Is there a Connection between Financial and Mental Health?

Financial and Mental Health: Is there a Connection?

When you get yourself into debt, it affects more than your credit score and bank account balance. Financial woes can take a toll on your mental health and even trickle into physical ailments that affect your body and overall health. Learn about the connection between financial and mental health, as well as ways to help keep your financial woes from creating health problems for your body or your mind.

Stress = Health Problems

Stress often presents itself as a medical condition (and sometimes even more than one medical condition). Headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, eating problems and even worse, are some of the symptoms that patients complain of to their doctors. Doctors run tests, fill out questionnaires with patients and scour through medical journals to figure out what circumstances are causing the onset of symptoms their patients are complaining about, but that they cannot diagnose.

In the end, many patients simply hear the doctor say, “It’s just stress.”

Financial Woes = Stress

When you’re in debt, you’re in stress. When you lose your job, you have stress. When you look at your bank account balance to try to figure out which bills you can afford to pay this week and which ones you’ll have to put off until tomorrow, this is a highly stressful situation. Monetary problems lead some people to do crazy things like rob banks and commit suicide – things they may not normally do if they were not experiencing financial problems.

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A study conducted by First Command Financial Behaviors Index® reveals that there are connections between fiscal and physical health. The findings of the monthly survey illustrate that 35 percent of middle-class Americans admit that they or someone else in their household have experienced an increase in stress when they were going through hard economic times or having money troubles.

The study also offers what may be a solution. According to study respondents, those who worked through their financial problems with a professional financial planner had decreased stress levels, with only 28 percent reporting stress as opposed to the 35 percent who didn’t consult a financial professional.

In the end, working through the stress of financial problems is similar to working through any problem. Sometimes you can try to handle the issues on your own. If you are not successful, then you may have to turn to some external and professional help for a solution. Essentially, tending to your financial problems not only makes your financial situation look better, but it also may be good for your health.

Reduce your financial stress with great tools and advice from Quizzle.com. At Quizzle, you can learn how to get out of debt faster, improve your credit and make better-informed financial choices for a more secure and stress-free financial future.

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