10 interesting stress facts
- Stress is a key cause of insomnia in many patients.
- Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system.
- Ancient Greeks found relief from stress by chewing a gum made from a resin.
- 75% of the general population experiences at least “some stress” every two weeks.
- Some of the physical symptoms associated with stress and anxiety syndrome include: depression, hair loss, chest pain, difficulty breathing, overeating and weight gain, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol.
- The term stress was first employed in a biological context by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s.
- An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints.
- Stress is how the body reacts to a stressor, real or imagined, a stimulus that causes stress. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term; chronic stressors over the longer term.
- Working mothers, in particular, are among the people most likely to experience stress, particularly when they do not have a lot of support from others.
- Up to 5 million people in the UK are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressed through work.
