Causes of stress and its impact on women's mental and physical health

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Aim: The aim is to investigate the causes of stress and its impact on women's mental and physical health indicators. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and Methods: The research was conducted from 2022 to 2024 and involved 157 women from Zhytomyr oblast (Ukraine) of different ages, education, professions, and geographic residence. The research methods included analysis of literary sources, medical and sociological (survey), statistical method. RESULTS: Results: It has been established that during the war, the vast majority of women surveyed experienced very high and high levels of stress (45.2 % and 35.0 %, respectively). The main causes of stress for women include: "full-scale war" - 41.2 %, "financial difficulties" - 12.4 %, and "job loss" - 11.9 %. At the same time, only a fifth of the respondents (21.7 %) said they were able to overcome stress and neutralize the state of anxiety. It was found that stress in women led to insomnia (31.8 %), gastrointestinal disorders (40.1 %), exacerbation of chronic diseases (20.6 %), decreased immunity (8.4 %), and menstrual irregularities (7.2 %). CONCLUSION: Conclusions: It has been found that the war had a significant impact on women's mental and physical health: the frequency of anxiety and depression, psychosomatic disorders, uncontrollable fear, and the desire to withdraw from people increased. Given this, public health professionals need to intensify awareness-raising activities in this area.