Our Special Report today is about stress and fatigue that characterise modern urban lives. As the possibilities of work have multiplied, with more men and women entering the workforce, the sense of unhappiness and anxiety has increased as well.

Some people think that in the current scheme of things, life is most unkind to the working woman. She has started working outside without getting any relief whatsoever in her responsibilities at home. She is supposed to raise the children, tutor them, provide them as well as the husband emotional and psychological support, run the kitchen efficiently, make sure the extended family stays together and take care of the ailing parents and parents-in-law.

Juggling with all these roles, she still feels guilty especially about giving ample time to her children. The sense of inequality and discrimination within the family, the physical exhaustion and the inability to express it adds to her woes.

Men, too, are in distress. While they have let women handle the extra burden, they feel stressed enough in their sole role as breadwinners. Unlike in old times, when men would come home in the afternoon or early evening and forget all about it till the next morning, men are doing two or more jobs in order to make more money.

In order to supplement their incomes, many men are working from homes. With homes turning into virtual offices, the family life has suffered considerably. Add to this the burden on children induced by the sheer cost of private schooling.

Life in general has become tiresome in the presence of technology that was supposed to bring ease. People are competing to know more and to have more, encouraged by the media and advertising industry. Consumerism is leading to a sense of conformity and, instead of making people happy, is adding to their miseries.

People are trying to manage their stress in different ways. Religion offers a panacea for many in our society. Some choose a hobby to de-stress or unwind while others think nothing beats exercise. Stress eating is more easily done than stress drinking in this country. With all these trials and errors, life moves on.