Triggers of symptoms and health care

Abstract

This article studies triggers of physical symptoms and health care on a daily basis. The data used are health diaries kept for 6 weeks by 589 adults in metropolitan Detroit. The results show that bad moods consistently trigger physical problems and health actions (medical drug use, medical care, lay consultation, restricted activity) for men and women of all ages. Negative events have small effects on these outcomes, sometimes acting as triggers, but sometimes as dampers. Physical malaise (feeling bad overall) is an especially strong trigger for symptomatic people to take health actions. Troubles of all kinds--bad moods, physical malaise, symptoms, negative events--tend to repeat from one day to the next. Yesterday's troubles help trigger symptoms and health care today, but they have less influence than today's troubles do. When troubles continue for 2 days in a row, this spurs people especially to seek professional help. Women tend to respond more predictably and simply to triggers than men do, and older people appear to be more sensitive and responsive to triggers. The results indicate that the social stress and health model, which typically considers the longrun of major life events and chronic mental and physical conditions, is also apt for the shortrun of daily negative events, bad moods and physical discomfort and symptoms.