Tag: Stress

You talked politics with your mother, brother, bartender and banker, and all it did was jack up your blood pressure. In this divisive period in American politics, two professors in Nebraska and one in California decided to conduct a survey in March 2017 to see how pervasive were high stress, conflict with family and friends, and even health problems related to thinking and talking about politics. The three — Kevin Smith and John Hibbing, political science professors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Hibbing’s son, Matthew, an associate professor at the University of California, Merced — wrote a paper on their findings last year. 31.8% said exposure to media outlets promoting a contrary view “can drive me crazy.” 29.3% said they had lost their temper because of politics. 25.6% said they spend more time thinking about politics than they want to. 23.3% said politics compelled them to think seriously about moving. About 800 people took the survey through YouGov, a polling firm that recruited a demographically representative sample of American adults for the survey. Sign up for World-Herald news alerts Be the first to know when news happens. Get the latest breaking headlines sent straight to your inbox. Hibbing hopes to continue the survey through the years to make comparisons.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the separation of children from their parents can have lasting health effects on kids, such as increased risk of heart disease, drug use and alcohol abuse.