increased heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, etc. Like a rubber band, if the body’s system’s are stretched in this way, day after day, it loses capacity to snap back to normal and one’s health is compromised.

2. False…working mothers, women under 50, and low-control (non-management) workers all report higher stress than executives.

3. False…while Harvard researchers, Yerkes and Dodson proved that performance does increase with stress to a certain level…they also proved that stress and performance correlate in a bell-curve fashion. After a point, continued stress reduces performance…and diminishes health.

4. False…certainly situations that some find stressful (demanding bosses, traffic jams, mechanical breakdowns, tight deadlines) are inevitable…as are major losses and crises.  However, the stress response to any given event is both personal and controllable.

5. False…while vacations are great, they are too few and too late for most stressed people. If your system is drained day after day by chronic stress, you cannot bounce back in one day off or even a week at the beach. Vacations can be great, but only when combined with daily breaks that stop the stress response as it occurs…before your energy is depleted.

Dr. Suzanne Zoglio, psychologist, lifestyle expert, and national speaker, can discuss the following topics: 10 Common Energy Drains…and What To Do About Them; Why Vacations Can Be BAD For You; 10-Minute Stress-Busters You Can Do Anywhere; The Stress/Work Performance Connection; Why It’s the Little Stressors That’ll Get You;  Stress and Women.