And We're Happier, Too...

From Cartophilia, via the misses

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently conducted an extensive study asking American about their stress level. From the CDC:

This county-by-county map shows the percentages of residents who reported "frequent mental distress" (FMD)—defined as 14 or more days of emotional discomfort, including "stress, depression and problems with emotion," during the previous month. Three days of mental distress is considered average, the researchers say.

Amongst the obvious notables on the map (it sucks to live in Kentucky, it seems pretty nice to live in Hawaii), the map also lets on about my beloved Midwest. Amongst so many things we have that the holier-than-thou outer reaches of the nation lack, you can put happiness right up there on that list.

And really, that explains a lot. You see, people who spend so much time making fun of other people and putting them down for not acting the same way they do are usually pretty sad and empty people...