Stress Information

Read Articles:

Treadmill stress test - stimulating the heart t...

Recognizing Acute Stress

Planning Stress Management

Here is the best sourced advice concernin...

Don’t Worry Be Happy!

Coping with Chronic Stress

How to Cope With Stress and Anxiety

Beat stress and be healthy!

Coping With Stress- 3 Simple Steps

Dealing With Emotional Stress

How To Cut Down On College Stress

Stress and Concentration

Stress Elimination

How To Choose A Stress Test

Tips for Reducing Stress

The Consequences of Stress

Stress & Supplementation: How is a Supplement S...

How to Relieve Stress

Stress & Exercise: How do I make it Work for Me?

How To Deal With Environmental Stress

6 Steps to Relieve Stress

To Stress or Not to Stress?

Effective Stress Management for those with Busy...

How To Reduce Stress That Causes Hair Loss and ...

How to Reduce Stress in Your Home and Work Envi...

Dealing with Parental Stress

Healing is Hindered By Stress, but Helped By Ox...

Aromatherapy for Stress Relief at Work

The Reasons Behind Smoking

Dealing With Family Stress

Acne And Stress

Understanding Your Stress Levels

Combat Stress

Managing Stress From Another World

Conquer Stress and Anxiety Naturally With This ...

The Fuel Of Stress, Anxiety and Depression

Livingiseasy.co.uk - RELAXOLOGY Electric Eye St...

Stop Stress Now: Ten Proven Techniques

How to get ripped Abs?

Stress The Unseen Killer

Break a Sweat to Break Your Stress

Abs: How to Get a Sexy Six Pack?

Record Inflation and Added Life Stress

Teenage Stress

The Main Cause of Insomnia?

Five Ways to Reduce Environmental Stress - Part 1

Stress: Guilty As Charged

Stress Management: Find Your Own Relief!

How Stressed Out Are YOU?

Is Exercise Making You Feel Worse?

Exercise Can Help Relieve Stress

Tips for Busy Moms On Stress Managment

Cortisol, Stress And Body Fat

Are You Fit?

Stress & Spirituality, Part 1

Stress Research the Fight-or-Flight Response

Ten Easy Relaxation Techniques

Exercise And Stress

All about smoking and how to quit

Eating Healthy in a Time-Starved World

More Article Pages 1 - 2 - 3

Mom's Job Stress May Spread to Kids
by: Rita Jenkins

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but allowing them to spend more time in childcare can help overcome these effects, according to new research published in Developmental Psychobiology.

Children whose mothers found their jobs emotionally exhausting or otherwise less rewarding had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than children whose mothers reported more enjoyment from their jobs, researchers found in a study involving more than 50 nursery school children.

Levels of cortisol in the evening were more than double in the children whose mothers experienced less job satisfaction. Placing those children in childcare would help to significantly reduce their stress, the research suggests.

The researchers also found that children from families that were either highly expressive or very reserved exhibited higher than average cortisol levels.

Greater support is needed for working mothers to help improve their job satisfaction and increase the availability of affordable childcare options, says the report.

More Time in Childcare

Dr. Julie Turner-Cobb, a health psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr. Christina Chryssanthopoulou from the University of Kent and Dr. David Jessop, a neuroimmunologist at the University of Bristol collaborated on the study.

To measure cortisol levels, they took saliva samples in the morning and evening from 56 children aged three to four years old. They also surveyed mothers about their workplace conditions and home life over a six month period.

"Spending more time in childcare makes a big difference to the stress levels in children whose mothers have low job satisfaction," says Dr. Turner-Cobb.

"It can help protect children from the effects of their mother's low job quality and emotional exhaustion. Ensuring that mothers of young children have good support in the workplace is essential for supporting both mothers and their children," she adds.

"Improving the job satisfaction of working mothers means that they are less stressed themselves," says Dr. Jessop, "and extending the availability of affordable and adequate childcare may not only improve the quality of life for the mothers but, in doing so, may improve the long term health of their children."

Healthy Adaptation to Stress

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function and immune function. It also controls the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Cortisol secretion increases in response to stress, whether physical -- such as illness, trauma, surgery or temperature extremes -- or psychological. It is a normal and essential response without which we would not be able to function in everyday life.

When these levels remain high or become disrupted in some way over a prolonged period of time, however, they may have consequences for health. It is important to promote healthy adaptation to stress in children, and good quality childcare is one way of doing this, say the authors.