Middle-aged women could suffer from emotional wellness issues, and this could, in turn, affect their wellbeing in a more physical way, according to a new study.
Mental health, and stress in particular, can be linked to health problems in women aged between 40 and 60, according the study carried out by researchers at the University of Gothenburg. Health complaints that could be caused by stress include muscle aches and pains, join pain, gastrointestinal issues and headaches or migraines.
The good news is that although it does seem that stress causes these physical illnesses, the researchers failed to find any links between stress and premature death, meaning that stress could make you feel pretty rubbish, but it won’t kill you.
Carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy, the study followed 1,500 women from 1968 until the present day, regularly asking them to complete questionnaires about their health and their stress levels. They found that stress levels for women seemed to peak during middle-age, with one in five women of that age group saying that they had experienced stress either constantly or frequently during the previous five years.
Of the women who reported that they were suffering from stress, around 27 percent also report that they had joint pain, and 15 percent were suffering from gastrointestinal issues, too. The link between emotional and mental stress and physical symptoms seemed clear, as they were still evident even when adjustments were made for other factors such as smoking, physical activity and weight.
This evidence adds to the growing body of recent research which shows that women are actually suffering not only from increased stress levels these days, but from greater stress levels when compared to men. This could be because women tend to internalise tension, which results in turmoil, stress and anxiety.
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