Divorce and Health: All You Need To Know About Health Issues

By Nicola Baume

Divorce is one of the toughest situations anyone can ever find themselves in. Health issues are not usually a consideration with the other concerns people are going through but divorce trauma can last for years and affect health for the rest of your life. What health issues do you need to look out for while going through a divorce and what should you be doing about them?

Constant stress keeps your body’s natural alarm system on. This is not the way we are hard wired. The body uses the stress response to produce hormones to get you out of trouble fast. It is the “flight or fight” response which humans have used ever since they came face to face with big prehistoric scary animals that wanted to gobble them. It is this adrenaline rush that occasionally allows people to do extraordinary deeds like lift cars off other trapped people. It is not a state of being that anyone wants to be in for any amount of time.

Adrenaline elevates your blood pressure while increasing your heart rate enhances energy supplies while the other main stress hormone, Cortisol, increases the amount of sugar in your blood and in your brain. Your natural alarm system also communicates with the brain to keep you in the right mood, with the right motivation and a sensible amount of fear for a “flight or fight” scenario.

What Cortisol also does is to restrict the immune system and suppress the digestive system, the growth processes and the reproductive system as these are not essential in a truly stressful moment. If you are in a divorce situation and every day is fraught with stressful issues your health does suffer and all your body’s processes are at risk of long term harm.

How you react to stress is usually quite individual, for instance, some people will stop eating in a divorce while others will eat everything in sight, your health will suffer either way. Recognising even some of the common stress responses will give you an insight into what you need to spend a little time on to ensure your health is not affected.

Overeating or Undereating in divorce are both common. The stress response can trigger you to eat more or your appetite may be shut down completely. Putting on excessive weight or becoming under-weight can affect health for years.

Muscle Pain is caused by developing muscle tension especially in your neck and shoulders, the clenching of your jaw is also extremely common and any chronic muscle pain will cause further stress. Other health issues that you should look out for are an upset stomach, headaches, insomnia or not sleeping at all.

Mood is a great indicator of stress and if you find yourself excessively angry, sad or tearful, negative, or any other mood that is not you then be aware that your body will be physically effected by the hormones that are producing the mood swings.

Alcohol Abuse or other drugs can seem to be your best friend when you feel down but obviously they just add to the problems and can hurt your health especially if you become dependent.

Smoking is on the decrease but many people who have given up smoking will take it up again in divorce. Divorces are not usually quick so if you are deluding yourself into thinking that smoking for a while will not hurt. Think again.

Good health is needed to for your to have a long and vital life and looking after your well-being is not something you can put on hold for a couple of years as you go through a divorce. Identifying how the stress of divorce is affecting your health is the first step. Now the hard work comes in keeping your health at maximum and your energy high. Knowing how to keep your health in check makes it easier.

Sleep is essential to well-being, getting enough should be a priority. Try to find natural remedies or relaxation techniques to get you to sleep at the right time or if you wake up during the night. Becoming dependant on sleeping pills will cause you headaches later.

Eat Only Good Food. Now is not the time to put extra pressure on your body by eating bad food, like take-aways, fried foods or prepackaged. If you eat the food the way nature delivers it you will be eating natural good foods. Learn to cook a few dishes if you need and drink at least 2 litres of water per day.

Learn to Relax. Different people relax in different ways, if you can mediate, do it. If yoga is your thing, great. Exercise releases the happy hormones and it is impossible to be happy and sad at the same time, so get moving. Whatever your exercise is, do it daily and get the happy hormones flowing. If you can get a regular massage and really let yourself go.

Be Prepared and stay ahead of stressful situations. Leaving things to the last moment does not get them out of your head, it just builds up stress about what needs to be done and can make it more difficult to actually get moving.

Connect with your friends, old and new, cutting yourself off from pleasant times only adds to stress while a good time will keep you healthy. Leave your divorce at home and enjoy your friends and family. Now is the time to take up activities that you have always wanted to, meet new people and have some down time.

Professional Help is always available if you look, divorce is extremely hard and if you need help get it. Find the right professional for you, there are many out there.

Excerpt from: Divorce and Health: All You Need To Know About Health Issues

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