What stresses you out based on your Myers-Briggs type

What stresses you out based on your Myers-Briggs type

April is National Stress Awareness Month. So we have to ask: Do you know what stresses you out most? Just like your Myers-Briggs personality preferences can tell you about similarities or differences in personality, Myers-Briggs personality type can tell you about what likely gets on your nerves most.

In the U.S., stress costs employers an estimated $300 billion a year in health care costs and missed work. On a personal level, 77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress.

What is stress? Dictionary.com defines stress (related to physiology) as “a specific response be the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium.”

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines stress as “harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job don’t match the capabilities or resources of the worker.”

In the Psychology Today article Stress: It’s Worse Than You Think, the author talks about stress sensitization. Basically, studies have found your body reacts to stress the same way you would an allergy, becoming acutely more sensitive every time you encounter it.

“What happens is that sensitization leads the brain to rewire itself in response to stress. We know that what we’re encountering may be a normal, everyday episode of stress, but the brain is signaling the body to react inappropriately,” says psychologist Michael Meany, Ph.D. at McGill University.  So aside from the fact that stress is uncomfortable and unhealthy for you, reoccurring stress can actually make the situation worse through sensitization.

So what are the things proven to stress you out based on your Myers-Briggs personality type?

How to identify stress in your life

First, take a look at the above list and write down each thing under your Myers-Briggs type that rings true for you. Remember, though there are similarities in what stresses us out, Myers-Briggs type is just one measure of your personality and humans are really, really complex. Next, add anything that you know stresses you out that’s not on the above list.

Also take a look at the blog about signs of stress for each Myers-Briggs type. You might not be aware of some of your behaviors that are common cues of stress for your personality type.

Take a look at your list. Then think about (and write down if you wish) the last few times you felt stressed out. What was the situation? What caused the stress for you? Were you stressed but anyone else in the situation wasn’t stressed by the same things? What were the physical or emotional symptoms of stress you felt?

1. Was the cause of stress something I could control (I didn’t study enough for an exam or presentation)? Or was it something that was out of my control (my roommates or kids were fighting with each other)?
2. If there were other people involved in the situation, did you let them know about your feelings of stress (because sometimes what stresses you out may be no big deal to someone else).
3. What could you have done to help yourself feel less stressed during the situation? Some examples of this could be calling or messaging someone who cares about you to vent, journaling or writing down your feelings and experiences, removing yourself from the situation, going for a walk or just being outside in nature, meditating, doing something to get your mind off the situation such as playing video games?
4. Read this blog about managing stress for each Myers-Briggs type. Are there any things on this list you could add to your own stress management techniques?