Men Stressed Most by Work, Women by Life

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While personal matters such as family problems and living situations might cause the most stress for women, new research shows it's on-the-job issues that cause men the most anxiety.

A study by Polaris Marketing Research regarding sources of stress revealed that men were more likely to say work issues were causing them angst, while women were significantly more likely to cite financial issues, lack of time, family problems, living situation and relationship issues.

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While both men and women cited watching television as their top way to relieve stress, their other unwinding tricks varied.

According to the research, women are more likely to sleep, listen to music, surf the Internet, socialize, pray, read a book, write in a journal or eat their favorite comfort foods, while men were more likely to play video games, exercise and have a drink to help relax.

"While women have more stressors in their lives, they also use more diverse ways of relieving stress," said Polaris President Jan Carlson.

Overall, the study found that women perceive themselves to be more stressed than men – but they also said their stress levels are lower than they were last year. Men, meanwhile, were more likely to rate their stress levels the same as they were one year ago.

The research was based on surveys of more than 1,200 U.S. residents.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Chad Brooks is a Chicago-based freelance writer who spent 10 years working as a newspaper reporter before working in public relations. You can reach him at chadgbrooks@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @cbrooks76.