Half of all parents burdened by stress

Four in every 10 people feel "hammered by stress", a survey reveals.

The transtasman survey, commissioned by Reader's Digest, says life is full of stress for 41 per cent and gets worse for parents and those in their 30s.

Of the 1309 people polled, half of those with children said their stress levels were "off the charts", compared with 38 per cent of non-parents who said this.

The hardest-hit age group was 30-to-34-year-olds, of whom 48 per cent admitted struggling to cope. Things eased in time, but only slightly, with 46 per cent of those aged 35 to 39 still finding life tough.

Stress - strain or tension - is caused by any number of events, from the birth of a baby to losing a job. Even mundane things such as deadlines can cause stress and its associated rise in heart rate and blood pressure.

Some people are more susceptible than others to stress, which can lead in some cases after continued ex-posure to anxiety, depression and indigestion.

Clinical psychologist and Auckland University of Technology lecturer Richard Sisley said last night that people in their early 30s would commonly experience high levels of stress from having children and climbing the career ladder.

Stress was universal, he said, but also highly individual.

"It depends on your attitude. Problems can be taken as a challenge to be overcome or taken as a disaster."

He said life was more stressful today because people were exposed to far more change and had to choose between vastly more options in the way they lived.

The survey of 303 New Zealanders and 1006 Australians conducted in April also found that while nearly half rated their health as "better than okay", 70 per cent did not know their resting heart rate.

Fifty-six per cent knew nothing about their cholesterol, 45 per cent did not know their blood pressure and 33 per cent did not know their blood group.

But 92 per cent knew their weight - and weight was something 52 per cent of women and 46 per cent of men worried about.

Cancer was the biggest health fear for 16 per cent, dementia for 12 per cent and heart problems for 7 per cent.