WHETHER
you currently are being hit by stress? Or maybe feeling a little tired? Don't
panic. New study finds that the way you react to stress that is more important
to your health, rather than how often you undergo stress.
In
the study, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers
interviewed 909 people for eight consecutive days.
During
a day of check-in, research participants were asked to talk about the
experience of stress they experienced that day, as well as the experience level
of stress and how their feelings.
There
are quite a lot of stress going on, about 42 per cent and as a result they had
at least one experience of stress at the time of the interviewee.
The
scientists also gave participants an electrocardiogram to monitor their heart
rate variability, as well as a measure of the ability of the heart to regulate
themselves.
Heart
rate variability is higher is considered good, because it shows that the heart
can respond to the challenge. While heart rate variability is lower is not so
good.
People who think of everyday experience as deadline work, traffic speeds and arguments quite suspenseful, heart rate variability, which puts them at greater risk of being affected by heart disease.
"It's
really about your reaction to stress," said study lead author and
psychologist, Dr. Nancy b. Shin, Ph.d., as reported by the pages of Glamour,
yesterday.
More
surprising, Nancy finds that people who react badly in stressful situations
have a greater tendency to die young, as well as having a higher risk of mental
illness and have a greater likelihood of exposed to chronic conditions.
"Basically,
the panic when you're stressed are really bad for your condition," said
Nancy.