A Swedish study indicates that people who describe themselves as nervous or anxious are more likely to be hospitalized for a suicide attempt and psychiatric disease.
Problem Worse for Men
Almost 14 percent of women reported experiencing light problems with nervousness, anxiety and uneasiness, and nearly 4 percent said their problems were severe, while the numbers for men were about half that.
However, from there, the news gets worse for men.
Males who experienced severe worries or anxieties were more than nine times as likely to be hospitalized after a suicide attempt. And those risks increased with time in men by a factor of 15 during a decade-long follow-up period.
Moreover, men who reported severe anxiety or nervousness had a higher general mortality rate than that predicted by any other factor, even long-standing illnesses or smoking.
On the other hand, a long illness had more to do with increased suicide attempts and mortality rate among women than negative emotions.
Anxiety on the Rise
The number of those in Sweden reporting nervousness, uneasiness and anxiety jumped from 12 percent in 1988-1989 to 22 percent in 2001-2002. Some scientists believe that numbers like these are an alarm signal indicating a rising stress rate, and an associated high rate of stress-related health problems.
The fact that higher anxiety leads to more suicide attempts doesn't seem terribly surprising, but there are disturbing facts buried in this study, such as the fact that the number of people who reported anxiety or nervousness has jumped in a decade's time from 12 to 22 percent.
The problems of stress and anxiety are getting worse. Furthermore, men who suffer from these symptoms have a higher mortality rate than any other group.
Results like these ought to hammer home the role negative emotions play in your physical health, just as they do in slowing down physical healing.
The trick when it comes to dealing with stress is knowing how to adjust your body's ability, not to eliminate, but tolerate it. You can do just that by learning the Emotional Freedom Technique, the energy psychology tool I use in my practice.
And, instead of reaching for an antidepressant to "cure" what ails you, I strongly recommend balancing your daily ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fats by taking a high-quality fish or cod liver oil daily.