Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
WHY ARE WOMEN
SO STRESSED?
With all that is going on in the world, it's no wonder that we are experiencing a stress epidemic. It's time to learn about the toll that stress takes on your well-being. Research has shown that the effects of stress are more extreme for women than for men: women release more of the chemical triggers for stress, and these hormones remain longer in a woman's body than a man's. Female hormones directly influence your response to stress. Women also appear to be more susceptible to the physical symptoms of stress due to gender differences in brain processing, which we will explain later. As a result of these biological differences, women tend to be more sensitive to stress, and the stress response lasts longer in the female body than in the male.
MULTITASKING YOUR WAY TO EXHAUSTION
Even though women are biologically equipped to do many things at once, we never seem to have enough time to do all that we need to do. Our brains are actually hardwired to enable us to multitask, so, because we're good at it, we push the envelope and try to do more, thinking we can handle just one more thing. But whenever we try to do too much--and what woman doesn't--we create a nagging sense of urgency and the feeling that we will never catch up. We race from one activity or chore to another, stretching ourselves to the limit, rarely taking time to relax. Women are also conditioned to be responsive to others' well-being and to try to please. This nurturing tendency makes us susceptible to higher stress levels when we take on too much and find ourselves on overload.
Most women have numerous roles and are expected to assume all or some of the following:
WifeChauffeurMotherTutorDaughterMediatorHealth care provider for a parentparty planner