Stress and Daily Hassles

Newman et al (2007) investigated a possible link between daily hassles and stress levels and unhealthy eating behaviour. 50 women were tested for cortical reactivity. Then went through a series of tasks designed to stress them out (presentation) or relax them (music and magazine). Saliva samples were taken at several times throughout the experiment. They were asked to self monitor their daily hassles and snack intakes. They found that those who reacted highly to cortisol also had a link between number of daily hassles and snacking.
Women who reported more hassles ate more snacks. From this study suggests that stress may have an effect on illness and indirect affect on habits that are bad for your health, supporting the link between daily hassles and stress.

Kanner et al (1981) developed a scale of events that could fustrate people on a daily basis. They called this the Hassles scale. The higher their sample scored on the hassles scale, the more likely they were to suffer from psychological problems like depression and anxiety (which could be linked to stress).
They found a stronger correlation between hassles and ill health then there was between life events and ill health. This suggests that daily hassles could play an important role in the likeihood of suffering from stress and stress related illnesses.