If your out of state relatives are feeling stressed this holiday season, they might want to visit you in Kansas. That may increase your own stress, but there's a good chance your mental health will be in a good place before they get here. An analysis of December 2017 internet search teams done by TermLife2Go found holiday stress in Kansas to be lower than 47 other states. Only Alaska, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia were more at ease.
Kansas also seems to be the calm in the middle of a storm. None of our neighboring states were among the 20 least stressed. In fact, Nebraska and Oklahoma were among the most stressed. Nebraskans googled "stress relief" more than every state except Idaho, while Oklahomans put their state in the top 3 for searches of "psychological stress."
Of course, fans of the Cornhuskers are still eager to bring up how then #1 Nebraska's beat then #2 Oklahoma in football in 1971. A similar clash of the titans took place last December when #1 Nebraska edged #2 Oklahoma for the most "stress reduction" searches. Folks in our northern counties have seen several red 'N' t-shirts and caps being worn by their friends from Nebraska, so apparently the Neurotic Championship merchandise has sold well.
For those of us in Kansas, there's still room to improve if we want to reach #1 on the other end of the stress spectrum. Remain calm, be polite, and take it easy this holiday season. We need a group effort to become champs of chill.
You can read the results of the stress analysis here.