This study investigated the role of the sense of coherence (SOG) as a resource in dealing with life stress, One hundred and eighty-six Singaporeans filled out a questionnaire concerned with life stress (both major events and daily hassles), sense of coherence and recent illness experience. The results showed that whereas the measure of daily hassles was a significant predictor of both number and severity of illness for individuals low in sense of coherence, the relationship between stress and illness was not significant for individuals scoring high in sense of coherence. These results support the hypothesis that a sense of coherence buffers the effects of life stress.