Angry woman with smoke coming from ears
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Too much stress: The average American has 60 bad days a year, study finds

February 20, 2018
by Daniel Steingold

NEW YORK — Bad days are as much an American pastime as baseball and apple pie, a new study finds.

Researchers at Freeletics, a personal fitness and nutrition app, commissioned a poll of nearly 2,000 working Americans about how they dealt with stress, hoping to learn more about what constituted a “bad day.”

Angry woman with smoke coming from ears
A new survey finds that Americans have about 60 bad days each year. Work and lack of sleep were found to be the two most frequent contributors to putting a damper on one’s day.

Respondents, on average, indicated that they had 60 bad days a year, with 80% of these 24-hour periods being made at least partially unpleasant by work-related stress.

However, sleep — or a lack thereof — was found to be the largest source of misery, accounting for 67 percent of an individual’s dissatisfaction on any given day.

Illness, financial worries, cancelled plans, and feeling unclean or disheveled also had the ability to ruin someone’s day, the researchers found. In fact, bad hair days were fairly prominent responses. One in four respondents indicated that frustration over uncooperative hair puts a damper on their day. Similarly, another quarter of respondents admitted that having no hot water for their morning shower left them in a day-long bad mood.

Meanwhile, a comparatively small percentage of respondents (8%) said that their day could feel wrecked by their favorite sports team losing a game.

Negative feelings, no matter how long they persist, can result in unhealthy behaviors, the researchers noted.

Half of respondents said that they were more likely to eat unhealthy foods after a tough day, and 34 percent said that they were more likely to drink alcohol.

According to the researchers, exercise may be the best way to deal with stress, as it provides both mental and physical benefits.

Workout frequency was positively correlated with one’s ability to cope with stress, the researchers added.

“These findings make a lot of sense, as working out after a tough day can be a very effective stress reliever, especially because it boosts those all-important endorphin levels,” explains John-Francis Kennedy, a personal trainer at Freeletics.

The numbers don’t lie: 95 percent of those surveyed said that a stressful day could be made less difficult by spending some time at the gym. Half of the respondents indicated that working out gives them more energy at the office, and 44% say exercise simply makes them feel more motivated.

Nevertheless, only a fifth of respondents said they had a gym membership, largely due to cost.

Life is complicated, and bad days are inevitable, but as this study shows, many Americans may be having the blues too often.

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Comments

  2. This just ruined my day.

    Who gets paid to come up with this drivel?
    And who is stupid enough to pay for such nonsense?

  6. When you find yourself having a really bad day just remember that somewhere there is a Mr. Nancy Pelosi and a Mr. Marxine Waters, so cheer up and count your blessings.

    1. Imagine if mass immigration of non-Africans was demanded into All and Only African populations

      Wouldn’t it be obvious that someone was trying to rid the world of Africans?

      Stop #White Geno Cide
      Stop #Anti White

      2. Choctaw – not being from the SW, I had to google “Choctaw”… What is your C.I.B. ratio? Above 1:32? Personally, it could be 1:1,000 and I’d still support you as Choctaw.

    2. Also, when things look bleak, it’s always gonna be worse for Peter Strzok and Ms. Page. I have a feeling that every day will be a bad day for them.

  7. Suck it up buttercups. Nobody said life was easy. Deal with it and carry on. Too much pansy worrying and not dealing with life.

  9. Another snowflake survey. The only bad day is the day you die. Every other day is a gift. Ask a combat veteran about real stress. That will surely skew the results of this inane survey.

    1. You just mentioned why I care little about the “issues” many people complain about today….they have no idea what real loss and sacrifice is – let alone bravery

  13. The other 305 days are usually blamed on other people. You need to find more people to blame for these problems, like idiots you do not like, but can be counted on to be pincushions for other people to blame.

  17. Liberals are sure ruining the curve of this study -they are at about 400 days right now

  20. Study finds that Democrats have 365 bad days annually for three years, and then 366 bad days during each fourth year.

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