A flat tire can take out your car when you are driving down the road. Your laptop may take up hours of work when it decides to go kaput. These are minor things in the scheme of life but all anxiety-producing in the moment. Anxiety comes in small and big packages as life comes and brings various things your way. It can feel like life is too much when anxiety enters the picture.
Anxiety and Health
Most of the time, the impact on daily life is temporary. Life’s curveballs have an effect on long-term health and well-being, depending how we deal with them. Constant worrying, perpetual anxiety, and overreacting can reduce life expectancy. It may feel good in the short term to worry and fret but eventually takes time away from your life.
Worrying to Death
Studies have been done which look at the link between anxiety-prone personalities and shortened lifespans. The tendency to always react to frustration, loss, or threat with negative emotions is referred to as neuroticism by researchers who have found this trait widespread and worrisome. Neuroticism is a robust correlate and predictor of many different mental and physical disorders. This includes early death.
Lifespan
There is no clear cut reason why it shortens people’s life spans. It may be related to higher levels of cortisol. There is some evidence that this hormone increases people’s sense of stress, lowers immunity, and impacts heart health over the long term. Another factor is that lower lifespan may be based on constant anxiety, worry, and depression that lingers around unhealthy habits. They’re more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol, and other drugs. They are more likely to have unprotected sex, which leads to life-shortening conditions or accidents.
How to Live Longer
No matter what, you have to deal with day-to-day issues that happen. How you cope is as important as what you do after it happens. It makes sense to do all you can to lower your stress levels and learn how to cope with unexpected frustration and inconvenience. A great place to start is by making an activity known to get stress off your back: yoga or meditation. Stress management techniques including letting feelings out on paper help. It is good to have calming tactics on hand but yoga can be helpful overall, even if you are not able to do it on a constant basis. Walk off the stress, go outside, and get fresh air when you feel stress. Nature has a way of bringing down stress levels in ways nothing else can. It is worth saving your life, and recovery, to give it a try.
Oceanfront will help you kick addiction to the curb with our premier beachfront community in Laguna Beach. We are founded on the principle of providing the best in care and services at affordable prices. We are located in beautiful Laguna Beach. Call us to find out how we can help you navigate addiction recovery: 877-279-1777
