Millennials are America’s most stressed-out generation, study finds

GlobalPost

Sure, Americans are a stressed-out bunch, but it seems that the Millennial generation has it the worst. 

A new study by the American Psychological Association, " Stress in America: Missing the Health Care Connection," has found that young adults aged 18 to 34 have a higher average rate of stress than the US population — 5.4 out of 10 compared to the nation's 4.9. 

Almost 40 percent of Millennials said that their stress levels had gone up in the past year, and 52 percent admitted to letting anxieties keep them awake at night, CBS News reported

"Many of these young people have come out of college or graduate school with horrendous student debt into a job market where there are not very many jobs," Katherine Nordal, the APA's executive director of professional practice, told NBC News. "This has put their life plans, probably, on hiatus."

America's young adults also reported that they aren't getting enough support from the health care system: just 25 percent gave health care in the country an "A" grade, compared to 32 percent of the rest of the population, according to the report.

"When people receive professional help to manage stress and make healthy behavior changes, they do better at achieving their health goals," Norman Anderson, CEO of the American Psychological Association, told reporters, according to WebMD

"To lower the rates of chronic illnesses and reduce the nation's health costs, we need to improve how we view and treat stress and unhealthy behaviors that are contributing to the high incidence of disease in the United States," he added. 

More from GlobalPost: Relaxing can be stressful for some people, new study shows

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