People who live in detached houses are less stressed than those who don’t

Shocking news today.

What kind of gaff do you live in? Is it an apartment? Is it a semi-detached home? Is it a flat? A terraced house? Is it a house that is connected to other houses via a few walls and maybe roofs too if you happen to live in some sort of complex? To be honest, if you live in or around a city, it probably is. You'd have a hard time finding a young person who's renting in Ireland who also happens to live in a detached home that isn't their family home. It just doesn't happen. Unless they've inherited that house from a parent or are happy to drive a solid two hour commute every day, your gaff more than likely isn't detached. It's grand. What difference does it make anyway? Probably none. Or, according to a new study, a lot. Research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has shown that people who live in detached homes are far less likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes. They also tend to be a lot less stressed. Good for them. The study found that although a person's living arrangements have already been established to be linked to health, indicators of stress could also be directly connected to the kind of house a person lives in. Using C-reactive protein (CRP) - a chemical associated with stress and inflammation - as a marker, the study found that people living or renting semi-detached houses, terraced homes, or flats had significantly higher levels of the protein. This means that they are more likely to suffer strokes and heart attacks as they get older, compared to those who have higher security levels and more space to live in. The research also showed that homeowners also had lower levels of CRP than people who rented which is, yeah, not surprising at all. Guess we just all need to go buy some nice houses in the country. No problem.