What You Need to Know About Self-Esteem and Your Health

May 25th, 2008 · No Comments

by Kim Archer

Is low self-esteem an issue for you or someone you know? You might not realize that self-worth issues don’t just affect you emotionally; they can also cause numerous physical health problems. Take a look at these seven ways that it can cause your well-being to suffer.

1. Anxiety: If you have a poor self-image, you won’t have any self-confidence either. This can trigger an anxiety attack in an unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation.

2. Stress: We all deal with stress in our lives, but for a person with a poor self-image it can be crushing. They won’t be prone to dealing with their stress, which can cause even more tension and worry. Stress is often a precursor of heart disease.

3. Depression: Hopelessness and despair are common to people suffering from low self-esteem. If you feel you have no value, you’ll start to cut yourself off from contact with family and friends. Isolating yourself from those who love you increases your tendency to think negatively of yourself, leading you down the path to depression. In extreme circumstances, some people start to think about suicide.

4. Alcohol Abuse: Others look to the soothing properties of alcohol to hide out from their problems and increase their confidence. Alcohol becomes their best buddy by giving them an effortless sense of self-esteem. Alcohol eliminates your self-consciousness and makes you bold. But booze is very addictive and will cause major damage to your body’s health. Alcohol abuse can lead to liver disease, heart problems, cancer and more.

5. Addictions: Another way people try to prop up a poor self-image is by abusing drugs, either prescribed or illegal. The temporary high takes away their problems and worries for a while. However, the consequences of long term drug addiction are well known, and they’re likely to end up dead if they don’t deal with their issues.

6. Weight Gain: People with low self-esteem often try to fill that empty feeling by overeating. This almost always leads to weight gain, sometimes to the point of obesity. Excessive weight gain is associated with heart disease, diabetes and numerous other ailments.