Less stressed in the Northwest? Washington residents relatively chill, study says
How chill are you?
Washington residents are considerably less stressed than their West Coast counterparts in California, one recent social media-based study claims.
Survey results analyzing the language in more than 5 million tweets from the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. ranked Seattle No. 76, Portland No. 81 and Spokane No. 93, according to London-based Babylon Health.
About 9.76 percent of tweets based out of Seattle contain language indicative of moderate to high stress levels, according to the study, which took random samples of tweets from July 2015. Portland was a near tie with Seattle, with 9.6 percent of tweets. In Spokane, it was 8.74 percent.
The most stressed city was Hialeah, Florida (13.03 percent), and the least stressed was St. Paul, Minnesota (just 2.56 percent). The most stressed state was Alaska (11.69 percent) and the least was Wyoming (7.72 percent).
California fared less well in the study. TensiStrength found six of the Top 10 stressed-out cities are in California: San Bernardino (No. 2), Chula Vista (No. 5), Bakersfield (No. 6), Stockton (No. 8), Santa Ana (No. 9) and Riverside (No. 10), ranging between 11.86 and 12.87 percent stressed.
The study does not delve into what specifically makes each city so stressful. Additionally, by its methodology, only the stress of active Twitter posters is observed.
Babylon Health’s study methodology explains how TensiStrength measures stress and its correlation to language. One major source of short-term stress for most people is travel, including daily commute periods, as well as any associated delays.
What causes long-term stress? Babylon Health refers to recent nationwide surveys by the American Psychology Association, which in 2017 found that 63 percent of Americans were anxious about “the future of the nation” and 43 percent responded that they were stressed about health care.
Last year’s APA study said about 75 percent of Generation Z respondents said mass shootings are a significant source of stress, and that more than half of Gen Z students said they were worried about the possibility of a shooting at their own school.
This story was originally published March 2, 2019 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Less stressed in the Northwest? Washington residents relatively chill, study says."
