A Simple Check to See if You Are in Stress

We recently gave a series of training to the employees of a government department on staying well in a demanding work environment. In them, we did a very simple check to see if the person was in stress in the moment. The result alarmed us. Out of the approximately 200 persons who attended the workshops, about 60% were in stress. However, what was alarming was not the figure itself, but the attitude of the stressed population in response. Nearly all of them tried to explain away the finding or simply denied it. They did not dig deeper to check how descriptive this result was of their situation. No wonder the mental and emotional health of Hongkong people is said to be declining rapidly these days.

What was the simple check? Align all fingertips of each hand in a straight line and put them along the arteries on both sides of the neck. If the fingertips feel colder than the skin on the neck arteries, the person is probably in stress. The design of this simple check is based on the fact that the blood will leave the extremities of the body for the core when the person is in stress. Thus, with reduced blood supply, the fingertips will be colder than the neck skin with hot blood flowing right underneath. 