Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9 951 impaired health reported worse SRH. According to adjusted ORs, age and health status were more potent determinants of SRH than gender and education. Concerning lifestyle factors, a more proactive lifestyle, as identified by the presence of regular exercise, healthier diet and better quality of sleep, was related with better health ratings. Finally, higher religiosity was associated with better SRH. Considering the “distances” of very good vs. poor and good vs. poor under the assumption presented in the methods section, female gender, older age, impaired disease status, low sleep quality and low religiosity were more capable to predispose people to fair or poor health ratings (thus considered granted factors that are lost), whereas higher education, less planned exercise and better quality of diet were more capable to predispose people to excellent or very good health ratings (thus considered less granted situations that are gained in the benefit of the individual). Gender differences on SRH have been confirmed by previous studies [6]. However after controlling for functionality, physical symptoms, health status, emotional distress and locus of control gender differences are eliminated [6,19]. This may indicative of both cultural and gender discrepancies on health evaluation, with different physical, psychosocial factors rendering different populations or genders less or more positive about their health status. Concerning age, previous findings confirm that ageing is linked with worse SRH, although comparative SRH (e.g., comparison with age peers) seems to outweigh global SRH and even improve health ratings in less disabled elders [20]. Low socioeconomic status (SES) (in this study assessed by education level) and impaired health are well established determinants of poor SRH [7]. Although the link between SES and health inequalities is far from doubt, mediators of this relationship still remain elusive. The concept of psychosocial mediators, directly or indirectly linked to stress, seems most promising, since maladaptive stress responses entail a broader range of behavioral and physical changes leading to unhealthy lifestyle patterns and physical “wear and tear”, all jeopardizing health [21]. Exercise and healthy diet are well-known determinants of better SRH [11]. Our study has confirmed such results, even if our measurements were not based on validated physical activity and diet questionnaires. According to our findings, regular exercise and healthier diet are associated with better SRH. More broad associations were found for quality of sleep and religiosity, showing that poor sleep and less adherence to religious habits were associated with poor SRH. Better quality of sleep and high religiousness have been previously reported to positively affect health ratings [22,23]. We have also reported findings of women, older people, individuals with lower education and suffering from one or more diseases being more religious than men, younger, highly educated and healthy people. However, the explained SRH variance by the aforementioned lifestyle variables is minor, implying that other, presumably psychosocial variables such as stress, could account for the residual SRH variance. There is considerable evidence supporting stress as a putative moderator or mediator of the lifestyle-SRH relationship. Stress is “a state in which homeostasis is actually threatened or perceived to be so” [24]. Excessive stress responses have been linked with maladaptive coping behaviours (such as unhealthy diet, smoking etc.) and various non-infectious diseases of modern societies such as diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, mediated by the emergence of altered psychoendocrinoimmune responses (e.g., elevated cortisol and catecholamines, pro-inflammatory cytokines, etc.) [20,24]. Interestingly, stress has been associated with poor SRH and mortality [25,26]. Moreover, poor SRH has been positively associated with chronic stress biomarkers such as urinary epinephrine, salivary cortisol, cortisol to dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate ratio, serum prolactin,