Daily stress decreases as people age are study

 

Number of daily stressors and people's sensitivity to daily stressors decline with age: Study

According to the findings of a recent study by David Almeida, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, the number of daily stressors and people's sensitivity to daily stressors decrease with age.

"There's something about getting older that leads to less stress," Almeida said. "It may be the types of social roles we fill as we age. As young people, we may be juggling more, including jobs, families, and homes, all of which create instances of daily stress. But as -As we age, our social roles and motivations change. Older people talk about maximizing and enjoying the time they have."

The research team used data from the National Study of Daily Experience (NSDE), a national study led by Almeida at Penn State that detailed daily life from more than 40,000 days in the lives of more than 3,000 people over a 20-year period. data collected. In 1995.

For eight days, respondents participated in phone interviews in which their daily stress levels were assessed. These daily assessments were repeated at approximately nine-year intervals, resulting in a 20-year longitudinal daily diary.

The researchers found a reduction in the effects of daily stress on both the number of daily stressors reported by respondents and their emotional sensitivity to them. Stress was reported on more than 50 percent of days by 25-year-olds, but only 30 percent of days by 70-year-olds.

In addition to a decrease in the number of reported daily stressors, Almeida and her colleagues found that as people age, they become less emotionally reactive to daily stressors when they do occur.

"A 25-year-old is very grumpy on days when they experience a stressor, but as we get older, we really figure out how to reduce those risks," Almeida said. , when people are least affected by stress exposure.

While these data suggest that daily stress reports and reactivity decline in the mid-50s, Almeida writes that early evidence suggests that later ages, the late 60s and early 70s , there may be a slight increase in the incidence of more problems and daily stress.

According to Almeida, we all age and grow old in different ways. How we age depends not only on the challenges we face but also on how we deal with those challenges.

“A lot of my earlier work looked at these small, daily stressors – being late to a meeting, arguing with a partner, caring for a sick child – and found that our emotional reactions to these events affect later health. and well-being, including chronic conditions, mental health, and even mortality. With this new research, it is encouraging to see that as we age, we are better able to cope with these stressors. Let's start dealing with it. On average, daily stress experiences won't get worse, but in fact, get better."