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Asked by flibble to Chris, Georgina, Kristi, Laura on 6 Nov 2017.
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Kristi Sawyer answered on 6 Nov 2017:
Interesting question! It’s a difficult one to answer, but I would say that our bodies respond to stress in similar ways, no matter where we are from. When our body encounters something it perceives as stressful, we will release a “stress” hormone called cortisol which makes our heart race and makes us feel more alert, but also more tired if it happens for too long. However, what would be different between countries are the things that cause stress. Where I live in London, for example, I get stressed when the underground doesn’t work and I’m late (far too often!), or because I have a lot of deadlines. In other countries, perhaps financial difficulties or other concerns may be what cause the most stress. Also, people of different countries differ in how they talk about stress. It is becoming more common in the UK to admit you’re feeling stressed or struggling to cope with things, but unfortunately this is far less common in other places, even though stress levels are probably similar.
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Georgina Hazell answered on 6 Nov 2017:
The biological response will be very similar in most people. But what causes the stress, and how people respond to stress will be very different in each country due to the different environments and cultures.
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Chris Tyler answered on 7 Nov 2017:
As mentioned below the physiological and biochemical responses to the stress are unlikley to differ much country-to-country but how the stress is expressed/shown/talked about will depend on the cultural norms of the country or area within the country.
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Laura Ginesi answered on 7 Nov 2017:
At some of the conferences about stress and well-being I get to meet other scientists from other countries and some aspects of stress are the same wherever people live. it’s always really interesting to hear what they have to say.
It’s tricky to collect statistics from all of the countries to compare. Having enough food to eat, and your family around you and somewhere to live are all the kinds of things that are important to everyone no matter where they live in the world. But some of the people who live in wealthy countries like the UK are much less happy than people who live in relatively poor countries.
Some countries have more income inequalities, unemployment, pollution and diseases than others, but when scientists collect this kind of data, Scandinavian countries often come out tops – people have better quality of life there.
Comments
Georgina commented on :
Oh sorry didn’t see Kristi’s answer! Yes totally agree!