Top Four Unhealthy Ways to Deal with Stress

When in the clutches of the stress monster, the only thing on your mind is escape. Stress gives you headaches, backaches, shortens your temper, and reduces sleep. How can you get rid of it?

There are good ways to deal with stress, and then there are bad ways. The bad ways may stave off the beast, but will damage your health in the process.

Unhealthy Way to Deal With Stress - Drugs

Illegal drugs, such as marijuana or cocaine can help you deal with stress, but will bring a lot more down on you. Legal drugs, such as prescription or over the counter pain or sleep medication, provide a crutch in much the same way. Making your drug of choice socially acceptable does not help. Caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes are just as guilty. The stress is still there, and now you smell bad and there are incriminating pictures from the latest party.

Unhealthy Way to Deal With Stress -Gluttony and Sloth

Besides being two of the more popular deadly sins, gluttony and sloth are unhealthy ways of dealing with stress. Becoming a couch potato will never solve problems, unless your particular problem stems from being too fit, healthy, or social.

Eating too much, for some, is akin to taking a drug. Radical changes in blood sugar levels can affect your moods, dulling the emotional symptoms of stress. Lying on the couch creates a sort of odd euphoria, which may have something to do with comparing your own life to those of the people on daytime talk shows.

Unhealthy Way to Deal With Stress - Acting Out Anger

Anger is a large cause of stress: whining kids, nagging spouse, idiot drivers, and arrogant bosses. Dealing with this stress by acting out your anger is unhealthy in many ways. First, acting out anger on whining children results in poor nursing home selection when you are older. Acting out anger on a nagging spouse results in lack of sex. Idiot drivers? Road rage incidences. Arrogant bosses? Bye-bye, buddy. No more paycheck puts a serious unhealthy spin on your food-buying and mortgage-paying abilities.

Unhealthy Way to Deal With Stress - The Great Escape