comments
Your Take: What Stresses You The Most?
Email
 Print
|
Reader’s Digest conducted a poll of 150 people from 16 countries to find out what stresses them out the most. Voters could choose family, health, money, and the state of the world. First, I’d like you to vote on what stresses you out the most, then I’ll write about the results of that study. I’m curious to see how the results of Bargaineering Nation compare with the 16 other real nations. 
Sorry, the poll seems to be broken so leave your answer in the comments below.
The results of the Reader’s Digest report showed that money stressed people out the most. 58% of people in Malaysia and 55% of people in China and Singapore voted for money. In the United States, 48% of respondents gave money. Not surprising given the state of the world economy, right?
It’s an interesting study, I can’t wait to see how it compares with us.
Poll: Money worries world’s greatest cause of stress [CNN Money]
{ 45 comments, please add your thoughts now! }
Related Posts
 By Jim |
 Stumble It! Bookmark reddit.comTags: Poll Oct 02, 2009 | Read more in Your Take |
Like this article? Get all the latest articles sent to your email for free every day. Enter your email address and click "Subscribe." Your email will only be used for this daily subscription and you can unsubscribe anytime.
I vote FAMILY (and that includes other loved ones).
Money comes in second for me, but definitely family first.
It won’t let me vote by clicking on “vote”…wasn’t sure if you had this set up to tabulate the voting???
My biggest stres is not any of the areas listed but “juggling” all of the above to provide “equal” time to my family, friends & job. I’m concerned about $$ long term but we are financially stable right now & our health is good. We are also fortunate to have good insurance via the military (retired).
I picked money, not really because I’m stressed about money but because the thing that stresses me is work, and I only go to work because I need the money. What a vicious circle!
FYI, your vote link does nothing when you click on it.
Of those choices, health stresses me out the most. What actually stresses me out the most is employment.
Multiple choice is no good. I get far more stressed by a lack of time to do all of the things I would like to do than anything else. I worry about money, but the result of that worry is that I’m not in a position that causes me stress.
Today I would vote for Family; however, that could change instantly if Obama and our Liberal Congress keep pussy footing around with maniac regimes; i.e., Iran, Russia, N.Korea, China, Venezuela; etc. Then it will be World affairs.
first money
second family
Family concerns is my #1. Whatever is second is FAR behind.
Normally it would be family, but since my husband just announced to me last week that he may get laid off in December, it’s definitely money.
I’d vote Family as my #1.
Its interesting that they don’t have work in the list. I bet work is a high stress factor for most people.
My top three stressors are family, work and money, not necessarily in that order. It depends on the day
My top stressor is always money. The top stressor for most people will be whatever is in deficit: money, love, family relationships, and/or health.
Job – needing, obtaining, keeping. All of it.
Then World Affairs.
Money stresses me the most, but family is most important.
I don’t think that poll of 150 people is indicative of anything. That is such a small sample size for such a large number of people in multiple countries.
My main concern is how to get enough money to provide adequate healthcare for two severely ill members of my family.
Think outside the box built for you by others.
It could help to change the focus from not enough money for healthcare for the severely ill, to helping them get well, which is cheaper. It puts the patient in control & takes control away from those who profit from “healthcare”.
In general, you are what you eat. Providing whole (unprocessed) fresh (not cooked) food gives us the raw materials the body needs to work the twin miracles of maintenance & healing. Obviously, some very healthy foods need cooking, such as dried beans, lentils & peas, fresh potatoes & yams, rhubarb, beets, bulb onions, garlic, chard, rutabaga, cauliflower, peppers, bok choy, brussels sprouts, eggplant, brown rice, ginger, etc. But many others do not: banana, orange, apple, stone fruit (peach, apricot, nectarine, cherry,) pomegranate, grapes, grapefruit, lemon, pineapple, cilantro, parsley, basil, sprouts of all kinds, carrots, celery, radish, broccoli spears, cabbage, coconut, mango, guava, lychee, nuts & seeds of all kinds, tamarind, pears, avocado, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, corn, prunes, raisins, & spices.
It’s equally important to avoid the processed grains wheat (white flour) sugar, added processed fats & oils, polished (white) rice, grits, cream of wheat, pan cakes & waffles, boxed cereals of puffs & flakes, cake, cookies, muffins, candy & pastries of all kinds made from white flour & sugar with added fat. Every ounce of processed food denies the body the raw materials it needs, contributing to malnutrition which contributes to degenerative diseases: diabetes, cancer, kidney failure, Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, anemia, CAD, heart disease, stroke, glaucoma, hearing loss, & others.
This is excellent general advice, but is not enough for those who need specific medical care desperately and quickly. People who have the time should absolutely take on this sensible eating, to prevent future need of medical care and to heal those things that have not progressed to the point of needing medical care.
Stress can be just overwhelming and in so many directions. The possibility of moving is big on my list just right now.
My biggest destressers:
** Kudos at work — not extra cash, not an award, just someone saying in front of me and other people that the team I lead is doing a good job.
** Good notes from my younger kid’s school — My kid is having a tough time right now, going into more challenging classes, and it really ruins his motivation. It reflects in his turning in assignments on time and telling me the truth. (He’s 12 and leaving special ed.)
