(by Nicola Simonetti) The men of the first twenty years of the new century? More and more stressed and one on 10 of them suffers from a health disorder resulting from the situation and, for 6 on 10, work (especially accentuated by the crisis following the economic crisis of 2008) is the main cause of stress and disorders: a situation that will continue until retirement.
To prove it, a research conducted by Assosalute (National Association of self-medication drugs that is part of Federchimica).
Men all work (56%), family and children (52%) and married life (46%), while they dedicate little to free time and exercise (in part, however, they declare more). They suffer from the situation that stresses them and say they are ready, if possible, to dedicate themselves (64%) to life as a couple, 61% to children and family, but also to cultural activities and relaxation (60%).
Women also fully confirm this vision and recognize how men spend most of their time at work even if they would like to spend more with their loved ones.
“Stress - explains prof. Piero Barbanti, neurologist at San Raffaele University, Rome - is a response mechanism of our organism to reconstruct a balance altered by external or internal perturbation. If we think about it, the physical consequences of stress, such as palpitations, increased breathing rate and muscle contraction, are all aimed at overcoming this perturbation. Stress is the product of a close relationship between the brain, hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands - that is, a link between the emotional part and the glandular part - which allows us to concentrate all our energies to overcome difficulties. And it doesn't take much for the brain and body to be flooded with hormones that make defense-offense reactions possible.
However, stress can turn into a real pathology when it lasts over time, even if the trigger event has ended. In predisposed subjects (such as anxiety), the stressful reaction appears even in the absence of appreciable events.
Men and women - reiterates Barbanti - respond differently to stress. The man tends to be more resilient to him because he has a more stable nervous response, while, in the woman, this is influenced by the phase of the hormonal cycle. In addition, the female brain has a percentage of more gray matter and therefore a greater number of nerve connections and, therefore, is inevitably more subject to perturbations.
However, stress can lead to more serious consequences in humans.
In adolescence, for example, stressful life events tend to cause affective spectrum reactions, such as anxiety and depression, in the female sex, while in the male, they tend to trigger psychotic reactions.
Today the traditional triangle "work-family-friends (at the bar)" has been skipped: work remains the major cause of increasing stress; the other two "corners", once "compensators" - are much less solid: the family as an institution is in crisis, with the growth of separations and single people, while leisure has become more expensive and more difficult than in the past and stress increases.
Stress also for women but because it created its own triangle: family-children-work.
And bisexual stress (less and different than the female) induces abuse of substances, alcohol and psychotropic species in humans which creates a negative short circuit.
And, for the naked King, it is immediately a crisis of role. The profound changes in the female world are no strangers to it. Man no longer finds there a positive interlocutor whose compensatory / consolatory function has failed because, on the contrary, it becomes his competitor in every field.
Stereotypes of the past where are you?
And, the King becomes even more stripped down, his own identity fades, frustration mounts, he cannot manage the situation and is immediately stressed to which, however - unlike in women - he is not "suitable".
The easy recourse of the male to anxiolytics (always the female kingdom) - almost becomes the rule.
But stress differs by sex: in women, gastrointestinal somatizations and headaches; in men, insomnia, followed by cardiological, digestive and, in part, headache problems.
The most "punitive" "vulnus" for men is represented by stress-related dysfunctions of the sexual sphere, especially among young people. Viagra and its surroundings are the required loophole (sometimes also the cause of flops) In these cases, in addition to self-medication that can alleviate the ailments, it is important to act on a psychological level, against a brain that in these cases is too 'active'.
Anxiety and depression are "daughters of stress" because - continues Barbanti - the cortisol released by the adrenal gland by order of the brain induces the production of inflammatory cytokines that produce effects in sensitive areas of the "black box" and this motivates current research aimed at identifying, against depression, anti-inflammatory drugs.
In case of stress - the research highlights - self-medication and over-the-counter drugs are the most used remedies (40,3%). When men ask for advice, they mainly turn to health professionals, the family doctor (31,3%) and the pharmacist (17,6%). Only 12,0% declare that they rely on the care of a woman, dispelling the stereotype of men who do not actively take care of their health. However, it is interesting to note that the presence of women becomes marginal from the age of 40 onwards, a sign of how the mother is still the woman to whom children and young adults rely.
The self-medication drugs - recognizable thanks to the presence of the red dot that smiles on the package - useful allies against sleep disorders, are the pharmacy, based on valerian, alone or in association with other natural principles such as passion flower. To combat muscle tension it is possible to resort to drugs to be applied locally, such as ointments, creams, gels, patches with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving action. Muscle relaxing drugs can also be useful; to silence headaches, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in tablets or sachets, can be therapeutic tools able to counteract pain and inflammation.
Just pills, syrups and around? Not only that, but - says Barbanti - “Two things are vital in managing stress: thought and time. The thought because stress is not something that comes from above but is the consequence of how we deal with life events. We must therefore reconsider the relationship with ourselves, with others and with work. Time because we have to create spaces of free time within the day, moving away from technology and reserving moments for physical activity, reflection, imagination and dreams. Only this can allow the brain to recover ”.
Man, full speed ahead.