Stressed Out in Seattle – And Apparently Everywhere Else
In the last several years, many of us have felt as though the level of stress in our lives is rising. A new study by the American Psychological Association (APA), with the cheery title of “The Stress in America Survey”, backs up these gut feelings with hard data—75% of Americans say stress is impacting their lives. The survey was conducted online with the assistance of Harris Interactive.
According to the survey, almost one-fourth of American adults say the current stress level in their lives is high, and another 51% say their stress level is at least moderate. There were some interesting regional differences in stress levels reported. A whopping 82% of Seattle residents reported that work was a significant cause of stress, but the number who felt irritable or angry dropped to 52% compared to 60% the year before, and the number who reported they felt depressed or sad because of stress fell quite a bit, to 39% compared to 48% the year before.
Why are these numbers important? Because health practitioners say that chronic high levels of stress can lead to dangerous medical problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Unfortunately many Americans cope with stress by engaging in passive activities such as watching TV, reading or listening to music—or even less advisable ways such as drinking alcohol to excess. The Washington State Psychological Association suggests that the best path to lower stress is through lifestyle and attitude changes. Reducing caffeine consumption, and engaging in regular exercise such as walking or other aerobic activities can have the effect of reducing anxiety. You have to admire them for their courage in telling Seattle residents to drink less coffee.
The Association also recommends taking a look at all of your commitments and cutting back on those that are least important. You’ll gradually feel less overwhelmed by day-to-day activities. Attitude change can also help. Trying to look at your current situation more positively, looking at problems more as interesting challenges, and not giving in to negative thoughts are good stress reducing techniques, the Association reminds us. They of course added that if your stressed out feelings persist, you could seek help from a licensed mental health professional. You can’t fault folks for trying to make a living.
We all know making serious lifestyle changes is easier said than done. Those surveyed had a number of good excuses for not changing their behavior including lack of willpower, lack of time and lack of confidence. And 14% said they were too stressed to make changes. Too stressed out to do anything about lowering your stress. That makes sense in a weird kind of way.
Work, money and the economy are all major sources of stress for Americans this year, the survey reported. Maybe it’s as simple as we don’t feel we have as much control over our lives—our jobs, our investment portfolios, our dimming hopes of having enough money to retire—than we once thought we did. The economic turndown was so swift and violent it caught many of us off guard. Except for those smart-alecky friends who now maintain, “I knew the real estate market was going to crater. Saw it coming from a long way off. Got out at the peak.” Yeah, right.
As the economic outlook improves, these unpleasant stressed out feelings should lessen for a lot of us. One potent cure the learned psychologists left off their list was the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 15,000.
