Despite the pressure of deadlines and dealing with the public in stressful situations, new research is putting journalists at the lower end of the stressed-out workers list.

It is pitting them against IT workers, who it claims are the most stressed people around.

The poll of polls, carried out by travel insurance firm Journeywise, concluded: "Journalists are surprisingly stress-free. These professionals are stimulated by their creativity daily, despite the pressure of print deadlines.

"IT and journalism are complete professional opposites when it comes to health and stress stakes.

"Seventy-one per cent of senior IT consultants suffer from severe stress as a result of the constant pressure of system breakdowns and virus attacks resulting in delays or downtime.

"Following IT consultants at the top of the unhealthiest professional league table come air traffic controllers who are under constant pressure to make quick decisions with thousands of lives at stake with each decision, followed by fire fighters who have an exceptionally dangerous job and often risk their lives to save others."

The survey was based on collating a number of university studies which have looked at the lifestyles of professionals living in Britain, based on the premise that people are feeling more and more stressed out in the 21st century.

Spokeswoman Diana Harris said: "For some reason they felt that journalists weren't so stressed because their creativity kept them going, rather than deadlines."

Journeywise has based its latest set of travel insurance discounts on its stressed list - with a 10 per cent discount on travel insurance to the most stressed professionals, including IT consultants, air traffic controllers and policemen and women, against their next stress break.

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