Study pauses of Facebook reduce the stress level

How does a Facebook break affect our stress??

At the present time, most people have a Facebook account. Such an account helps to give other people an insight into their own lives and to stay in touch with friends, but also has a negative impact on users. Researchers now found that deleting the Facebook account leads to a reduction of the stress involved.

The researchers from the University of Queensland found in their study that Facebook stresses the users. Deleting the Facebook account or taking a break from using Facebook can reduce the perceived stress and increase your well-being. The experts published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Journal of Social Psychology".

Facebook leads to increased stress for users of the social platform. Even short breaks help to reduce this stress. (Image: peshkova / fotolia.com)

Less stress but also less well-being

Taking a five-day Facebook break will reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol in a person, explains Drs. Eric Vanman. The participants noted an improvement in the levels of physiological stress in their study, but the sufferers were also less well-off. "People said they felt more dissatisfied with their lives and looked forward to resuming their Facebook activities," said study author Dr Vanman of the University of Queensland in a press release.

Social separation from friends reduces the well-being

Behind the mixed results is a series of theories, the expert continues. When users delete their Facebook account, the level of the stress hormone cortisol decreases, but the perceived stress remains the same. One reason for this could be that those affected were unaware that their stress had decreased, the doctors suspect. The participants reported a reduced well-being after five days without Facebook. They were just more dissatisfied with their lives and the reason was, according to their own information, the social separation from their Facebook friends.

Subjects were divided into two groups

Two groups of active Facebook users participated in the study, with one group being told not to use Facebook for five days and the other group continuing to use Facebook as usual. All 138 participants in the study delivered saliva samples at the beginning and at the end of the study to measure changes in their cortisol levels, the researchers explain.

Breaks included short periods

The idea for this study came to the doctors when they did not use Facebook for a few days. In discussions with each other, the researchers found that some of them had already taken breaks in the use of Facebook, if they found the social platform to be too stressful. However, the breaks were only for a period of several days or weeks, after which the experts use their Facebook account again.

Facebook can cause stress

Facebook has become an indispensable social tool for millions of users and obviously has some advantages. However, as it conveys so much social information about a large network of people, it can also be exhausting and cause stress. It seems like people are more likely to take a break from using Facebook when they find this social platform too stressful, researchers suggest.

However, users return to Facebook again and again when they feel unhappy because they feel cut off from their friends, the doctors say. After a while, these people will become too stressful again, which will cause them to take another break. This process is repeated over and over again, explain the authors. (As)