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Stress Ups Children’s Risk for Lung Damage from Pollution | Psych Central News

June 27, 2011 katmill Articles
Stethoscope feature

Children can be harmed by the effects of stress, just like the adults can. Now, stress is being shown to compromise a child’s health and is effecting long term health.

A new study suggests a stressful family environment can increase a child’s risk for developing lung damage from traffic pollution.

University of Southern California (USC) researchers administered a validated stress questionnaire to the parents of nearly 1,400 children who participated in the USC Children’s Health Study in Southern California.

The children, who ranged from 10 to 12 years old, were assessed for lung function and other respiratory health outcomes. Their exposure to traffic-related pollutants (TRP) was assessed by estimating exposure to nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and total oxides of nitrogen (NOX) at school and at home.

via Stress Ups Children’s Risk for Lung Damage from Pollution | Psych Central News.

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Living in a Large City May Add to Stress Levels

June 27, 2011 katmill Articles
Big City Feature

If you live in a large city, you may be experiencing increased stress as compared to those living in the suburbs or those who enjoy country living.

This may come as no surprise to residents of Chicago, New York City and other big urban centers: Living there can be bad for your mental health.

Now researchers have found a possible reason why. Imaging scans show that in city dwellers or people who grew up in urban areas, certain areas of the brain react more vigorously to stress. That may help explain how city life can boost the risks of schizophrenia and other mental disorders, researchers said.

Previous research has found that growing up in a big city raises the risk of schizophrenia. And there’s some evidence that city dwellers are at heightened risk for mood and anxiety disorders, although the evidence is mixed.

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The Top Reason Why Caregivers Get Sick

June 16, 2011 katmill Articles
Feature Lonely Elderly Women

Often caregivers are unaware exactly how much stress they are enduring on a regular basis. As a result there is a large number of caregivers who are experiencing an increase in both physical, mental and emotional health problems.

Stress and worrying can make you physically sick. Stress is a pressure cooker: Left un-attended it will boil over. Stress and worry are proven to affect your physical health and may even shorten your lifespan.

Severe, chronic stress takes a physical toll and can damage your body in many ways everything from your heart to your immune system. Because it negatively impacts so many health conditions, stress could even shorten your lifespan. Stress symptoms may be affecting your health, even though you might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache or your upset stomach. But the culprit could be stress.

How does stress affect the body?

Our bodies have a natural “stress alarm system” that warns us and responds to perceived danger and threats.

According to the National Institutes on Health (NIH), when you encounter perceived threats, your hypothalamus (a region at the base of your brain) sets off an alarm system in your body, Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands, located near your kidneys, to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, NIH says.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars in the bloodstream, enhances the brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Cortisol seems to “tune down” the immune system and make it less able to fight infection, as well as suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes.

When the stressors of your life are always present, leaving you constantly feeling stressed, tense, nervous or on edge, your stress-response system is on overload. The long-term activation of the stress-response system can disrupt almost all your body’s processes.

via The Number One Reason Why Caregivers Get Sick » Naples Daily News.

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Study: Wives’ Sleep Problems Cause Marital Stress

June 16, 2011 katmill Articles
Feature Woman with insomnia

Getting enough sleep on a regular basis is an important part of managing stress in everyday life. Experts tell us regularly that sleep deprivation creates excess stress which will carry through to your health and relationships. There is a new study that backs up this knowledge.

A sleepy wife can lead to marital woes, a new study reports.

A wife’s inability to sleep affected her and her husband’s marital interactions the following day, according to an ongoing study lead by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

TIME reported that the longer it took women to fall asleep the more likely both partners were to report negative interactions with their spouse the next day. This included feeling ignored or criticized.

Men, however, were not affected by a lack of sleep. The researchers found no relationship between a man’s lack of sleep and the couple’s interactions the following day.

The study was presented Monday at Sleep 2011, the 25th anniversary meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.

Researchers had 35 healthy, married couples wear actigraphs – bracelets that measured the time it took each of them to fall asleep after going to bed. The devices also tracked the total time each person slept over 10 days.

In addition, the couples kept a diary of positive and negative interactions with their spouses. Science Daily reported that the average age of the participants was 32.

“These results highlight the importance of considering the interpersonal consequences of sleep and sleep loss,” said Wendy Troxel, lead author and assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, according to ABCNews .

via Study: Wives’ Sleep Problems Cause Marital Stress.

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Making an Effort to Bounce Back from Stress can Help You to Live a Long Life

April 12, 2011 katmill Articles
Grandpa and grandson laughing feature

Now there is even more incentive to manage your stress more effectively….so that you can live a longer life.

One question I get asked a lot is, “How old is your oldest patient?” Answer: 109.

The next question is usually something like: “What nursing home is he or she in?” Answer: She is living at home, with all her marbles, profoundly engaged in the world around her.

The last question: What is this lady’s fountain of youth? A thousand calories a day and an hour of yoga?

No, Helen Reichert likes chocolate truffles. Her favorite beverage is Budweiser. And she once announced to me that she was thinking about smoking again. When I protested, she reminded me that she has outlived several other physicians and told me to mind my own business.

So what’s going on here? Unusual longevity often has a genetic basis, and Reichert probably does have a gene that contributes to her unusual longevity. But she also exhibits a powerful trait geriatricians call adaptive competence.

via Want To Live To 100? Try To Bounce Back From Stress : NPR.

