Deadly Impact

The Potential Impacts Stress Can Have on Your Health and Those Around You

Everyone knows that self-care takes a back seat whenever we become anxious and tense. So many students in college can sympathize with this as they stay up all night in the library trying to complete a paper due the next day, fueled by soda and pizza. Many people do not realize the long term effects of stress.

First, stop and think about your diet when you’re stressed. Since many of us are often too busy to cook and eat a well-balanced meal, we often resort to fast foods or high-calorie snacks. Sugary snacks can briefly give you a boost in energy but in the long term in might be a factor in your feeling of malaise. Additionally, long-term consumption of unhealthy foods can promote obesity, contribute to high blood pressure, and raise blood sugar levels. Over and over again, this vicious cycle perpetuates itself.

The wear and tear of stress can also sabotage relationships by leading to a lack of time spent with one’s partner, possible sexual dysfunction, and marital discord. Marriages where one or both partner is in a high-stress job, like doctors or lawyers, are significantly more likely to end in divorce.

Even though short periods of stress may result in a lot of good sleep, prolonged periods of stress and total exhaustion from worry can result in sleeping disorders. People may find that suddenly they lie in bed worrying, unable to fall asleep at night, or wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. If you don’t get good quality sleep the night before, you’ll be more likely to make mistakes the next day and you won’t have what it takes to meet life’s challenges with the necessary mental acuity.

Due to constant stress, the mental health of an individual’s is also affected. Mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorders and depression sometimes are caused by stress in the workplace or within the home and can be harmful to the person who is ill and those who love them. It is essential that you get help from family, and ideally from trained professionals, if you find you’ve lost interest in things you formerly loved, have guilt about the way you’re feeling, or have suicidal thoughts.

Learning how to effectively cope with stress when it happens is the initial step to take so that you may prevent experiencing more difficult circumstances later on. There are many ways to alleviate the pressure from a stressful job including, 30 minutes of exercise daily,family mealtimes , and the occasional day off from work to relax. The best approach is to identify what is best for you and to then prioritize this. Don’t take your health for granted, it is a very important aspect of your life.

Above all, if you find that you are crumbling under the weight of your burdens, let someone know! All good resources to utilize like friends, counselors, doctors, clergy persons and family. If you feel you have no one to turn to, there are hotlines dedicated solely to assisting people in similar situations that are available 24 hours a day.

If you’d like more information, you can learn about my practice as an experienced family law lawyer in Austin. You can also watch the Free Austin Texas Divorce Guide Audio CD at TruslerLegal.com. If you haven’t found the information you need, you can read our questions about divorce in Austin.

DEADLY IMPACT – Trailer (FOX/MGM)