Also, many adults who have to deal with today’s youths are suffering ill effects from stress. An Ontario, Canada, study showed “that teachers die four years earlier than members of other professions and stress is one of the contributing factors.” Many mothers can easily believe that. With just one or two children, mothers today often are under so much stress that they feel frazzled constantly.

Consider the Causes

No one likes to think about the various pressures on him. Why not just forget our troubles? many think. But since stress can have such harmful results, it would do us good to note a few of the common causes of stress today. If we are aware of these, and perhaps recognize that some of these are affecting us, we will be better equipped to counteract or cope with stress.

The accompanying chart identifies what researchers found to be among life’s most stressful problems or situations. Have you been involved in one of these? Then you likely have experienced stress.

Many persons find that their environment causes stress. They may live in a crowded city where they are always on the defensive, being jammed or squeezed. Steady loud or grating noise also causes stress. This should be noted especially by persons who must live or work under noisy conditions and who then “relax” by punishing their ears with shrill, pounding or blaring music. Poor air can add to one’s burden of stress, too.

We already mentioned some stressful aspects of many jobs. But what adds to the problem for many is the competitive spirit centered on ‘getting ahead’ or acquiring the luxuries that others have. (Compare Ecclesiastes 2:22-24; 4:4.) Doctors in the Federal Republic of Germany “blame most of the country’s stress on the ‘Leistungsgesellschaft’, or ‘performance society’, in which the pursuit of material achievement and conspicuous consumption, born with the German ‘economic miracle’, is still the major feature.”

While sleeplessness may be a symptom of stress, with some it is a cause. They push themselves, trying to squeeze too much in a day, and thus deprive themselves of needed sleep. Also, staying up late to watch TV news or programs, especially those that produce tension, can hurt in two ways​—reducing the amount of sleep and hindering sound sleep.

Tense, competitive driving in heavy traffic; constant disharmony in the home or with in-laws; worry over inflation or the dwindling buying power of one’s money; a move to a new school or neighborhood; letting life’s minor irritations produce steady, even though suppressed, anger. These are additional causes of a stress problem for many persons.

While physically and emotionally we are equipped to recover from stress, the effects of stress tend to be cumulative. Complicating this is the fact that as we age (perhaps speeded up by stress itself) our ability to respond to stress diminishes.

[Box on page 7]

LIFE’S MOST ‘STRESSFUL’ SITUATIONS

RANK LIFE EVENT

1 Death of spouse

2 Divorce

3 Marital separation

4 Jail term

5 Death of close family member

6 Personal injury or illness

7 Marriage

8 Fired at work

9 Marital reconciliation

10 Retirement

11 Change in health of family member

12 Pregnancy

13 Sex difficulties

14 Gain of new family member

15 Business readjustment

Based on research by Drs. T. Holmes and R. H. Rahne​—“Modern Maturity.”

YOUR boss yells at you, even though it was someone else who made the mistake.

The teacher at school laughs at you in front of the class.

While you are busy cooking the supper meal your child knocks over a vase and the phone starts ringing.

Yes, you know what stress is​—at least to some extent.

When we think of stress, many of us have in mind such pressures of life, or more severe ones such as loss of a mate or mounting bills.

What, though, if you are under prolonged emotional strain so that you are constantly in this alerted, excited state, with no relieving action for which your body is ready?

For instance, a man has to inspect parts on a rapidly moving assembly line, or he feels that his boss dislikes him, or he must endure at a task that bores or frustrates him. Or a woman has been deserted by her mate. She feels rejected, yet now she must battle the pressures of a secular job, while caring for the children and home in the evenings.

When someone is regularly in such a tense state, with little relief or understanding of how to cope, stress is common.