Stress Awareness Day has turfed up a lot of interesting facts this week. 44% of us are in a state of stress right now, and in the past year, five million work days have been lost due to people suffering from long term stress.
We know stress is bad for our health, but our friends over at AsapSCIENCE have put together a compact video on just why stress can be deadly. It's pretty galling to know that work and kids can stress us out as much as being chased by a crazed bear.
A lot of it has to do with cortisol - the main stress hormone. When it's activated all the time, our immune system shuts down which leaves you more susceptible to disease. It also cites a study of stressed out macaque monkeys who had more clogged arteries than non-stressed monkeys.
A new survey by Kalms shone a light on what is the cause of long term stress. Surprisingly, it found that moving house is the most challenging experience of a lifetime. Over a third (37%) of those surveyed stated that moving is the most stressful life event they will ever experience ahead of having a baby (34%), getting married (18%) and changing jobs (11%).
What tends to stress you out?