If I were to ask you how you were feeling right now, what would you say? Happy? Sad? Tired? I expect a number of you would say you were worried.

A new study has revealed that adults will spend about 18 months of their lives worrying. That means an average adult burns up about 36 minutes of their day thinking about their worries or their concerns.

The survey by The Everyman Male Cancer Group found that the biggest causes of these worries were cost of living, being stuck in a rut or being out of shape. Other reasons listed included job security, getting old and a boring sex life.

At Teacher Support Network, we decided to find out if these results reflected the worries of teachers, so we asked the readers of our weekly e-newsletters to tell us what they were worried about.

44 per cent of those that responded said that workload was their biggest cause for concern.

"Heavy workload, which feels relentless, with little empathy from senior management," explained one respondent for their choice. "Workload always an issue, would love to own my weekends," said another. "Having the time to do my job to the very best for the children in my class without having to compromise too much," added a third.

Money was the second most common worry for our teachers, with job security, getting old, being stuck in a rut, being out of shape and school inspections also featuring highly. Interestingly, boring sex life did not appear in the list of concerns of the teachers that responded.

"I expected that by the time I reached the age that I am, I would have some spare cash, but this isn't the case," read one comment. "Not being able to get a permanent job" complained one respondent. "Full of good intentions to trim up? The road to Hell is paved….!" added another.

The research would suggest that worry is increasingly becoming a problem, but are teachers more worried than they used to be? A quick look at Teacher Support Network group's service use statistics for last year would indeed seem to suggest they are. In January 2010, for example, the group recorded 15,344 incidents (calls to our Support Line, emails to our online support team of views of our factsheets). Just a few months later, in November 2010, this figure rose to 55,232. Of course, these figures do not simply show that teachers are more worried and the rise has much to do with the way in which we have worked to raise awareness of the charity, but it certainly indicates a worrying trend - if you pardon the pun.

Yet, is all this worry bad? I told you in this column last year about research which suggested that a little stress can be a good thing. Julian Childs, who performed the Wellbeing and Stress at Work Study along with Dr Joachim Stoeber at the University of Kent, found that teachers who set high performance standards for themselves had higher levels of wellbeing, while teachers with a goal to advance their professional development had higher levels of mental energy and were more invested in their work.

The issue is when do these worries or stresses become a problem and what can you do to help yourself deal with it? When does 'positive' stress become 'negative'?

The answer depends on the individual. What is exciting and invigorating for one person could be too much or detrimental to another. The key is to identify when the stress or the worry is no longer helping you. A little worry could help you become more efficient in your work, but when the worry becomes so much that it actually begins to hinder your work and your life, then there is a problem.

Trying to stop worrying or attempting to `beat stress' is not possible or desirable - indeed attempting to do so can simply add to the problem. At Teacher Support Network, we offer a range of tools and processes that can help you address your worries. By getting a grip on the issues you are struggling with you can begin to regain control and find a way forward.