Survey: Women are more stressed than men at holiday time
Dec 17, 2014, 6:00 AM | Updated: 6:00 am
PHOENIX — Buying gifts, wrapping them, sending out Christmas cards, cooking up great holiday feasts.
In most cases, we might help out as guys, but it’s the women who are making it all happen. And that’s comes with more stress than men deal with.
“The holidays are a stressful time but they’re a joyous time,” said Dr. Megan Jones, a Stanford psychologist with Lantern in San Francisco.
Jones says their recent online study of 2000 men and women found that women are 11 percent more stressed and 16 percent more anxious than their male counterparts, and at the same time they are happier overall. Jones offers this advice to women on what they can do to fight back holiday stress.
“Stop being perfect. Let your dinner or party be good enough and just have fun,” Jones suggests. “Your guests will thank you, and you will have fun. Take a deep breath, pick up a book (and) do something that redirects the moment towards yourself.”
Lantern’s study also found that women between the ages of 55 to 65 years old are significantly happier than their younger counterparts and cope better with holiday pressure.
Lantern was founded in 2012 in San Francisco. It is a team of researchers, technologists and clinicians translating clinical research and expertise into simple, effective web and mobile programs based in cognitive behavioral therapy.
