Are you living in a state that ranks as one of the most stressed states? An article reviewing some studies looking at stress by state broke stress down into four specific categories:
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- 1. work-related stress
- 2. money-related stress
- 3. family-related stress
- 4. stress over health and safety
READ ON to learn what parameters are considered as stressful and where Oklahoma ranks on the stress meter. You might be surprised at what was included….
Work-related stress evaluated factors included hours worked, job security, local unemployment rates and average commuting times. While Alaska, Texas, Wyoming and North Dakota are ranking as the highest amount of hours worked per week, Alaska takes home the prize as having the most work-related stress.
Money-related stress included median income, debt, credit score, bankruptcy rate, economic confidence, housing affordability and share of population living in poverty. Money-related stress included data that suggested 7 in 10 Americans are experiencing hard times and living paycheck to paycheck right now. 82% don’t think that they can afford a surprise $500 expense if one should suddenly arise. Mississippi was ranked highest in this category.
Family-related stress included separation/divorce rate, share of single parents, cost of childcare, share of parents who changed/quit their job to name a few. Nevada was highest concerning family-related stress.
Health & Safety related stress included percentage of residents fully vaccinated, adults diagnosed with depression, mental health, suicide rate, affordability of doctor visits , increase in annual health insurance premiums, share of insured population, psychologist per capita and physical activity rate and many more. West Virginia had the highest health and safety related stress.
If you are in Oklahoma here is how we rated: Total stress score is 7th highest in the nation
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- Work-related stress-9th
- Money related stress – 17th
- Family related stress – 6th
- Health and safety related stress – 8th
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Other notable mentions include:
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- Most average hours worked per week – tied for 5th
- Lowest Credit Score – 4th
- Fewest psychologist per capita – 3rd
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Curious who was ranked first in nation on total stress? Louisiana followed by Nevada.
This analysis was very specific on many metrics which was thought provoking. Check out the full article here. Interesting that Oklahoma usually ranks in the lowest on polls concerning health and we were in the top 10 on Health Related stress. I always take polls like this with a grain of salt because some of the data is subjective but thought this was more comprehensive than most.
Take home message is don’t move but take a look at what stress factors are affecting you and work on some changes.
To your health,
Laura
