COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new survey from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center shows many Americans are stressed because of the news or what's on social media.
The survey shows about 45% of adults are stressed about those topics at least once a week, and about 16% reported feeling stressed everyday.
While stress can have a negative impact mentally, it can also affect physical health as well. Dr. Maryanna Klatt, director of Ohio State's Center for Integrative Health, said it's vital for people to create ways to reduce their stress.
“Stress in itself is not bad. But it is problematic when it becomes your chronic state of being, and when no action is taken to address the stress,” said Klatt, who is a professor of clinical family medicine at Ohio State. “We only become stressed about situations or people we care about. This tells us something about what we value. The most important thing is to use that knowledge to transform our stress into ways that enrich our humanity rather than lessen it.”
Klatt suggested these tips to help manage stress:
- Physical movement, such as walking or going to the gym
- Talking/spending time with people or pets to help increase feelings of connection
- Take time away from social media
- Spend more time in nature
“I was happy to see that survey participants actually could identify what they did to address their stress,” said Klatt.
In the survey, 7% said they don't do anything to help manage stress, but many people said they are aware managing stress is a need.
“Think of the most stressed-out person you know. Do you want to be around them or spend a lot of time with them? My guess would be ‘No.’ Whatever you are doing to manage your stress, keep doing it," Klatt said.
The survey included 1,005 American adults, and data was collected between March 21 to March 25 of this year. In the survey, 975 were conducted over the web and 30 were over the phone. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
