Across the board, women get more stressed out about life events than men do, according to a new study commissioned by The Physiological Society.
The study was based on a poll of more than 2,000 people in the U.K. Participants were asked to rate how stressful specific events felt to them, including things that have always stressed humans out like illness and new babies to more modern sources of panic like losing your smartphone. The findings: Women were consistently more stressed. “It was striking that for every single event in this study, from money problems to Brexit, women reported greater stress levels than men,” Dr. Lucy Donaldson, chair of The Physiological Society’s Policy Committee said in this press release, adding “this could have a real impact on women’s health.”
The researchers didn’t offer an explanation as to why women were more stressed, but the effects of stress aren’t something we should brush aside regardless of gender. In addition to the detrimental impact stress can have on our mental health, it has negative short and long term effects on our bodies. When we’re stressed the body releases a hormone (called cortisol) into the bloodstream which can affect everything from our heart to our immune system, as Donaldson explained in the study press release.
The good news is that there are easy ways to de-stress daily, like talking a walk outside, meditating for a few minutes or exercising. And remember that when you’re stressed about big-picture events like loss or life changes, talking about it can help too.
Read more about the study here.
Originally published at journal.thriveglobal.com