There is always a concern that too much stress could lead to illness and premature death. Oregon State University reported on Sept. 10, 2014 that men’s health may be harmed by even small stressors. New research shows that older men who lead high-stress lives are more likely to die earlier than average in relation to their peers.
Stress was found to be harmful whether it was from chronic everyday hassles or whether it was due to a series of significant life events. Carolyn Aldwin, director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at OSU, said long-term patterns of stress have been considered. Your mortality could be affected whether your stress level is chronically high or if you are hit with a series of stressful life events.
This study considered two types of stress. First, the everyday hassles dealing with such stressful events as commuting, job stress or arguments with family and friends. Significant life events, such as job loss or the death of a spouse, were also considered. Both types of stress were found to be potentially harmful to men’s health. However, a person experiencing many stressful life events does not necessarily have to live with high levels of stress from everyday hassles. Aldwin says this is determined to a greater extent by how a person responds to the stress.
This research has been published by the journal Experimental Gerontology. The researchers investigated whether the effect of stressful life events on mortality is actually mediated by hassles. There was an increase of 42 percent in mortality risk for those with moderately high stress life events. There was a 63 percent higher mortality risk in those with medium hassles. There was three times greater mortality risk in those with consistently high levels of hassles. There were independent effects on mortality seen between stressful life events and hassles.
Credit : Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty (Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon – 32 Years of Experience)
