There is a saying that “health is wealth.” But have you heard that wealth is also health? While it sounds weird, it is actually true. According to research, 88% of individuals with mental health concerns and debt say that the debt further worsens their mental health. It does not look as important on the outside, but financial health and mental wellness are highly interconnected. But how? How can finances affect our mental health? This is what we will discuss in the article.
The Interconnected Nature
Both financial wellness and mental health are truly interconnected and have a direct relation to each other. Thus, both have the power to make or break the other. This is basically a bidirectional relationship, where if one goes bad, the other goes bad too. Conversely, if one is good, the other also becomes good.
An example of this can be the research conducted on American people to ascertain the actual link between mental health and financial wellness. The findings of the study showed that the people with the lowest income in an area were almost three times more likely to experience mental health issues as compared to high-income people in the same area. The mental health issues mainly revolved around depression and anxiety.
How Financial Stress Impacts Mental Health
As shown through various research, financial health can gravely impact mental health. But how do these mental health issues manifest themselves? Those with an impacted mental health experience some of the following due to finances:
- Depression, Anxiety, and Panic Attacks: Financial stress can induce depression, anxiety, and even panic attacks. While these are not life-threatening, they still are very major concerns.
- Emotions: Financial issues can lead to emotional downfall, which comes across as feelings of shame, guilt, helplessness, and isolation.
- Sleep: Financial worries can even affect sleep and cause insomnia. Insomnia is a medical condition where the affected is not able to sleep.
- Relationships: Due to feelings of isolation, financial stress can hamper relationships and social interactions.
- Self-esteem: Since there is an underlying feeling of helplessness and shame, it leads to a drop in self-esteem. This further affects one’s social interaction capabilities and pushes them to isolation.
- Physical Health: Due to stress, anxiety, and isolation, people start experiencing physical health issues like headaches, digestive concerns, and sudden weight gain.
How Mental Health Impacts Financial Wellness
While we have seen how money can affect our minds, let’s see how our minds can affect money:
Financial Decisions: Mental health issues can hamper the ability to make sound financial decisions. This can lead to significant losses and instances of heavy debt.
Debt: Poor mental health often pushes people towards impulse spending. This can disbalance your finances and drive you towards a state of debt.
Employment: Due to affected mental health, focusing on work or being happy at the workplace gets difficult. This can lead to issues in employment as well, again hampering your finances in the long run.
Managing Financial Stress
Irrespective of whether mental health is causing financial stress or it is the other way around, it is critical to understand the ways to manage financial stress so as to turn the tables in your favor. The following things can be done to keep your financial stress in check:
Emergency Fund: Create an emergency to cover sudden and unforeseen expenses that can otherwise drill a hole in your pocket. Having an emergency fund always helps keep financial stress away.
Financial Planning: Plan your expenses and make sure they are in line with your finances. This can improve overall well-being and quality of life.
Reduce Impulse Spending: No matter how enticing it feels, avoid impulse spending. Keep only the amount that is necessary with you. Invest the remaining so you cannot spend it on things you do not need.
Seek Professional Assistance: Mental health is a major concern in today’s time. If you feel your mental health is deteriorating, it is always helpful to seek professional assistance to sort things out.
Conclusion
Financial wellness and mental health are closely related, and thus, it is highly important to keep both in check. If one is positive, the other can also become positive, provided you plan on keeping things okay. If the mindset is not right, even good finance can drain pretty quickly. If you are a business owner, ensuring financial wellness is tricky. To ensure that the business’s financial stress does not drain your mental health, visit OmniPayments. We provide flexible, cost-effective, and customized software for payment processing. Book a call with us to know more!
