Stress Statistics – Do These Apply To You?

By examining stress statistics, you can learn a great deal about stress and its effects on people. Not only do these statistics provide an insight into how it effects people in real terms, such as how it can create problems on the job. Thus, by looking at these stress statistics, the full picture of stress can come into sharper focus.For a quick overview of stress, a few statistics can give an idea of how severe the problem is:

  • More than 50% of Americans suffer health problems from stress.
  • Up to 90% of all disease is attributable to stress.
  • Among executives and professionals, 23% of women and 19% of men feel severe stress.
  • Around 25% of working mothers feel stress almost every day.* 80% of all workers feel stress on the job.

stressed handsWith stress statistics like these, it is no wonder that managing stress is a vital skill. After all, stress has been linked to heart disease, cancer, and can even lead to accidents. Thus, in order to improve health, there is a vital need to reduce and manage stress.

As well, teens are frequently under stress, due to concerns about school, work, or even their home life. Despite the fact that teens should not have to deal with stress routinely, they are actually forced to confront it regularly. In fact, the numbers on teen stress statistics are surprising:

  • 33% of teens complain of daily stress.
  • 67% of teens feel stress at least once a week.

Obviously, teens are also severely affected by stress and they often do not cope with it very well. Since they are not as accustomed to the constant pressures of life as many adults, they are unsure of how to deal with all the pressure they feel. And considering that teen stress seems to be on the rise, it looks like the problem is not going to go away anytime soon.

Unfortunately, with all this stress in the world, it can actually lead to more serious problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Due to the severe symptoms and effects of this syndrome, the following numbers are rather scary:

  • 30% of war veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • 13% of children in the inner city can be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • 3.6% of all adults suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • Women are twice as likely as men to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

With numbers such as these, it is clear that stress is having an effect on people beyond the mere sense of worry. In fact, it often builds up into a more severe form, causing people to be, in many ways, unable to function properly in the world.

Though these statistics are certainly interesting, they do not fully show just how stress can affect productivity and the workplace. So, in order to give a better idea of how stress affects people in real terms, the following stress statistics will provide a very clear picture:

  • 90% of visits to primary care physicians are due to stress.
  • 50% of all days lost workdays are due to stress.
  • Health care bills for people under stress are up to 50% higher than those of people who are not stressed.
  • 25% to 40% of job changes are due to job burnout from stress.

These stress statistics show that stress is not only a problem for people who are under stress, they are a problem for companies and insurance companies that want to keep their costs low. Thus, stress is not only a problem for people, it actually affects productivity and the economy too.

Considering how prevalent stress is, and the stress statistics are proof that it is almost ubiquitous, it is vital for people to learn methods for managing stress and reducing it so that they can stay happy, healthy, and go to work every day. After all, the more people are stressed, the more problems they have both thinking clearly and maintaining wellness. Thus, with a little prevention, people can relieve the pressure and the problems that often accompany this damaging syndrome.

When looking at stress statistics, it is vital to understand that they are not only painting a picture of the masses, they are showing individual people who need help in order to get through their lives. Unfortunately, most companies and schools do not attempt to teach people how to deal with stress, causing the problem to continue. But if people learn to manage stress, reduce it, and hopefully even eliminate it, they can at least help themselves. However, it will take a very large effort to keep the entire problem under control. Then, and only then, will these stress statistics paint a less frightening picture.