7 Healthcast: Kids & Stress

Are you wondering how your stress compares to your neighbors or how your kids are really doing?

It turns out a lot of parents have no idea about their children's stress levels.

NBC's Kristen Dahlgren has more in tonight's health cast.

 It may be no shock to learn Americans are stressed out, but in the latest snapshot from the American Psychological Association, the annual stress survey has some surprises, especially for parents.

Dr. Katherine Nordal, American Psychological Association
"We were really kinda surprised to see that children and youth are reporting higher levels of stress I think than their parents realize."

In fact, only three percent of parents rated their children's stress as extreme, but almost a quarter of the surveyed kids did.

36 percent of children worried more this year than last.

45 percent reported difficulty sleeping,

It seems the younger generations may be following parents' stressed-out examples.

In the survey of more than fifteen hundred adults, a whopping 89 percent reported significant stress.

42 percent said they worried more than last year.

And money and work were still the biggest stressors.

And two thirds of adults surveyed reported one or more chronic illnesses - a great concern to doctors.

 Dr. Jeff Janata, UH Case Medical Center, psychologist

"To degree we fail to manage stress, we put ourselves at risk long term physical and emotional consequences."

A grim picture of an anxious nation, as the stress epidemic threatens to put parents and kids at risk.

Doctors say it's important to try to lower stress levels through healthy activities like exercise and to encourage your kids to do the same.

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