Leading Causes Of Stress

Leading Causes Of Stress

Stress can be caused by many events or factors, but certain issues increase the risk of stress more than others such as financial difficulties, illness, and family problems. These are common issues that many people are faced with during their lives, and are, therefore, considered to be leading causes of stress.

The following are some leading causes of stress that you may be faced with in your daily life:

Financial troubles – Financial problems are the leading cause of stress in our society. Western culture promotes materialism, making the most us feel as if we can never have enough money. Not only that, but the cost of living can be quite expensive, especially if you have children, are barely making ends meet, are a single parent, or unemployed. Serious money trouble such as debt, bankruptcy and poverty, can cause chronic stress.

Job – Careers can cause stress in relation to:

• Promotion – Being given a new responsibility, and not sure if you'll measure up to it.
• Dissatisfaction- Not being happy with the job you do, feeling underpaid, overworked and not receiving the recognition you fell you deserve.
• Feeling trapped- Want to quit your job because you are unhappy with the people you work with, or are harassed by your boss or co-workers, but can't quit because you need the money to support your family.
• Overworking – Workaholics don't know when to quit and are either at the office all the time or bring their work home with them. People who work too much tend to have poor diets, lack exercise and don't take breaks.

Life altering event – Suffering the death of a loved one, moving far away, or being diagnosed with a serious illness are all life altering events people all over the world are faced with each day. Humans are creatures of habit, and most of us have a difficult time adapting to a sudden overwhelming change. If we don't properly express our emotions, we can sufferer prolonged periods of stress.

Caring for children – Children are very demanding of attention and can be a handful. If you work and have young children to take care of, it becomes difficult for you to find time to yourself and relax. Raising children and working a full time job can burn you out.

Problems with spouse or partner – Divorce, an affair, or an abusive relationship can be extremely stressful situations that are difficult to cope with. When we fall out of love, our trust is betrayed, or feel unloved by others, we are deeply, emotionally hurt. We may suffer feelings of low self esteem, hopelessness and self-pity. All of which are negative emotions that feed stress.

You will notice that many of the stress factors listed above are things which one has no control over. This lack of control makes one feel uneasy and can cause a person to worry about the future, yet another cause of stress.

To give you an idea of how serious stress is in our society, it has been discovered in studies that more than 40% of adults suffer from stress related health problems; over 80% of doctor visits are stress related; and more than 59% of employee absence are a result of psychological stress.