We live in the United States of Stress.
WalletHub has calculated the most stressed US cities — and it’s bad news for the Midwest and South. Topping the list are Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Memphis, Tennessee and Gulfport, Mississippi.
“Where you live can play a big role in how stressed you are,” WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe explained this week. “Cities with high crime rates, weak economies, less effective public health and congested transportation systems naturally lead to high levels of stress for residents.”
New York City ranked 36th, while Newark, New Jersey, ranked 15th out of 182 metro areas. WalletHub took into account stress from work, finances, home life and health/safety, weighing factors such as job satisfaction, average debt, home affordability, divorce rates, suicide rates, depression diagnoses and foreclosure rates.
About half of Americans recently reported experiencing frequent stress, a sharp increase over the past two decades and the highest rate Gallup has recorded.
Our high stress rates are directly proportional to inflation, high homicide rates and the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the prevalence of stress, many people suffer in silence – around three in five adults don’t talk about their stress because they don’t want to stress others.
Stress is bad for the body and bad for business. According to the American Institute of Stress, workplace-related stress costs the country more than $300 billion a year in health care, absenteeism and reduced productivity.
Now, WalletHub has determined the most and least stressful US cities.
The most stressed cities
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Detroit, Michigan
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Gulfport, Mississippi
Cities with less stress
- Fremont, California
- South Burlington, Vermont
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Lincoln, Nebraska
- Bismarck, North Dakota
De-stress yourself
While stress is inevitable no matter where you live, suffering doesn’t have to be.
Kandi Wiens, a University of Pennsylvania researcher specializing in stress, resilience and burnout, recently shared her anti-stress tips with The Post. Known as “rescues,” these distraction techniques are designed to counteract the effects of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Her stress-busting tactics include:
- Sigh: Taking two puffs through the nose and a long exhale through the mouth helps people lower their stress response.
- Seeing a picture of someone you love: People have reported that looking at a picture of their children or a loved one calms them down.
- Exercising it produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter and hormone that gives people feelings of pleasure and satisfaction—a natural antidote to anxiety.
- Spending time in natureWiens says the stress-reducing effects of being outdoors occur in as little as 10 minutes—time in the great outdoors has been shown to increase dopamine and endorphin production.
- Crying it releases oxytocin and endorphins and can help people relax and regulate their mood.
- Calculating, finding, communicating, inhaling and exhaling: Wiens recommends a four-step anti-stress technique invented by Dr. Howard Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania.
For the “calculation” part, people have to rate their stress level on a scale of 1 to 10.
Then they have to find where the stress lives in their bodies. The “communication” part has them assess the self-talk going through their head, followed by the “inhale and exhale” part.
Wiens explained, “It’s getting yourself to focus on breathing that really dampens stress and physiological responses.”
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Image Source : nypost.com