City that never sleeps
Austin lands near the top of the rankings for Most Stressed Cities
Austin is often referred to by tourists and residents alike by its popular moniker “The Live Music Capital of the World.”
More recently, it has become one of the fastest growing cities in the United States with several of the world’s hugely successful technology companies taking up residence in what ABC News is referring to as “The Opportunistic Up and Comer.” (You can almost see Michael Dell shaking an angry fist and proclaiming “I was here first!”)
While the increase in jobs is beneficial for the economy and development of the city, it comes with a less desirable title: 3rd Most Stressed City in America. Only Las Vegas and Miami take home the ranks of number one and two, respectively.
The list, realeased by mattress giant, Beautyrest, tracked "millions of Twitter posts, Google searches, and other social media behaviors of residents in major cities across the country to find the locations where people shared they were sleepless, stressed out, overworked, or otherwise less than fully charged.” The data was then adjusted for population in order to provide a fair analysis of each city.
With virtually unlimited avenues of entertainment and recreation, one can easily classify Austin is a “work hard, play hard” city. The thousands of people that make it to Sixth Street every weekend, for example, look anything but stressed. Perhaps going out is not the answer?
According to Chris Freytag, Chairman of the Board for the American Council on Exercise, "Getting better sleep is a great first step, especially since 73 percent of us are getting less sleep per night than we should." The study also reports that women make up a "disproportionate" size of the group, suggesting differences in sleep and stress management between the sexes.
Since three Texas cities fell in the top ten of the study (Houston coming in at number six and Arlington coming in at number eight), it begs the question: Is Texas the state most “in need of a recharge?”
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For the full study and tips for alleviating stress click here.
