The most stressed Americans live in these states
The most stressed people in the nation live in Louisiana, according to a new WalletHub analysis.
WalletHub measured all 50 states along a variety of stress metrics including personal finances, work life, family, and health and safety to determine the most stressed state in the union.
Joining Louisiana in the top five most stressed states, based on these and a host of other factors, were Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Mississippi.
While WalletHub highlighted individual ways to cope with stress, experts also note that many stress factors are related to - and compound - each other.
"A lot of that comes down to money, work, and health," Analyst Jill Gonzales told Louisiana Radio Network. "That's where Louisiana needs the most help. So, three out of the four major categories."
For its analysis, WalletHub considered, among other factors, the percentage of a state's population living in poverty and its divorce rates.
Gonzales added that in Louisiana, many people are working longer for less wages compared to other states. Louisiana is in the top five states logging the most hours worked on average, with Alaska ranking as first.
"So that obviously is stressful and that leads to a lot of problems at home that are money related. Divorce and separation is also very rampant there," Gonzales said.
Experts also told WalletHub that there is hope for mitigating stress on an individual level.
Alisia (Giac-Thao) Tran, a professor at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University, outlined ways to fight stress, including identifying stressors and coming up with ways to alleviate them.
"Fighting stress is an individual process so I think the first thing to do is identify what is the cause or source of your stress, what helps reduce stress for you at that moment and more generally and what resources do you have at your disposal to deal with the stress," Tran said.
"It is really person-to-person that reduces stress (for instance, I am not a yoga person) but there are a lot of low- or no-cost stress reducers, such as being outside in nature, practicing along with a YouTube yoga video, calling a friend, or family member," Tran continued.
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Yet if a person feels their resources are too limited to find a way out of their stressful situation, Tran recommends reaching out to a series of national hotlines that offer 24-hour assistance - one being the national suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
The states with the highest stress scores are as follows:
Louisiana: 61.38
Nevada: 60.17
New Mexico: 58.85
West Virginia 57.84
Mississippi: 57.52
Arkansas: 55.46
Oklahoma: 54.66
Alabama: 54.61
Texas 53.38
Tennessee: 52.21
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