Houston ranked most stressed-out city in U.S.; locals & experts weigh in
HOUSTON - They say everything is bigger in Texas, and according to a recent study that includes stress levels.
Five Texas cities topped the list for the city with the most stressed-out workers in the U.S., but Houston was number one.
FOX 26 spoke with numerous Houstonians who said on a scale of 1 to 10, they're high on the scale of being stressed out.
The study conducted by LLC.org ranked Houston as the number one most stressful city for workers in the nation.
The study looked at more than 170 cities with a population of at least 150,000. They weighed factors like the average time spent commuting, weekly hours worked, income growth, and more.
"Traffic definitely plays a part in people's stress on the day to day. Because that commute, something that's only 10-minutes can take over an hour," said Houston resident Carlos Berrios.
The study also looked at the number of workers without health insurance and the crime rates in these cities.
"They didn't actually measure people's stress; what they did was looked at factors that are known to contribute to stress, and we have a lot of those here in Houston," said Bill Elder, Chair of Behavioral and Social Sciences for the University of Houston College of Medicine.
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Elder says research shows stress is up all over,
"Over 25% of people report being too stressed to function right now in the United States," Elder said.
He says stress stems from feeling threatened, insecure, or overwhelmed with the demands of life and work, and if you don't properly relieve that stress, you could lash out or worse.
"Stress is dangerous, it's physiologically dangerous, and will shorten your lifespan," said Elder.
According to Elder, exercise, time with family and friends, and relaxing activities are all crucial when it comes to managing the stress of our day-to-day lives. He also says people talking to people is a great way to deal with stress, not with people that are angry or upset themselves, but with a calming influence.