How Depression and Anxiety Impact Your Physical Health

You can blame the medical community for decades of categorizing mental and physical health issues into two different camps or society for creating a mental health stigma; however, finger-pointing doesn’t change the fact that the mind-body connection was overlooked for way too long.

Not at The Riegel Center.

Dr. Christopher J. Riegel and our team take a holistic approach to health care that looks beyond your symptoms. We search for the underlying factors that affect your mental and physical health, knowing that those factors seldom affect only one aspect of your well-being, and they often trigger a cascade of problems.

What’s the connection between mental and physical health?

About 26% of American adults have a mental disorder. Unfortunately, statistics show that those with severe disorders generally live 10-25 years less than those with a clear bill of mental health. One reason is that mental health issues often trigger physical problems and vice versa.  

If you’re struggling with a mental health issue, your body can have a physical response, exacerbating existing injuries and illnesses or causing new ones to develop. This two-way street leads to a confusing bidirectional impact, creating a chicken-egg conundrum and making it difficult to pinpoint the source or sources. 

The physical side of depression

When you feel blue, you may use the term “depressed,” but depression is much more than temporary, occasional sadness. It’s deep, persistent, unrelenting sadness and hopelessness that impact virtually every aspect of your life, including your body. In addition to affecting your mood, relationships, productivity, and social habits, depression can cause:

• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Physical fatigue
• Chronic pain
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Inflammation
• Nausea
• Weight loss or gain
• Sexual dysfunction

These physical issues can also trigger other problems. For example, if depression causes you to gain weight, you may develop heart disease or diabetes, and if inflammation compromises your immune system, you’re more susceptible to infections and illnesses.

How anxiety affects your body and vice versa

Most people feel some degree of anxiety when taking a test, experiencing a life change, or going through an interview — it’s a normal human response to stress. This response can even save your life by flooding your body with hormones that prepare you to handle danger — this is called the flight or flight mode.

Usually, this self-defense response dissipates once you’ve dealt with the danger.

However, living in a constant state of mental and emotional stress eventually takes a toll on your body, resulting in:

• Headaches
• Pounding heart rate
• Difficulty breathing
• Upset stomach
• Fatigue
• High blood pressure
• Muscle aches
• Chronic pain
• Dizziness

These aren’t just annoying symptoms; they trigger serious health issues like cardiovascular, immune, digestive, excretory, and respiratory problems.

Treatments for coexisting mental and physical health issues

A psychiatric consultation and a deep dive into your medical history and symptoms give Dr. Riegel a solid foundation for pinpointing the source or sources of your mental and physical conditions and how they affect one another. 

As a hormone specialist with proprietary formulas of bioidentical hormone replacement therapies, he can customize treatments to address a range of mental and physical conditions.

If he determines a hormone imbalance is behind your depression and anxiety symptoms, he can formulate a therapy that adjusts your body’s hormone levels and restores your mental and physical health.

If you’re stuck in a cycle of physical and mental symptoms that seem to feed off each other — break the connection and reclaim your overall health. Call The Riegel Center in Plano, Texas, or request an appointment online.