Effects of Grief

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Grief is a natural response to loss. it is a strong, and overwhelming emotion for people, regardless of whether their sadness comes from the loss of a loved one or from a terminal illness or a big material or psychological loss. Grief has many effects on health, the following are some of them :

Sleep Disturbance

In grief sleep can be affected greatly and the disturbance appears in many ways : either one cannot fall asleep easily, or he/she wakes up in the middle of the night without being able to resume sleep easily or he might have excessive sleep instead.

Sticking to good sleep habits can help. Slowly winding down before bedtime with something calm like a bath, a book, or breathing exercises is useful as well as establishing fixed times to go to bed and wake up each day. 

Tiredness

Fatigability, getting tired from the slightest effort and laziness can be brought about by grief. sadness and associated emotions can drain energy. One has to take care of his nutrition, sleep and physical activity. Just getting outdoors and short walking can do. Staying connected to friends and relatives is important. Sometimes one might need professional help and support.

Immunity

Capacity of the immune system to fight infections and illnesses may be affected when grief takes so long. Professional help from one’s doctor or counselor may be needed.

Inflammatory Response

The immune system may overreacts and treats harmless substances as a threat and makes your own tissues get inflamed and swell. This can result in asthmatic attacks, joint inflammations, heart disease, and possibly cancer. Grief is linked to inflammation. Nutrition and exercise might help.

Anxiety

The loss that causes grief can cause sense of loss of safety and control. Anxiety can be about financial issues, loneliness of fearing of another loss. It is normal to feel some anxiety but if that lasts more than a few months or it intervenes with social and occupational functioning, professional help should be sought.

Cortisol

After the loss of a loved one, the body releases more cortisol, a stress hormone, in the blood for about six months. High levels of cortisol are associated with immune suppression, hypertension and cardiac disease.

Digestive System

Digestion can be affected badly. many factors may contribute to that. it could the erratic meal schedules, cortisol, nausea or even binge episodes. There is increased rate of loose stools, crampy colic, altered bowel habits, ulcer or irritable bowel syndrome. These issues are transient, but if they last for long medical help should sought.

Body Aches

Grief can lead to daily headaches, muscle aches, joint and bone pains. This is due to the tension following the loss and the stress hormones. The aches should fade away quickly but somtimes they may warrant medical check.

Pulse Rate

Heart rate could remain high for a number of months due to grief reaction. many reasons can be behind that like anxiety or stress hormones. The fast heart rate is a risk factor for cardiac diseases. One may need to consult his doctor.

Broken Heart Syndrome

The intense emotions linked to the sudden loss of a spouse or a loved one can trigger sharp chest pain. Sometimes it could result in an ischemic attack or in shock, but mostly it is benign and causes no damage to heart muscle or arteries.

Cardiac Attack Risk

The probability of having a heart attack is high in the first day after losing a loved one is higher than other usual. It goes down with time, but it remains higher than others in the first month after the loss. One has to keep monitoring any heart symptoms like chest pain or difficulty breathing, sleep should be taken care of, as well as nutrition and social connection.

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