Sydney women are the most stressed in Australia: Study

A new research has revealed that women in New South Wales are the most stressed as well as the heaviest drinkers in the country.

Australia's Biggest Health Check, conducted by Women's Health and Prevention magazines, polled 26,000 women in an online survey in July.

The survey found NSW residents were most likely to report being "high to extremely stressed", while the most relaxed women lived in Western Australia.

Researchers said those who had been unemployed for a long time were most likely to fall into the highest stress category, but full-time workers were more stressed than their part-time peers.

Cardiologist Ross Walker said the high cost of living in Sydney, coupled with traffic, could be to blame for high levels of stress.

"The traffic is horrible, it's much more expensive living in Sydney than other cities," News.com.au quoted Walker a saying.

"That becomes stressful and that's probably where that (finding) comes from," she said.

Women who lived in NSW and Queensland were also more likely to be heavy drinkers, consuming 15 or more drinks a week.

The correlation between heavy drinking and stress was clear, with heavy drinkers the most stressed group, and light to moderate drinkers - who consume between four and 14 drinks a week - the least stressed.

The findings suggested women who smoked were twice as likely to be unemployed.