** My believing it when my husband tells me I am beautiful. He can talk all he wants, but if I don’t believe, it doesn’t help. (poor guy)
** Positive uplifting music — I once spent an entire week listening to just Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon. I love Pink Floyd, but it didn’t help. Today it’s mostly Christian rock like DC Talk and Casting Crowns or Third Day, and Christian fringe like Switchfoot. It’s hard to find mainstream uplifting music besides Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I’d love to find more…
For music, have you considered Relient K?
The health of all my loved ones.
Money doesn’t stress me out at all. It brings me a lot of happiness b/c I don’t have to worry about money. Money takes care of me.
Apparently a three word answer is too short for the comment box so now that I think I’ve written enough to satisfy the filters….
“Work for sure”
#1 work
#2 health
#3economic uncertainty
#4 not getting enough sex
#5 world peace or lack thereof
I picked money, but its related to my health and my health insurance needs. #2 would be my family.
Not being able to work on all my ideas and ventures – hands down. Money and jobs and all that can surely drive me to stress every now and then, but it’s the worst (for me) when I have 58 ideas I’d like to implement/start/design, but I can’t get to them
#1 for me is definitely work! :/
Health insurance coverage! As you get older, just getting coverage becomes more problematic. You have to worry about losing your coverage at least as much as you worry about losing your job!
As far as money, you can always cut back on your standard of living as income dictates. Health insurance on the other hand, is your basic either/or dilemma. You can’t sort of have health coverage.
Think outside the box built for you by others.
Health care is not what others do to you, not a provider (insurance, doctor, nurse, hospital, clinic, treatment, drugs, etc.) All that stuff is sick care.
Health care is what you do to yourself: what you eat, your exercise & your rest. Eating the standard American diet is a guarantee you will get sick & need insurance coverage for the treatments, drugs, surgery, hospitalization, therapies & all the rest on that merry-go-round.
Get off & get moving to the parcourse or gym, then to the produce market to pick up whole, fresh food, bring it home, & prepare it yourself. Don’t pick up packaged, ready to eat stuff, snax, fast food, restaurant meals, etc.
Health care is an investment of time, effort, energy & smarts in yourself, not an investment of money (premiums & fees) in a provider for “coverage”. Get to work!
You are changing the language. People need sick care when they need it. I do practice what you are calling health care, and in fact, that is the best insurance to have. Or I’d like to think so. I’d like to live even longer than my 88-year-old smoking, drinking, junk food eating friend. Nobody needs the box-builders idea of health insurance, nor do they need to pay the CEOs of the companies. They need sick care from competent providers, with no parasitic middlemen stealing their entitlements.
It doesn’t matter what you call it. People need drugs, surgery, and doctor visits. No matter what you do, no one lives forever, and no one remains healthy up to the moment they drop dead.
Shoot! Someone should have told me I could have prevented MS!
Unknowns are ’stressing everyone out’. In my case, it is worry about what will happen to:
1. Kids High School Results
2. How will the College Education work out (not money, but Major/Minor selection, College selection etc)
3. How will kids do living by themselves
4. Future of my invested and cash monies
5. Future of my job, and how many years I have left in the work-force
6. Deflation of the $, and the upcoming inflation due to lowered value of $
7. How will I manage retirement assets properly
8. Future of my health
9. Future of my Mom’s health
10. Above all family
So, there you have it – My Top 10
Kenny
I’m shocked that very few, if any, even bothered to make a mention of WORLD AFFAIRS. Do we as Americans even know what is going on in the world? If the poll were taken a week after 911, there is no doubt in my mind WORLD AFFAIRS would be #1 – We have truly forgotten. Makes you really wonder if our enemies are smelling victory – WAKE UP AMERICA!
I am sure most people consider world affairs important but right now there is already many problems to take care of at home(national and local).
Ron, you’re raising a valid point, but I think we tend to worry most about situations we can do something about, which are the situations for which we’re directly responsible. Then the stress builds with which course to take, the variables, and unexpected outcomes.
With world affairs, there really isn’t much we can do as individuals, so it tends to be a different kind of worry, and maybe not as accute.
In bad economy’s, we tend to focus on backyard or pocketbook issues. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, it’s just the way we process things.
If we’re all tied up in knots over world affairs at a time when we’re facing uemployment, it may be more than we can reasonably handle. Just my opinion…
You’re right Kevin; it is a different kind of worry – a worry that Americans put on the backburner until it’s too late – sad but reality. I hope folks do keep it in the forefront of their thoughts when sitting inside the elections booth or when writing to their representatives in DC. Lives, our freedoms, and the liberties that give us the right to be worried about the stressors in this poll could all be in jeopardy. I’m retired Air Force – I guess I see things a little different when it comes to preserving what we have.
Family. Definitely family. Or I should say future family. My soon to be mother in law goes between hating me and trying to break us up because I’m stealing her daughter and loving me for the way I treat her. Sometimes jumping between the two several times a day.
money issues- but this is a problem that i am solving because i am soon going to be obscenely rich and i will have no worries at all
I would have to say all of those mentioned are stresses in my life. No matter how much money we tend to make, money always seems to be a stress in everybody’s life.
Working too much stresses me out. Doesn’t give me time to wind down, relax and take in what’s really important in life.
Worrying that there will be an expensive health emergency in the family.
Without a doubt it would be my kids. I have a 3 year old and a 7 month old boy. I never knew what worry was until I had them.
Definitely my job. No question. Mostly not liking my job…
definetly money im supposed to pay 850 a month for auto insurance