3 Ways Anxiety Negatively Affects Women’s Health

Did you know that  anxiety related disorders affect nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States?” Women are MORE than twice as likely as men to get an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.” 

Here are 3 Ways that Anxiety Affects Women’s Health

Sleep and Focus

Women who suffer from anxiety have difficulty falling asleep due to worrisome thoughts. Approximately 54 percent of women say stress and anxiety influence their ability to drift off to sleep.  Also, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, more than 40 percent of women have difficulty focusing the next day due to lack of sleep.

Weakened Immunity

Stress can take a negative toll on a woman’s immune system.  Our digestive function becomes suppressed due to our body’s natural fight or flight response. Studies have also suggested that when you’re stressed out, you’re more susceptible to colds, infections, and inflammation.  

Digestive Issues  

Having constant stress and fatigue affects our digestive system and function. Chronic anxiety has been proven to have long-term effects on the intestines, thus affecting the nutrients in our food from being properly absorbed.  Digestive issues can also lead to reflux, bloating, diarrhea, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and other bowel-related problems.

How Can We Combat This and Not Become a Statistic?

Stress and anxiety contribute to many health issues.  I want to open up this topic for discussion and hear what you all feel health-wise when your stress is through the roof.  What can we do as women to help each other alleviate these issues for ourselves?  

Taking a yoga class, going out to dinner with friends, drinking a glass of wine, or enjoying a cocktail is great, but let’s dig more in-depth than this. Also, trying to get to a fitness class at a particular time, or to have dinner with friends when you have household responsibilities and a job can sometimes cause additional anxiety.  

Here are some easy tips for dialing back stress that you can do right from home:

1. Deep breathing.  Try some deep breathing by simply breathing in and out while you remain still.  Taking oxygen  into your lungs in the form of deep breaths is your body’s natural way of relieving stress and tension.  

2. Clean up Clutter and put away items lying around on floors or counters.  A clean house removes stress 

3. Don’t Overschedule! Revamp your daily life so that you’re not overscheduling yourself.  Overscheduling is one of the top contributors of stress and anxiety in women, because we never feel like we have enough time to get all of the items we have on our “to-do” list done.  Remember: It’s ok to say NO!