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It’s Not Just in Your Head
Feeling stressed about money? About 83% of Americans say they’re experiencing financial stress driven by rising costs, job concerns, and economic uncertainty. And while most of us think of financial stress as a mental and emotional problem, it can affect your body just as hard.
Gia Seutter, LCSW, behavioral health integration program manager at Sky Lakes, says the mind-body connection is at the center of it all. “The biggest message to take from something like this is just having that awareness of how connected our mind and body is,” she says. “It’s amazing.”
What Stress Does to Your Body
When you worry about money, your brain sets off a chain reaction. It releases a hormone called cortisol, which is your body’s built-in alarm system. In short bursts, cortisol helps you handle tough situations. But when stress drags on, cortisol levels stay high. And that can cause physical damage. Ongoing high cortisol levels have been linked to weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Financial stress can also lead to digestive problems, headaches, body aches, joint pain, and a weaker immune system. Seutter says it can even make it harder for your body to fight off infections.
And there’s more: When you’re stressed, you may skip meals, eat too much sugar, stop exercising, or fall back on habits like smoking. People who are financially stressed are up to 43 percent more likely to be overweight and have worse health outcomes than people who aren’t stressed.
It’s a Vicious Cycle
One of the trickiest parts of financial stress is how it can feed itself. Seutter describes a common pattern: You’re stressed about money, so you can’t sleep. You sleep through your alarm. You miss work. You earn less. And now you’re even more stressed.
“We sometimes end up creating some of the stress or making it more challenging by how we’re responding and coping with it,” she says.
Stress can also make you forgetful, which means you might skip your blood pressure medication or miss a doctor’s appointment. For people with chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease, that can make conditions worse.
Focus Only on Yourself
A lot of financial stress comes not only from your own situation, but from headlines about the economy, gas prices, grocery costs, and job cuts. Seutter says learning to separate what you can control from what you can’t is a key skill.
“What is it we can control?” she says. “I can’t necessarily control what the powers that be are doing to decide the costs of corn at the market.” If the news is stressing you out but your personal finances are actually stable, it may be time to limit your screen time and step back from social media.
What You Can Do
You don’t have to feel stuck. Here are some steps that can help:
- Get grounded. Try mindfulness or grounding exercises, which train your brain to stay in the present instead of spiraling into worry. You can find free guides online.
- Move your body. Even a short walk outside, breathing in fresh air and listening to the sounds around you, can reset your mood.
- Talk to someone. There’s a lot of shame around financial stress, Seutter notes, but reaching out is a sign of strength, not failure. Your primary care provider can connect you with mental health resources.
- Get financial guidance. Free financial counseling is available through nonprofits and online resources. Seutter says some employers offer free financial courses to employees.
When to Ask for Help
Seutter says a good signal that it’s time to reach out for professional support is when stress starts interfering with your daily life — your relationships, work, sleep, or your ability to function.
“When our worry begins to really interfere with our daily life,” she says, “that’s when we can go, whoa. It’s time.”
You don’t have to manage financial stress alone. And the sooner you reach out, the better. Do it for your peace of mind and your physical health.
