Prolonged sadness is unhealthy

Marjorie  Ann  Duterte  of “Didache Daily Bible  Reflections  For  Catholics, January- December 2015,” confided,  “Two years ago this  day,  I fell into depression.  My  heart  was  broken and I felt  so  sad. I just wanted to  sleep  the  whole day.  I dreaded waking  up  for it  meant feeling the gnawing pain in my heart. Sleep became  a form of escape for me. I didn’t  want to eat and became  very sickly.

"I knew it was alright to feel sad when one is grieving. But at some point, prolonged sadness must end because it is unhealthy and kills your spirit. I realized that I needed to help myself. I opened my heart to God’s healing love and picked myself up by finding joy in the  simple things again. Like eating   my favorite food.

"As I began to enjoy eating, it gave me strength to face each day. Moving helped too, especially walking. Taking that first step is literally healing in itself."

My friend too was in a quagmire of deep sadness when her husband passed away due to heart attack. She avoided her circle of friends and spent her time in the cemetery.  After  two years, her children advised her to bounce back to life because they noticed that she looked unhealthy and lacked the luster of living.

According to the “energize website” sadness  is a negative emotion which is characterized by feeling of despair, loss, defeat, anger or sorrow. Sadness can be triggered by many factors; the loss of a loved one, a job, financial losses and family and relationship problems all lead to the feeling of sadness which can be harmful to your health.

The following are the ill-effects of sadness to our health as pointed out by our source:

Sadness can lead to constipation, diarrhea, chest pain, dry mouth back pain, fatigue headache, high blood pressure and heart palpitation.

Sadness affects your appetite. Lots of sad people have become either anorexic or bulimic.

Sadness affects your sex drive. Prolonged sadness can actually lead to a more serious problems which can affect your marriage  or family.

Prolonged sadness can lead to anxiety. If you allow sadness to  dominate your other emotions   for long periods, it can grow worse which may lead to anxiety. Anxiety attacks are not uncommon  in extremely sad people.

There are ways to alleviate sadness as cited by our source. These are as:

One of the best things to do to reduce your feeling of sadness is to talk to your doctor about it before it can cause damage to your health. Doctors are professionals  who can find ways to make you feel better either through exercise or  medication.

Another way is to go to a psychologist or a counselor who can help you resolve  your sadness by tackling it on its roots.

You have the right to be happy. Don’t let sadness pull you down.