The Adverse Effects Of Grief On Your Health.How To Overcome It.
Sleep Problems
Grief can keep you from having the regular sleep your mind and body require. You can have trouble going to sleep, or you might wake up often in the night or even sleep too much. Good sleep habits might help. Wind down slowly before bed with something calm such as a bath, a book, or breathing exercises, and go to bed and wake up at a particular time each day.
Fatigue
The emotional toll of grief can drain your energy. To keep up your strength, ensure you eat enough, even if you don’t feel like it. And exercise -- something as simple as a short walk can really help. It's also good to keep in touch with family and friends. And a mental health professional or a support group may be able to give you a sense of connection, along with tools to see you through your grief.
Immune System
There's some evidence that grief can affect your body’s ability to combat illness and infection, especially if it continues for a long time. Talk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you're having difficulty coming to terms with your loss.
Inflammation
This happens as a result of your immune system response to something it sees as a threat and causes tissues in your body to swell. It can be a factor in heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, and possibly cancer. There's evidence that grief is associated to inflammation, and some studies found that the more severe the grief, the more serious the inflammation. Exercise and eating right might help you manage it.
Anxiety
The events that cause grief may make you feel like you don’t have control over your life. You may be worried about your financial future or being alone or the possibility of losing someone else. Some worry is normal, but if your anxiety lasts longer than a few months or affects the way of your normal work or home life, it might be time to talk to a mental health professional.
Cortisol
This is often called the “stress hormone,” and your body might release more of it than usual into your bloodstream in the 6 months after the loss of a loved one. High levels of cortisol over a long period can increase your chances of heart disease or high blood pressure.
Digestion
Grief may lead you to decline eating on a regular schedule or to binge eat. And stress hormones may cause you nauseous or bother your stomach and the rest of your digestive tract. You may experience stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation, ulcers, and even irritable bowel syndrome. If If you have stomach issues that won't go away, your doctor might guide you on ways to treat them
Aches and Pains
Grief can cause you to experience joint pain, back pain, or headaches. Part of the reason could be the muscle tension attributed to the stress hormones your body releases in response to grief. This can get better over time, but talk to your doctor about how to manage the pain if it doesn’t disappear.
Heart Rate
Serious grief may keep your pulse high for as long as 6 months. This faster rate, which could be linked to anxiety or the release of cortisol, might increase your chances of heart problems. Talk to your doctor about adding or changing your medication, especially if you're already having heart issues.
Broken Heart Syndrome
The sudden loss of a spouse or loved one might cause a jolt of intense emotion and trigger hormones that may cause sharp chest pain and trouble breathing. Your heart may not be able to pump blood as well for a while. You may feel like a heart attack, but it usually there is no damage of your heart or blockade of your arteries. Most people start feeling better within a couple of days or weeks.
Higher Heart Attack Risk
In the first day of grief over the loss of someone close, your risks of having a heart attack are greater than normal. They go down over the course of the first week, but your risks may remain higher than usual for the first month. Try to get adequate sleep, and watch for signs of heart attack such as chest and stomach pain, cold sweats, nausea, and dizziness.
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