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Work stress is cause of sick days

March 24, 2011 katmill Articles
Woman at work feature

These days, more and more people are experiencing and increase in job and work related stress. But what many do not realize is that an increase in employee sick days can be directly linked to an increase in workplace stress.

Conflicts and stress at work may lead sick employees to take time off even if their physical ailments are minor, a new Swedish study finds.

To try to understand why two people who are equally sick respond differently — why one calls in sick and the other heads to the office — the researchers interviewed 1,430 employees about their stress levels and problems at work before and after they got sick.

Participants were asked about their workplace experience with discrimination, bullying, sexual or other harassment, unpleasant or uncomfortable tasks, tasks for which they felt they not skilled enough or which they, for other reasons, they wish they could get out of performing, and a more stressful work situation than usual.

via Work stress triggers sick days – Health – CBC News.

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Even mild stress can lead to long-term disability

March 24, 2011 katmill Articles
stressed man feature

Most people are aware that chronic, moderate to severe stress can create health issues. Now, the experts are finding that even milder stress can create long term health problems

A new study has revealed that even relatively mild stress can lead to long-term disability and an inability to work.

It is well known that mental health problems are associated with long-term disability, but the impact of milder forms of psychological stress is likely to have been underestimated, say the authors.

Between 2002 and 2007, the authors tracked the health of more than 17,000 working adults up to the age of 64, who had been randomly selected from the population in the Stockholm area.

All participants completed a validated questionnaire (GHQ-12) at the start of the study to measure their mental health and stress levels, as well as other aspects of health and wellbeing.

During the monitoring period, 649 people started receiving disability benefit – 203 for a mental health problem and the remainder for physical ill health.

Higher levels of stress at the start of the study were associated with a significantly greater likelihood of subsequently being awarded long term disability benefits.

But even those with mild stress were up to 70 percent more likely to receive disability benefits, after taking account of other factors likely to influence the results, such as lifestyle and alcohol intake.

via Even mild stress can lead to long-term disability.

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Economic Recovery Aside, Workers Are More Stressed Out Than Ever

March 14, 2011 katmill Articles
Battered Office Chair Feature

There is no doubt for many people that stress is a major problem in their lives. From rising gas prices, soaring grocery prices and dissatisfaction with career path, many are dealing with stress at record levels. Work stress is increasing by leaps and bounds as well.

After years of recession and a less than stellar economic recovery, growing numbers of worker are feeling the emotional toll. Many of them feel undervalued and stressed out, and they’re dissatisfied with their jobs, a new survey finds.More than a third of workers regularly experience on-the-job stress, and about half say inadequate pay significantly contributes to those feelings, according to the poll, commissioned by the American Psychological Association.In addition to stress and money woes, 43% of workers polled also fret about lack of career growth and advancement opportunities, and heavy workloads. Nearly as many were concerned about unrealistic job expectations and long hours. Further, less than half 43%, say they are adequately compensated in non-monetary terms or are recognized for their contributions in the workplace.What’s more, it appears employers aren’t doing all they could to help workers cope. The survey found that only 57% of workers were satisfied with policies their employers put in place to help employees balance the competing demands of work and family life. Further, just 52% of employees said they feel valued on the job. Only two-thirds reported being motivated to do their best at work, and about a third said that they intend to seek employment elsewhere within the next year.

via People@Work: Economic Recovery Aside, Workers Are More Stressed Out Than Ever – DailyFinance.

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Facebook Friends Cause Stress and Anxiety

February 21, 2011 katmill Articles
Feature Women Laptop Stress

Could Facebook be causing you unneeded stress? Well, the friends that you have on the popular social site, may indeed be causing you stress and anxiety, according to a new study.

The more “friends” people have on Facebook the more likely they are to be stressed out and anxious, according to a new study.

Psychologists from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland studied students’ use of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social media website and concluded that for a significant number of users the negative effects outweigh the benefits in terms of staying in touch with friends and family. Dr. Kathy Charles, who led the study, said researchers found that while there is a great amount of peer pressure to be on Facebook, there also is a lot of ambivalence amongst users about its benefits.

“Our data also suggests that there is a significant minority of users who experience considerable Facebook-related anxiety, with only very modest or tenuous rewards,” Charles said in the study. “And we found it was actually those with the most contacts, those who had invested the most time in the site, who were the ones most likely to be stressed.”

via Facebook “friends” cause stress, anxiety | Dallas Business Journal.

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College Freshmen Stress Levels High

January 30, 2011 katmill Articles
Feature Woman with books

Stress is not only a problem that adults face on a daily basis. More an more our children and young adults are facing increasingly heightened levels of stress that will ultimately affect their health and well-being.

The emotional health of college freshmen — who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school — has declined to the lowest level since an annual survey of incoming students started collecting data 25 years ago.

In the survey, “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” involving more than 200,000 incoming full-time students at four-year colleges, the percentage of students rating themselves as “below average” in emotional health rose. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who said their emotional health was above average fell to 52 percent. It was 64 percent in 1985.

Every year, women had a less positive view of their emotional health than men, and that gap has widened.

Campus counselors say the survey results are the latest evidence of what they see every day in their offices — students who are depressed, under stress and using psychiatric medication, prescribed even before they came to college.

The economy has only added to the stress, not just because of financial pressures on their parents but also because the students are worried about their own college debt and job prospects when they graduate.

via College Freshmen Stress Levels High, Survey Finds – NYTimes.com.

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