Tatevik Margaryan: It’s International Stress and Mental Health Awareness week

Tatevik Margaryan, Project Manager at Immune Oncology Research Institute shared on LinkedIn:

It’s International Stress and Mental Health Awareness week.
Stress has become a normal part of our everyday life, some of us even romanticise it by believing that feeling stressed equals to being productive.
In 2018 Mental Health Foundation conducted the largest stress related study in UK and came to a conclusion that in 2018:
– 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope.
– 46% reported that they ate too much or ate unhealthily due to stress.
– 29% reported that they started drinking or increased their drinking, and 16% reported that they started smoking or increased their smoking.
– 51% of adults who felt stressed reported feeling depressed, and 61% reported feeling anxious.
– Of the people who said they had felt stress at some point in their lives, 16% had self-harmed, and 32% said they had had suicidal thoughts and feelings.
– 37% of adults who reported feeling stressed reported feeling lonely as a result.

Here are some of the causes of stress they have mentioned:
– 36% of all adults who reported stress in the previous year cited either their own or a friend/relative’s long-term health condition as a factor. This rose to 44% of adults over 55.
– Of those who reported feeling stressed in the past year, 22% cited debt as a stressor.
– Of people who reported high levels of stress, 12% said that feeling like they needed to respond to messages instantly was a stressor.
– 49% of 18-24-year-olds who have experienced high levels of stress felt that comparing themselves to others was a source of stress, which was higher than in any of the older age groups.
– 36% of women who felt high levels of stress-related this to their comfort with their appearance and body image, compared to 23% of men.
– Housing worries are a key source of stress for younger people (32% of 18-24-year-olds cited it as a source of stress in the past year). This is less so for older people (22% for 45-54-year-olds and just 7% for over 55s).
– Younger people have higher stress related to the pressure to succeed. 60% of 18-24-year-olds and 41% of 25-34-year-olds cited this, compared to 17% of 45-54s and 6% of over 55s).

Source: Tatevik Margaryan/LinkedIn