Weekly Message Weekly Gems from Ronda Gates.

If you have ever wondered why someone you know always gets sick but you don't (or vice versa), you might find the Holmes Rahe Social Readjustment Scale published in 1967 in the journal of Psychosomatic Research interesting. This 43 item inventory was developed after physicians became aware that people tend to have serious illnesses, injuries, surgical operations, psychiatric disorders, even pregnancy, when clusters of major life changing events took place in their lives. In other words, too much change in too short a period of time takes its toll on the adaptive capabilities of the human body, lowers resistance and increases the risk of major changes in health.

Drs. Holmes and Rahe reviewed more than 10,000 cases before assigning points to events based on the amount, duration and severity of change required to cope with each item. Marriage, for example, was assigned 50 stress points with losing a spouse by death twice as stressful (100 points) and change in living conditions only 1/2 as stressful at 25 points. The more changes a person undergoes in a given period of time, the more points are accumulated. A higher score is a predictor that health change will occur.

According to Holmes and Rahe, if you score between 150 and 199 in one year, you have a 37 percent chance of getting sick during the following year. If you score between 200 and 299, your chances of getting sick jump to 51 percent. And if you score over 300, you have a 79 percent chance of getting sick during the following year.

The scale has never been updated and life has certainly changed in the last 30 years. Today the scale might include lack of exercise, exposure to pollution, concern about world events, two parents working, or single parent families. Regardless the inventory gives us an opportunity to notice and, like much of what we do in our business life, create a map for living in our personal life as well. Acknowledging it's possible to predict our future means it's also possible to order life by managing the change that is a vital part of living.

If you've been in the audience at one of my keynotes on stress you've been given one of these inventories. If not, scan the following list of life changes, pinpoint the ones experienced within the last year, and add up the numerical scores to get a total. Then compare it to the score above and plan for change:

Death of spouse 100

Divorce 73

Marital separation 65

Jail term 63

Death of close family member 63

Personal injury or illness 53

Marriage 50

Fired at work 47

Marital reconciliation 45

Retirement 45

Change in health of family member 44

Pregnancy 40

Sexual difficulties 39

Gain of new family member 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 arguments with spouse 35

Mortgage or loan over $10,000 31

Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30

Change in responsibilities at work 29

Son or daughter leaving home 29

Trouble with in-laws 29

Outstanding personal achievement 28

Spouse begins or quits work 26

Change in living conditions 25

Change in personal habits 24

Trouble with boss 23

Change in work hours or conditions 20

Change in residence 20

Change in recreation 19

Change in number or type of church activities 19

Change in number or type of social activities 18

Mortgage or loan under $10,000 17

Change in sleeping habits 16

Change in number of family get-togethers 15

Change in eating habits 15

Vacation 13

Christmas 12

Minor violations of the law 11

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Weekly Messages

Lifestyles

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