Реферат Differences in stress level between people living in the cities and those who live in the countryside

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Содержание:

Introduction 3
1. The concept of “stress” 6
2. Big-city stress (on example of New York) 10
3. The nature of rural stress 15
4. The comparative characteristic of the reasons of rural and big city stress 19
Conclusion 22
Bibliography 24




Introduction

Too often when we think of places where quality of life is threatened by the spiral of rising taxes and declining services, cities come to mind - aging, rundown, unappealing cities.
Stress is an omnipresent fact of life in big city - and it’s getting worse. We work harder - an increase of almost four hours per week between the late eighties and the turn of the century. We need more money to pay for rising taxes and inflation. We worry about another terrorist attack. And, to top it all off, stress might even age us more quickly at the cellular level. Researchers in San Francisco just completed a study that found that chronic emotional stress erodes telomerase, an enzyme in our cells that helps extend our life span, keeping us young and healthy. The cells of the most stressed-out women in the studies were effectively aged ten years more than normal.
In 1999, Nicholas Christenfeld, a psychology professor at the University of California, examined the national rates at which people die of heart attacks. In New York, he noticed, the rates are 55 percent higher than the national average. “It stands out like a red light on the map,” he says. Then Christenfeld examined the rates of heart attacks among visitors to New York. Amazingly, those numbers were also elevated - 34 percent higher than normal. The reverse was also true - when New Yorkers travel to other parts of the country, their rates drop below the city’s norm by 20 percent.
A new survey of rural health workers and volunteers has identified an increase in rural stress, especially amongst land managers and country sports workers.
The research was carried out by the Countryside Alliance. A questionnaire was distributed to an estimated survey sample of 500 rural health workers and volunteers and received a 30% response rate.
Respondents indicated that groups most susceptible to stress are those directly involved with land and countryside management and primary food production i.e. farmers, farm workers, estate workers and country sports workers. The study in particular identifies the heavy burden of legislation and regulation on susceptible sectors of the rural community.
Asked about the levels of stress they had to deal with, there was an 86% response rate. Most (67%) reported that they were having to deal with increasing levels of stress. While 19% reported 'no change', no one reported declining levels of stress.
When asked if it was possible to identify the root causes of stress (to which there was an 89% response rate), the majority (83%) said 'yes'. These respondents then identified that income decline and loss of livelihood was the major (82%) root cause of stress, with significant responses on isolation (68%) and the loss of a way of life (68%).
Of particular note was that a loss of a 'sense of belonging' (47%) is placed as a more significant cause of stress than 'loss of home' (30%), though this may also reflect that loss of home does not always actually figure as an issue of change. This is no way of disaggregating this issue within this survey. Other issues identified as causes of stress, all of which are linked to a sense of belonging are 'worthlessness', 'loss of culture', 'loss of self-worth' and 'uncertainty'.
Concluding the survey, respondents were asked for general comments, some of which included: "Depression is made worse by isolation and sense of worthlessness in the national community."
"There is a very low morale across the rural scene - and its getting worse - visibly worse."
The results reflect the opinions of a wide selection of volunteers and health care professionals dealing with stress in rural communities. In their experience, rural stress is on the increase, says the report.
Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart commented: "This survey provides a snapshot of the health of rural Britain and the results are cause for huge concern. We have found that the principal root causes of stress are income decline and loss of livelihood, isolation and the loss of a way of life.
The aim of the work is to consider differences in stress level between people living in the cities and those who live in the countryside.

Реферат Differences in stress level between people living in the cities and those who live in the countryside

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