Life Is Full of Stressful Events

Published September 21, 1979. If your marriage is like everyone else’s, you probably experience your ups and downs. But think for a moment . . . what was happening in your life the last time you hit the “downs?”

Did the husband have trouble with his boss? Was there the death of a close friend? Did you move to a new home? Did the marital turmoil come shortly after you obtained a mortgage or loan over $10,000? Were there problems with in-laws?

If you identified specific events that produced stress, you have validated the findings of Dr. Thomas H. Homes and Dr. Richard H. Rahe of the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Writing in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Homes and Rahe described a method of correlating stressful life events with sickness and tested their hypotheses with more than 5,000 patients. They predicted there is a relationship between social readjustment, stress, and susceptibility to illness. With many patients they observed that certain life events tended to cluster or to increase in intensity prior to stress and subsequent onset of disease.

The two doctors devised the Schedule of Recent Experiences (SRE), which assigned numerical values to typical events in people’s lives. To use the SRE chart, check off events which have happened to you within the last year. Some of the events and their numerical values are as follows:

Event                                                              Value

Death of a close family member                        63

Personal injury or illness                                    53

Fired from work                                                 47

Retirement                                                          45

Change in family member’s health                    44

Pregnancy                                                           40

Sex difficulties                                                    39

Addition to family                                              39

Business readjustment                                        39

Change in financial status                                   38

Death of close friend                                           37

Change to different line of work                         36

Change in number of marital arguments             35

Mortgage or loan over $10,000                           31

Foreclosure of mortgage or loan                         30

Change in work responsibilities                          29

Son or daughter leaving home                            29

Trouble with in-laws                                           29

Outstanding personal achievement                     29

Spouse begins or stops work                              26

Starting or finishing school                                 26

Change in living conditions                                 25

Revision of personal habits                                 24

Trouble with boss                                                23

Change in work hours, conditions                       20

Change in residence                                             20

Change in schools                                                20

Change in recreational habits                              19

Change in church activities                                 19

Changing in social activities                               18

Mortgage or loan under $10,000                         17

Change in sleeping habits                                   16

Change in number of family gatherings             15

Change in eating habits                                      15

Vacation                                                              13

Christmas season                                                12

Next, total up the score. Homes and Rahe found that a score of 150 based on the past year would make one’s chances of developing an illness or a health change about 50 percent. If your score is over 300 points within a year, your chances of experiencing a health change are up to almost 90 percent.

Note that many of these stressful events are ones that we generally consider to be occasions for joy and celebration. For instance, an outstanding personal achievement had a value of 28, a vacation was rated as 13 (we had one once that must have rated 63!) and Christmas, “The Season to be Jolly,” received a ranking of 12. One of their theories is that pleasurable events still evoke the same neurophysiologic and biochemical reactions as negative stressors.

Many other events such as pregnancy (40), retirement (45), starting or finishing school (26), change in residence (20), change in sleeping habits (16), and change in eating habits (15) are common events that many will experience during life.

According to Homes and Rahe, these events occur over an extended period of time, and stress resulting from these changes usually is concentrated within the time during which the event happens. The response to these events is generally normal in both intensity and duration. It is only when these events occur in clusters, with their effect  becoming cumulative, that dangerously prolonged stress reactions take place.

Perhaps marriage would be a little more meaningful if both husband and wife were aware of external events that often raise tension and stress in a marriage. Under these circumstances we each should be a little more patient and considerate than usual. From this study it is obvious that we not only can have a bad day, but a bad year as well. And remember, we married each other “in sickness and in health and . . . for better and for worse.” But a caution to the wives in America.

If hubby comes home and reports that he was fired from work (47 points), broke his ankle as he hurriedly left the office (53 points), and then got a traffic ticket on the way home (11 points), be kind to the man.

After a few minutes, if you convey to him that you are pregnant (40 points), and simultaneously hand him a letter from your broker stating you lost several hundred  dollars on the stock market (38 points), which results in a series of repeated arguments about money (35 points), be patient with him.

And as you then inform him that your oldest daughter has decided to leave home (29 points), and your mother feels he is to blame (29 points), be careful when you relay the message that your local minister called and wants him to serve on the Church Advisory Board (19 points).

Pause momentarily before telling him that your Aunt Martha also stopped by that afternoon to tell you that there will be not one, but two family reunions next year (15 points). At this point put the poor man to bed and call the doctor. According to Homes and Rahe his SRE rating is now 316. Stress and sickness are on the way.