WHY I'M WRITING THIS
By Rowan Millar
Everywhere we hear that stress is on the
rise, and this makes me worry about my
generation,since we will be the victims of a
large part of that increase. I can say for a
fact that at times I've experienced high
levels of stress as have other people my age.
Gen Yers seem to be forever suffering from
headaches and insomnia and other symptoms
of stress. My own experience, together with
all that I've heard and read, has compelled
me to believe that stress is a major issue
for my generation - and will be for some
time to come.
MORE STRESS NOW, OR LESS?
All of the dialogue about how stress is
steadily on the increase does not entirely
convince me that stress has been universally
on the rise. It's not something that's easy
to measure or record. Many people disagree
on when they are most stressful. Most would
agree that New York City is a stressful place,
but some New Yorkers might feel stressed
upon leaving it. I'm sure in many parts of
the world stress is on the rise, as
centuries-old ways of life give way to the
global economy, but I wouldn't doubt that
the pendulum has also swung the other way
for certain groups.
GENERATORS OF STRESS
Obviously, stress has many different
causations that apply to different people.
The thing most commonly linked to stress
is one's occupation, however many of those
who suffer from stress are not employed.
Among Gen Yers, school might be the thing
most associated with stress, but I think it
would be too simplistic to say that school
causes stress without recognizing that there
are other many contributing factors. Lack of
sleep is something that I believe is a major
culprit. Poor diet and lack of exercise are
of course major stress factors. Fear
generally, if not always, is behind stress,
and that fear can relate to academics, social
life, sex, violence, drugs, or any other
number of things.
A FORCE TO BE FEARED
At any rate, stress causes a lot of harm the
whole world over. It's not necessarily
something that can be mandated out of
existence. We can't simply impeach stress.
The extent of the role stress plays in health
problems and mental function is being studied
on a wide scale - it seems to be a silent
assassin in our midst. I would hope the future
will bring relief from stress to all of us,
from the MacDonalds employees of Brazil, to the
cubicle-folk of Silicon Valley.
