Why do I often feel more stressed out at home than I do at work?
Some people actually feel more stressed out at home than they do at work; a recent study points to a gender difference. In this video, psychiatrist Sudeepta Varma, MD, explains this concept and why women may feel more anxious at home than men do.
Transcript
A lot of times, women feel like when they come home they have to pick up the second shift. Perhaps, it's a place where they don't have compensation.
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Some people may say that they feel more stressed out at home than they do at work. And an interesting new study came out that showed that people's cortisol levels were actually
lower while they were at work than they were at home. And there are a variety of reasons for this, right? So, some people feel perhaps a larger sense of mastery,
accomplishment, recognition, and even control, they would say, at their home--
I'm sorry, at their jobs than they do at their home. People find that, particularly, women are happier.
The study found that women are happier at work than they are at home. And men were happier at home than they were at work.
And we think that this has to do with sort of what our expectations are. A lot of times, women feel like when they come home, they have to pick up the second shift.
Perhaps, it's a place where they don't have compensation; financially, where they don't have a sense of recognition or mastery the same way that they do while they're at work.
And for many men, particularly men with extremely stressful jobs, with high demands, find that home really is an escape for them
and a way-- a place where they can go and sort of relax and get away from stress. So it is very interesting the study
found that, A, many people are more stressed out at home. And B, that there's this gender difference
between men and women in terms of what the expectations. Are another reason why home might be more of a stressful place is because sometimes it's
easier for us to be nicer to our colleagues than it is with our spouse, right? We come home, and we show our true self.
And sometimes, this true self might be a very tired, irritable self. So again, it's important to regulate and monitor our stress
levels and talk to our partners and seek professional counseling if we find that we are really bringing home a lot of tension that we were not
able to release. Or if we are expecting more appreciation, perhaps, and want to have more sense of mastery at our home,
what can we do? So talking to our partners and trying to modify our home environment so that it can be as relaxing as our work life might be.
stress management
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