Recession blues are bad for your health

The effects of recession are extensive at every realm of everyday living. Public health, health care facilities and patients are also endangered in a very special manner. Together with recession, unemployment and inflation are rising up month by month. People are wondering how can we manage, especially if they lost their job or their home.

Stress and depression

Being out of work has serious health consequences. Hard times and unemployment are often making one feel hurt, vulnerable and angry. People without a job often find it extremely difficult to deal with demands of everyday life. At the extreme, unemployment and the stress it causes, doubles the risk of suicide, depression and attempted suicide. Some studies even discovered that people in work recover from illness faster, and that deaths are doubled in people who have been made redundant compared to those in work.

Self-image

Losing a job or getting into a very hard financial situation does not only affect the way one makes a living, but also severely influences how an individual thinks about self and the way others perceive that individual. Professional development is one of the primary means of self-realization, it gives a structure, purpose and meaning to one’s living. This is the exact reason why job loss and unemployment are the most stressful things one can experience. The most evident effect of unemployment is the loss of income, but psychological effects are even more severe as they include loss of professional identity, loss of self-esteem and self-confidence, loss of daily routine, loss of a particular social network, and loss of one’s sense of security.

Poor diet

For most of the people, recession means less money, and less money means less food on the table. Unfortunately, for most of the people, the direct effects of recession will develop through poor and unhealthy diet. Cheap food often comes with high price as it contributes to several serious health problems, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, some kinds of cancers, and strokes.

Helpful tips

There are many things one can do to take control of the situation and maintain positive. The most important thing is to take care about self and reach out to others. The first step would be to accept the situation as it is. Losing a job or being involved into severe financial troubles are serious problems and life would certainly be much better if that did not happen. Nevertheless, the sooner one accepts the reality the easier it will be to cope with the situation. While a little stress is normal, acute or chronic stress can be unhealthy and could develop into a mental health problem, such as depression. Carefully planned budget will even make it possible to eat cheap and healthy. It may even be a great way to incorporate some very beneficial habits into diet: quit the soda and drink water, consume tap water, eat eggs, buy frozen vegetables, buy bulk, buy fruits and vegetables which are on sale and plan your meals according to what you’ve purchased.