stress news stories on Newser

Exercising Makes Bosses Nicer

Kevin Spak — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:33:08 CST

Got a crabby boss? Maybe you should get your office to chip in on a gym membership. Bosses who work out are less likely to mistreat their employees, according to a recent study in the Journal of Business and Psychology , spotted by Scientific American . Researchers had 98 MBA students fill...

Gossip Is Good for You

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:06:19 CST

Dishing dirt behind someone's back is a beneficial activity, say scientists. Spreading gossip—defined as alerting others that a person has behaved badly—helps maintain social order and even lowers the stress of the gossiper, according to a new study out of UC Berkeley and reported by the San Francisco...

Tips to Beat Daylight Saving Blues...

Mark Russell — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:26:05 CST

The increasingly short and dark days of winter can make many people feel depressed this time of year, and Daylight Saving Time only makes things worse. So to help people out, Time offers eight tips to keep your spirits up: Socializing and exercising. OK, not exactly what you crave when...

The Most Stressed Women Live In...

Tim Karan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:46:17 CDT

Think you've got the most stressful life in the world, ladies? Unless you live in India, that's probably not true, according to a recent study. A staggering 87% of women surveyed in India said they felt stressed most of the time, and 82% claimed to have no time to relax,...

And the Least-Stressed US State Is...

Matt Cantor — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:48:05 CDT

America is about as stressed as it was last year, a recent poll finds: Some 39.4% of 352,840 respondents called themselves stressed “a lot of the day,” compared to 39.9% last year. The year before was just a little more relaxed, with 38.8% saying they were...

Stressed Out? You'll Learn Better

Matt Cantor — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:02:05 CDT

If studying for exams stresses you out, be glad: It could help you remember the material, a study suggests. Hormones produced when we’re stressed, like cortisol and adrenaline, help us store memories by altering the way our brain cells work, reports the Telegraph . The hormones “reprogram” DNA in our brains...

How to Live to 100: Learn to Bounce Back

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:25:05 CDT

Dr. Mark Lachs is an expert on geriatrics, and his oldest patient is 109. Not only is she 109, but she still lives at home—"with all her marbles," he writes—and enjoys chocolate truffles and Budweiser. What's her secret? "Adaptive competence," which Lachs defines as "the ability to bounce...

Stressed? Dig Into Some Pretzels

John Johnson — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:43:05 CDT

Bartenders may put out pretzels and chips to keep customers thirsty, but something deeper might be at play. All that salt helps ease social anxiety and keeps people loose, suggests a new study. Researchers found that rats exposed to stressful situations were much calmer when loaded up with sodium, which...

Glass Half-Full, or Half-Empty? Ask Your Genes

Rob Quinn — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:53:45 CST

Bad—or, potentially, good—news for pessimists: Some people's negative outlook on life appears to be caused by a genetic condition, according to a new study. Researchers found that people with low levels of the brain chemical NPY are likelier to be pessimistic, to deal poorly with stress, and to...