Stress:

One-Third Live With Extreme Stress

One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years, according to a survey released by the American Psychological Association. The national survey also found that stress is taking a toll on people — contributing to health problems, poor relationships and lost productivity at work. Money and work are the leading causes of stress for 75 percent of Americans, a dramatic increase over the 59 percent reporting the same sources of stress in 2006. Fifty-one percent of Americans blame "the housing crisis" as a leading cause of st! ress, citing high rent or mortgage costs as sources of this stress.

Twenty-eight percent of Americans said they are managing their stress extremely well. But 77 percent of those polled reported physical symptoms, while 73 percent said they suffered psychological symptoms related to stress in the last month. Physical symptoms of stress include:

fatigue (51 percent);
headache (44 percent);
upset stomach (34 percent);
muscle tension (30 percent);
change in appetite (23 percent),
teeth grinding (17 percent);
change in sex drive (15 percent); and
feeling dizzy (13 percent).

Psychological symptoms of stress include:
experiencing irritability or anger (50 percent);
feeling nervous (45 percent);
lack of energy (45 percent); and
feeling as though you could cry (35 percent).

In addition, almost half (48 percent) of Americans report lying awake at night due to stress.

Four in 10 Americans (43 percent) said they overeat or eat unhealthy foods to manage stress, while one-third (36 percent) skipped a meal in the last month because of stress. Those who drink (39 percent) or smoke cigarettes (19 percent) were also more likely to engage in these unhealthy behaviors during periods of high stress. Significant numbers of Americans report watching television for more than two hours a day (43 percent) and playing video games or surfing the Internet (39 percent).

Healthy behaviors used to manage stress included:

listening to music (54 percent);
reading (52 percent);
exercising or walking (50 percent);
spending time with family and friends (40 percent); and
praying (34 percent).


Richard Swenson, MD:

"Stress is such a common term that we might tend to trivialize it, assuming it’s a convenient fiction for the weak who do not wish to do their best. Such an attitude would be a mistake. Stress is real, it is increasing and it can be highly pathogenic.

While a life of no-stress is fatal and a life of low-stress is boring, a life of hyperstress is toxic to health, relationships and faith. God has created us enormously adaptable. Once we exceed our limits, however, the adaptability mechanism breaks down. Dysfunction results. The modern stress epidemic is not a single-point source problem, meaning we need to be vigilant in many directions.

What to do? Own the problem; keep it objective; do self-diagnostics (everybody’s different); be intentional (passivity doesn’t work); apply therapeutics (among hundreds to choose from) and let God be God. Also, stress reduction is often as importan! t as stress management."