Stressed? Anxious? Send yourself to Coventry

FOR centuries, its inhabitants have had to endure jokes about ‘being sent to Coventry’. But that might not be such an awful fate after all, according to a study.

Researchers have revealed Coventry is one of Britain’s least stressful cities in which to live, while Aberdeen is the second least stressed – and Glasgow the tenth most stressful.

Using data from the Government’s official ‘happiness index’, then refining the results to take into account factors including local pay levels, house prices and average commuting times, they ranked 20 towns and cities in order of stressfulness. Coventry came third in the ‘laid-back league’.

Liverpool is the most anxious city, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Measuring National Well-being index, yet did not even make the top ten most stressful.

That unwanted prize went to Brighton, followed by Leicester and London. The annual report, rating places for anxiety levels and life satisfaction, was used as the benchmark for the new research, which was conducted by the Local Authority Building Commission (LABC Warranty).

Among the conclusions was that low pay was not a high stress factor, but the length of commuting times and average house prices were.

Coventry’s Tourist Information Centre said: ‘We won the City of Culture 2021 and this will show the city in a new light. It will be good to be sent to Coventry.’

Chartered psychologist Dr Rick Morris said that recent studies had found psychological well-being is comprised of five elements: financial, career, relationship, physical health and community well-being.

‘But the financial side was less to do with how much that you earned, and more about whether or not that salary was enough for a comfortable lifestyle without too many money worries.’