What doesn't kill you does make you stronger - research

People who have never had to cope with stressful events may find it hard to handle minor upheavals and stresses. Photo / iStock

It may be of some comfort to those going through a major stressful event, such as a death in the family, that research confirms that they should emerge stronger from it and better able to cope with the trials of everyday life.

In fact, those who have never had to cope with such events find it hard to handle even minor upheavals and stresses.

The study by researchers at the North Carolina State University in the US was based on interviews of 43 adults aged between 60 and 96 over an eight-day period to see how their mood changed.

"Our study tells us that there's no expiration date on the impact of life-changing, stressful events," said co-author Shevaun Neupert, an associate professor of psychology.

"And the study tells us that many people actually weather these major stress events and emerge more resilient and less easily influenced by daily stresses." The "major" stress events that have such a long-lasting impact can be both good or bad. Common examples include getting married, retiring and the death of a family member.

Participants were questioned daily about any stress they had experienced that day.

They also answered three age-related questions: how old they felt, how old they would like to be and how old they thought they looked.

The results showed that people who had experienced major problems in their life responded differently to daily stress than people who had not had such stressful experiences.

Those who had escaped major stress in the past year were more likely to feel significantly older on stressful days, and by contrast the people who had endured a big event fluctuated less in terms of how old they felt day by day.

- Daily Mail