Mental distress is suspected as an underlying and often underrecognized cause of physical complaint. Dominique Hange, from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), and colleagues assessed data collected on 1,500 middle-aged women enrolled in the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg. The data revealed that one in five middle-aged women had experienced constant or frequent stress during the last five years. Further, in four out of ten cases, long-term stress suffered by women leads to some form of physical complaint. Among those women who reported stress, 40% had psychosomatic symptoms in the form of aches and pain in their muscles and joints, 28% suffered from headaches or migraines, and the same proportion reported gastrointestinal complaints. However, there was no association between perceived mental stress at baseline and mortality over 37 years of follow-up.
Health Hazards of Stress
In four out of ten cases, long-term psychological stress leads to some form of physical ailment, among middle-aged women.
Hange D, Mehlig K, Lissner L, Guo X, Bengtsson C, Skoog I, Bjorkelund C. “Perceived mental stress in women associated with psychosomatic symptoms, but not mortality: observations from the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden.” Int J Gen Med. 2013 Apr 24;6:307-15.
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