Openly gay people are less stressed than closeted homosexuals and usually more relaxed than straight people, according to a new study which finds that being out and proud makes a person extremely chill.
For the study — which was published in Psychosomatic Medicine — researchers at the Louis H Lafontaine Hospital in Montreal tested cortisol levels (a stress hormone) and allostatic load levels (a measure of body stress), among a group of 87 gay, straight, and bisexual men and women, all around the age of 25, as well as administering psychological questionnaires that evaluated depressive symptoms and other indicators of stress.
They found that gay people who were out to their family and friends had "lower levels of psychiatric symptoms and lower morning cortisol levels than those who were still in the closet." Additionally, "gay and bisexual men had lower depressive symptoms and allostatic load levels than heterosexual men."
Higher levels of cortisol have harmful effects on the body like impaired cognitive performance, suppressed thyroid function, hyperglycemia, decreased bone density, decrease in muscle tissue, higher blood pressure, and increased stomach fat, which has its own host of health problems that aren't associated with fat deposited in other areas of the body, like a heightened risk of heart attack or stroke.
As Robert-Paul Juster, the lead author of the study, said, "Coming out is no longer a matter of popular debate but a matter of public health. Internationally, societies must endeavor to facilitate this self-acceptance by promoting tolerance, progressing policy, and dispelling stigma for all minorities."
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