Stress Stats

We are all stressed!

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) estimates that the majority of men & women experience 4 or more major stress events during their lifetimes. Think about it—if you’ve ever taken a major school exam, gotten a new job, moved your residence, gotten married, gotten divorced, dealt with the illness or death of a family member, or even turned on the news & become affected by horrific crimes, the catastrophe of 9/11, The Boston Marathon or Newtown Tragedy you have dealt with stress. Events like this shake-up the peace of our world, the harmony of our existence.

Additional Stress Stats:

75% of the general population experiences at least some stress every two weeks. (National Health Interview Survey)
2/3 of all office visits to family physicians are due to stress-related symptoms (American Academy of Family Physicians)
More than 1/3 of Americans say they have had an illness that was primarily caused by stress (APA 2005)
Work-related stress can double one’s risk of dying from heart disease (British Medical Journal, 2002)
Workplace stress causes approximately one million U.S. employees to miss work each day (American Institute of Stress)
Stress causes American industry more than $300 billion annually in lost hours due to absenteeism, reduced productivity and workers compensation benefits (The American Institute of Stress)
Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death – heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide

Stress can cause an entire cast of symptoms ranging from headaches to poor sleep to joint pain. Half of the complaints attributed to stress include headaches and fatigue, while close to one third are reported to be due to upset stomachs, muscle tension and/or change in appetite. To deal with stress more than ½ of men and women report eating poorly.

To dull these feelings and emotions, it’s natural for stressed adults to seek the quickest form of relief. Research shows this often leads to drug and alcohol addictions, a greater rate of divorce and crime and domestic violence. More than 100 million psychopharmacologic prescriptions are prescribed annually for stress-related symptoms.

Sources:

http://www.stress.org/workplace-stress/
http://www.ourstressfullives.com/stress-statistics.html
http://www.gostress.com/stress-facts/
www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress-/stress_factsheet_ln.pdf