Stress is not your friend. It affects your health and quality of life in more ways than one. Women are especially at risk. This is what you need to know.

Social Roles, Stress, and Health

Exhaustion and irritability may increase your risk of atrial fibrillation.

Diagnosis Life summary:
Who doesn’t feel exhausted every now and then? The problem is when that feeling does not go away. A study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487319897163) followed over 11,000 men and women over a 23-year period. At the start of the study, none of the participants had atrial fibrillation. By the end, there were 2,220 cases. The researchers found that people who had high levels of “vital exhaustion” — increased irritability, extreme fatigue and a feeling of demoralization — as measured by a 21-item questionnaire were more likely to develop the condition. Are you at risk?

Financial stressors impact healthy aging in middle-aged women.

Diagnosis Life summary:
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that money issues can cause stress. Those financial stressors have now been shown to take a toll on your health. A study in the JAMA Network Open (https://10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.11012) monitored stress levels in more than 1,800 premenopausal women between 42 and 52 years old. None of these women were taking hormones during the 11 years of follow-up. The researchers looked at a number of factors, including financial stress, sleep disturbance, and activity levels. Overall, women who had less financial strain were 73% more likely to improve their physical and functional health regardless of other risk factors. Now, if only this study could find a way to decrease the financial burden so many people face!

High stress levels increase heart risk in women.

Diagnosis Life summary:
Women often take on multiple roles — caregivers, mothers, spouses, employees/business owners, and more. Do they feel more rewarded or stressed by them? A study in the Journal of the American Heart Association (https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.017489) monitored stress levels in more than 2,700 women. The researchers also assessed their blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, diet, physical activity, smoking status, and weight, risk factors for heart disease. Women had a tendency for high blood pressure, being overweight, and unhealthy eating, odds worsening by 13%, 10%, and 18% for each point they scored higher on a stress scale. On the contrary, women who felt more rewarded than stressed were 58% more likely to exercise at least two hours per week. They were also 30% less likely to smoke. It is so important to reach out to women of all ages and to offer them social support as they cope with all this stress.

Women have more insomnia than men.

Diagnosis Life summary:
Women have more sleep problems than men and it’s not surprising. A study in Nature Human Behaviour (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00965-x) looked at the sleep habits of more than 1.1 million people (adolescents and adults) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. All in all, 1 in 4 people did not get the recommended amount of sleep. Rates of insomnia were as high as 19.4%. Looking closer, the researchers found that women had higher rates of insomnia than men. “The trend emerges during puberty, ‘suggesting sex hormones, among other social factors such as stress or parenting,’ might contribute to the development of insomnia in women.” Of course, we should all establish healthy sleep habits. It is also important to look at how society treats women. When women are not tasked to take on more than their male counterparts (e.g., gender pay gap), maybe they will sleep better.