Southern States Rank Among Nation’s Most Stressed in New Survey

PHUKET, Thailand — Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina ranked among the nation’s most stressed states, according to a new study conducted by addiction specialists at Diamond Rehab Thailand, a luxury inpatient rehab center in Southeast Asia.

For the purpose of the study, the addiction specialists analyzed the latest data from the United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings.

They did so to see which states had the highest rates of people reporting stress in their lives.

The information was scored on a scale of frequent mental distress, a measure that describes the percentage of adults reporting to have suffered from mental health issues more than half the time.

It also took into account those who said they experience frequent physical distress, which refers to adults reporting poor physical health more than half the time.

West Virginia proved to be the most stressed state in the union, with 17.5% of residents reporting frequent mental distress.

Kentucky and Arkansas took second and third place, respectively.

Kentucky came in second place due to 17.4% of its residents suffering from frequent mental distress and 15.2% of citizens reporting to be suffering from frequent physical distress.

Arkansas made the top three due to 17.8% of its citizens reportedly suffering from frequent mental distress, which is the highest amount of any state, while 14.2% of citizens reported suffering from frequent physical distress, bringing it down to third place on the list.

Louisiana took fourth place on the list, with 17.6% of its residents suffering from frequent mental distress, while 13.2% of citizens suffer from frequent physical distress.

Rounding out the top five is Nevada, due to 17.3% of its residents reporting frequent mental distress and 13.3% reporting suffering from frequent physical distress.

“It’s understood that stress can have many causes, especially in today’s times, whether it be an increased cost of living nationwide, work or family related,” a spokesperson for Diamond Rehab Thailand said in a press release.

“It’s interesting to see how many of these ‘stressed’ states are in the south of the U.S., with more northern states overall seeing lower stress levels,” the spokesperson added.

Rounding out the top 10 most stressed states were Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee.

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