Recession Ailments: Is the Economy Bad for Your Health?

April 11, 2009 — -- Recessions can be hazardous to your health.

Just ask Melinda Farina, a 29-year business consultant in New York City who, in October, suddenly lost more than half of her clients.

"That's when the insomnia started taking over -- and the anxiety," said Farina. "It's like a downward spiral now."

It's affected her health. Nothing serious. But more worries to worry about.

"It's a snowball effect." said Farina. "You are losing sleep, you are wanting to drink more coffee to stay awake and drinking the coffee is making you lose even more sleep -- because you're wired, and then your mind is all over the place."

Melinda is not alone. A recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that nearly one-third of Americans are literally losing sleep over the economy -- 100 million people.

Psychologists say anxiety and depression are on the rise.

Studies also have shown that during recessions, the number of stress-related ulcers tends to spike. Perhaps that's why sales of antacid medication are reportedly up 8 percent.

"The overall stress level is up. It's at an all-time high," said Dr. Svetlana Kogan, founder of Doctors at Trump Placel in New York City. "We are used to seeing high-end executives come in and complain about panic attacks and lack of sleep, but now it's at an all-time high."

There's also a secondary health threat: In tough times, people are more likely to smoke and drink to calm their nerves.

And what may be the scariest figure of all is that, in January, the number of calls to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline jumped 50 percent over the previous year.

For most people, though, it's often something less drastic.

Cindy Jenkins has been waking up lately with a headache. It wasn't until she visited her dentist, Dr. Ronan Freyne, that she found out the headache was from grinding her teeth. Teeth grinding, or bruxism, can lead to head and neck pain and eventually broken teeth.

"Over the last three months, I've seen an acute increase in the incidents of broken teeth and teeth grinding," said Freyne. "I have to ask them, 'What's going on? Are you going through a lot more stress than usually?' And they say, 'Of course I am.'

"And people tell me every day: 'How's your business. How's your job?'" said Freyne. "Well, I say, 'I don't mean to be rude, but things are quite busy right now.' With the cascade of people under stress coming with jaw pain and ultimately breaking teeth, that's what keeps dentists busy."