Small stressors could be harmful to men's health, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Oregon State University found that older men who lead high-stress lives, either from chronic everyday hassles or because of a series of significant life events, are more likely to die earlier than the average for their peers.

The study examines two types of stress: the everyday hassles of such things as commuting, job stress or arguments with family and friends; and significant life events, such as job loss or the death of a spouse.

"We're looking at long-term patterns of stress -- if your stress level is chronically high, it could impact your mortality, or if you have a series of stressful life events, that could affect your mortality," Carolyn Aldwin, researcher and director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. They studied stressful life events and everyday hassles for more than 1,000 men between 1989 and 2005 then followed the men until 2010. About 43 percent of the men had died by the end of the study period.

About a third of the men who reported having few stressful life events had died, while closer to half of the men reporting moderate or high numbers of stressful events had died by the end of the study.

Stressful life events are hard to avoid, but men may live longer if they're able to control their attitudes about everyday hassles, such as long lines at the store or traffic jams on the drive home, Aldwin said.

"Don't make mountains out of molehills," she said. "Coping skills are very important."

The study gives a snapshot of the effects of stress on men's lives and the findings are not a long-term predictor of health. Stress and other health issues can develop over a long period of time.

The findings were published recently in the journal Experimental Gerontology.