(Mirror Daily, United States) – When it comes to the universal recommendations made by doctors, doing regular physical exercise and avoiding stress are the usual advice uttered by all physicians, no matter the disease they are treating. It seems that stress is a common denominator for American citizens. And discrimination plays a significant role in providing them when their daily amount of it.

According to an annual survey, the adults that live in the United States are facing more stressful situation than they had in previous years. And the Psychological Association of America believes that discrimination is one of the major underlying factors.

The survey in question found that roughly half of the adult citizens of the US have dealt with discrimination or unfair treatment in the last years. These stressful situations include being neglected when promotion was in talks, being fired, being treated poorly when seeking health care and being threatened or unfairly treated by officers of the law.

The Psychological Association of America released a statement in which they said that some populations, for example, the Hispanics, struggle with stress more often than other people. In the same category, APA included younger generations, adults that have a certain disability, women, and the LGBT community.

Furthermore, the association pointed out that the anticipation of discrimination creates a heightened state of awareness. People that were confronted with discrimination in previous encounters usually tend to expect the same treatment everywhere they go. Even if it’s only a mean glance or the more serious issues like receiving poor service, being treated with less to no courtesy, or even being harassed or threatened.

According to the survey, more than thirty percent of black and Hispanic adults reported being obligated to face discriminatory behavior as often as once a week. The study respondents declared that they had to pay extra attention to their behavior and appearance in order to obtain a good service or avoid being harassed.

Unfortunately, there are still a lot of places in the United States where people can be legally discriminated. For example, some restaurants prohibit any gay manifestations. And the “we are entitled to choose our clientele” signs usually serve as a warning to the members of the LGBT, Hispanic, black, physically impaired and Muslim communities.

Stress is a common denominator for American citizens, and the sad part is that they are creating stressful situations for each other.

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