Canada is in the grips of a ‘worry’ epidemic: report

By

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It looks like the stresses of our fast-paced modern world have made us a nation of worriers.

A new Maclean’s magazine report looks into what some consider an epidemic.

It didn’t happen all of a sudden; Maclean’s senior editor Anne Kingston says worrying has been on a steady rise over the past few decades.

“I think that the stressors have come from confluence of forces,” she explains. “One is associated with the barrage of constant information on the Internet, as well as social media alerting us to new worries or perhaps accelerating our worry about certain subject. [Another is] the increasing use of worrying as a marketing tool itself.”

She adds often, it’s a matter both genetics, and gender.

“The worry gene itself, which was isolated within the last decade, is called the worrier-warrior gene. How it influences people dictates how they react; that’s the thinking behind it. The whole idea is that… men are programmed to be warriers… [and] women worriers.”

Kingston notes highly successful people worry, too; the perception that worrying is only for “losers” may be misplaced.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today