Latest developments in stress include the following …

Working mothers suffer record levels of sleep deprivation
New mothers now get two hours less sleep a night than their own parents did - and say that both their home life and careers are suffering as a result. Women with young babies are surviving on just three-and-a-half hours sleep in 24 - and are woken up at least three times during the night, according to a survey by Mother & Baby magazine. In contrast, their own mothers, who were raising babies in the ‘60s and ‘70s, had five hours sleep and just two interruptions a night, and took less time to settle children back to bed. And, while their own mothers may have been able to catch up on their sleep during the day, modern parents are left trying to juggle work with a new baby and no sleep. Eight out of 10 women in the survey had returned to work when their baby was an average of 22 weeks old. Half of working mothers said their bosses had shown little sympathy for their fatigue, while 77% said the lack of sleep affected their ability to do their job. Sleep starvation left two-thirds being irritable towards their partner, while 37% felt depressed and 61% were regularly reduced to tears. Three-quarters of mothers said they thought they had the work-life balance wrong, and almost half wanted to leave work and be a full-time parent.