Is City Life More Stressful?

We’re all looking for ways to feel a little less stressed out in our daily life. For some people, that means drinking calming teas before they go to sleep. For others, it means doing something drastic like changing careers. But we may be underestimating one key component— where we live. There’s evidence that city life can be more stressful than life in the country or the suburbs, although much depends on where you live and what your lifestyle is like in that particular city. It’s time to take a closer look at stress and the city, as well as what city-dwellers can do to combat any bad feelings that arise.

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Defining Stress

We all cope with stress, and some of us will deal better with, for example, work stress than we do with relationship stress. When WalletHub wanted to rank American cities by how stressed out its residents are, they divided stress into four distinct categories: work stress, financial stress, family stress, and health and safety stress.

Detroit ranked as the most-stressed city in the United States as of summer 2018. It didn’t fare too badly on the work stress metric, but it ranked in the top five for financial, family, and health stresses. Newark, NJ, ranked second on the list. In fact, the New York City suburb ranked first for work stress, which suggests people who live in Newark are feeling the stress of work more than people who live in the city proper. Newark also ranks first for family stress.

The City That Never Sleeps (Because Its Boss Keeps Emailing It)

That’s not to say that life in New York is low-stress, as the city still ranks in the top third of stressed-out cities. It ranks 47th out of 150. It’s slightly more stressed out than Buffalo, but less stressed out than Phoenix. Not surprisingly, the biggest source of stress in New York is work. It ranks as 8th in the country in terms of work-related stress. New York City is ranked 35th for family stress.

NYC is a famously cutthroat city, so it makes sense that people would feel pressure to get ahead at work. In 2015, the Big Apple was one of the toughest cities for job searchers, with only 37 job postings for every 1,000 residents. By contrast, San Jose, California, had 154 postings for every 1,000 people. Once a New Yorker gets a good job, they may feel like there are a ton of people waiting behind them if they slip up. Their bosses can also be more demanding because they know the talent pool is deep.

Stress-Busting Solutions

A person who is stressed out about their job in New York has an advantage over someone stressed out about work in a place like Casper, Wyoming. For one thing, finding NYC therapy is easy and efficient. There are qualified therapists readily available to help you navigate through the stresses of daily life, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, sad, or just want someone to talk to, be sure to look into therapy options.

New York City ranks 116th for health and safety stress. Outsiders may view the city as a crime-filled and treacherous, but that doesn’t match up with the reality of what most New Yorkers experience in their everyday life. There are some dangers, but those exist in almost every city on the planet. Despite the stereotypes, New Yorkers are more likely to worry about their boss yelling at them at work than they are to worry about getting mugged on the way to work. Regardless of where you live, therapy is a great option for anyone who believes they can benefit from it.

If you are interested in even more lifestyle-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.

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