Chapter 1

Introduction
VAT hike on petrol ups price by Rs 3.40 per liter Petrol price hiked by 36 paise a
liter, diesel by 87 paise. No common man wants to wake up to these headlines early
in the morning; one often ends up being stressed about these matters. Money and
worries of life often make us feel Stressed. In todays 24/7 worlds, stress can lead us
to feel overwhelmed.
According to a recent American Psychological Association poll, majority American
adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in the past month.
Although the exact toll stress exerts during a lifetime of overload is unknown. Yet we
know that stress is a significant health hazard. It can rob the body of needed nutrients,
damage the cardiovascular system, raise blood pressure, and increase the risk of
cancer and diabetes and sampan immune defense. It can also drain our emotional
reserves; contribute to depression, anxiety, fatigue and irritability and the worst of all
anger. This is case when it comes to the developed countries where there are facilities
available to help the person in stress cope up with its adverse effect.
In countries that are developing, the adverse effect of stress is suicide. This is very
evident especially in the agriculture sector of India, where rising prices just adds to
their existing burden of low productivity. Because of which the farmers face a lot of
stress of taking care of their families and when they are not able to, the stress over
powers them and they give into it. This is not just the case with the people in farming
sector but also for the middle class families where there is only one person who is the
earning member of the family. Because there is only one person bearing all the
burdens of the welfare of his/her family there is a huge amount of stress on that
person.
Stress is a natural human response to pressure when faced with challenging and
sometimes dangerous situations. That pressure is not only about whats happening
around us, but often also about demands we place on ourselves. Experiencing stress is
part of being alive and some stress helps increase our alertness and energy to meet
challenging situations. If stress lasts a long time or overwhelms our ability to cope, it
can have a negative affect on our health, wellbeing, relationships, work and general
enjoyment of life. Stress doesnt have to control our lives.
Is too much stress inevitable? Fortunately, the answer is no. To tame stress, we can
learn to anticipate and recognize personal stressors and develop skills to reduce or
manage those we cannot avoid or control. In this project we will decipher how the
changes in the prices of petrol affect the stress levels of the peopling living in the
society.