Let’s say you lost your insurance, gym membership, sick days and the reason you got up every morning.
What do you think that would do to your health?
It would probably make you feel pretty crummy.
Well, that’s what happens to many people when they get laid off. They get stressed out over losing their jobs and that can end up impacting their physical health, according to a study just released by Kate Strully, assistant professor, Department of Sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY.
From Strully’s report, “Job Loss And Health In The U.S. Labor Market”:
Losing a job because of an establishment closure increased the odds of fair or poor health by 54%, and among respondents with no preexisting health conditions, it increased the odds of a new likely health condition by 83%.
“Stress doesn’t do good things for your health,” Strully told me this morning. “When people experience psychological stress they change their behaviors in typically less healthy ways; and the body has a physiological response to stress. The immune systems shuts down, metabolism is thrown off.”
All these things can lead to a host of health problems, her study concludes, including stroke, hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, arthritis, diabetes, and emotional/psychiatric problems.
The body, she says, is designed to handle short-term stress fairly well, but when the stress goes on for months, even years, that’s what does a number on a person’s health.
When you take the stress factor and combine that with the economic realities, it’s a toxic brew for the jobless. You want to save money so you don’t buy often higher cost, healthy foods at the grocery store. And you definitely don’t want to pay money for that expensive gym membership or the yoga classes. But cutting these health-helping things is setting you up for a bad-health spiral.
Maybe cutting a few cable channels and spending money on fresh veges instead of processed junk in a can is a better alternative until you get a new gig.
Strully also suggests finding an exercise buddy and going for one-hour walks.
And, she stresses, misery needs company right about now. “All the evidence shows that social support reduces stress,” she says.
It’s time to look out for the warning signs if you lost your job or know someone who has.
Stress causes an increase in inflammation that circulates through the body, a evolutionary response because the body anticipates injury, Strully explains. That type of prolonged inflammation can lead to joint aches and pains.
So, get off the couch people. How are you going to search for a job if you’re sick?
Are any of you feeling ill? Has job loss, or the fear of job loss, wreaked havoc on your body and mind? What are you doing to deal with it?
May 12th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Eve, it’s not just those who lose their jobs who are stressed. Many (if not most) Americans feel the pressure. Sometimes those left behind after a series of layoffs might feel more stress (over time) than someone who was let go–at least the one who was let go isn’t going in to work every day wondering, “Will I be next?”. Then there are the stresses of picking up the ’slack’ in a smaller work environment. Some people are now handling the jobs of two or three of their former peers–something even more difficult if those peers were friends who made the workplace pleasant.
I’ve gone a significant amount of time without work in the past, so I’m not trying to minimize the difficulties of that situation. I just want everyone to realize that stress affects all of us. It’s how we respond to it that matters in the end.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Since being laid off in February, I have not been running as I used to, or doing much of any working out, due to losing my gym membership. I have started walking A LOT to make up for it, and trying to work out at home, but I do miss the gym. I also lost medical insurance for myself and my husband. Thankfully at our last check ups we were both ok, except he had to stop the series of allergy shots he was getting due to some severe allergies he has.
I have noticed that I have been getting more of those lingering headaches, I am guessing due to stress. It hasn’t been easy, but I do try to get out as much as I can to walk and get fresh air.
May 17th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Just got laid off last week.
Found one of your last paragraphs about inflammation and joint pain resulting from stress interesting because my physical pain has been increasing since last autumn when we were warned there would be layoffs in the spring.
Despite not appreciating being one of the ones laid off, I am now simply relieved to finally know my fate in that matter. Being laid off sucks, but the unsurety for so many months was much worse. I am now hoping that I’ll start doing better as I seek work (and hopefully find something even better than what I had before).
Anyway, time to get off the computer and get in some exercise. I suspect an employer would rather hire someone who is in peak condition than someone who groans and creaks as they move about.
Thanks again for the article.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
What if you just work too much. Stressed all the time you are not getting the time away from work. The boss expects you to be there to get it done even if the goals are not attainable and every time the boss visits there more added tasks which the light in the tunnel is no longer there and you feel like its just you and only you.
November 27th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Interesting post, definately food for thought hehe
January 7th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I’m losing it. On top of dealing with a job loss and having to move back in with my parents, we’re dealing with an addiction situation with my brother, which is creating more stress. I am not sure how much more I can take, I’m at my wits end.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Jb: Email me if you have specific questions and I’ll try to help you. careerdiva@verizon.net