The United States of Stress: Here's Why Americans Are So Stressed Out by Mei Marcie

Everyday Health has published a special report, "United States of Stress," seeking to understand more about chronic stress, how prevalent it is and how stress affects our lives. Roughly 6,700 Americans, ages 18 to 64, were surveyed for this study, and here's what they found:

• Financial Stress: The top source of stress is financial issues, cited by 52 percent of the respondents, compared to the next stressor being jobs/careers at 35 percent.

• Putting Others First: Sixty-five percent of women and 49 percent of men put their needs last, with women from age 22 to 37 being the stressed-out Sandwich Generation.

• Caregivers: Caregivers had 23 percent higher levels of stress hormones and 15 percent lower levels of antibody responses than non-caregivers.

• Isolation: Fifty-one percent of women responded that they do not see friends in an average week, and this could be due to increasing use of social media, career and personal obligations.

• Gen Z: Fifty-two percent of Gen Zers have already been diagnosed with mental health issues, higher than baby boomers.

Stress can indeed take a toil on our physical health, as almost a third of those surveyed had visited a doctor about something stress related. We really owe it to ourselves to make time to de-stress and protect our health!

Read The United States of Stress 2018. 

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