A research team at Penn State University says middle-aged people may be more stressed out than ever before.
The study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic found people are more stressed out today than they were in the 1990s. A closer look at the numbers shows the biggest jump in stress levels in people 45 to 64
“On average, people reported about 2% more stressors in the 2010s compared to people in the past,” said David M. Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. “That's around an additional week of stress a year. But what really surprised us is that people at mid-life reported a lot more stressors, about 19% more stress in 2010 than in 1990. And that translates to 64 more days of stress a year.”
The findings are part of a larger project aiming to discover if health during the middle of Americans' lives has been changing over time.
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