Poll Says Stress Causes Health Problems

A recent poll shows that stress from deepening debt is causing health problems for millions of Americans.

The AOL health poll suggests that people who are dealing with a mountain of debt are much more likely to report health problems such as ulcers, severe depression, even heart attacks.

Edward Driscoll, 38, of Braintree, Mass., said the $10,000 worth of debt he’s under contributed to his ulcers and his wife Kimberly’s panic attacks. "Just worrying, worrying, worrying, you know, where the next payment of this is going to come from," he says.

Around 10 million to 16 million people are “suffering terribly due to their debts, and their health is likely to be negatively impacted,” says Paul J. Lavrakas, a research psychologist. The people reported high levels of debt stress and suffered from at least three stress-related illnesses.

That finding is supported by medical research that has linked chronic stress to a wide range of ailments.

According to an index tied to the survey, the current tough economic times and rising costs of living seem to be leading to increasing debt stress, 14 percent higher this year than in 2004.

Among the people reporting high debt stress in the new poll:

• 27 percent had ulcers or digestive tract problems, compared with 8 percent of those with low levels of debt stress.
• 44 percent had migraines or other headaches, compared with 15 percent.
• 29 percent suffered severe anxiety, compared with 4 percent.
• 23 percent had severe depression, compared with 4 percent.
• 6 percent reported heart attacks, double the rate for those with low debt stress.
• More than half, 51 percent, had muscle tension, including pain in the lower back. That compared with 31 percent of those with low levels of debt stress.

Those who reported high stress also were much more likely to have trouble concentrating and sleeping and were more prone to getting upset for no good reason.

Pamela Crouch, 61, and her husband, who had retired from General Motors, found themselves struggling under IOUs totaling $30,000 after their construction business went under four years ago.

"We just kind of felt desperate. We just really didn’t have enough to live on to pay what we had to pay," recalls Crouch. She remembers having trouble sleeping and concentrating. "We ended up paying a lot of our bills just on the credit card," says Crouch, a medical assistant in a nursing home. "We were stressed and depressed. … It was really rough."

A family member recently helped them out with their debt problems. "Things are doing much better," she says. "It made a world of difference in how we feel."

Lavrakas said it isn’t known for certain whether such stress is causing health problems. While at Ohio State University in the late 1990s, he helped to develop an index to measure the extent to which people are stressed from financial debts.

Medical research suggests that most of the symptoms reported in this poll are indeed typical of chronic stress.

The body reacts with a "fight-or-flight" response, releasing adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol. That helps you react fast in an emergency, but if the body stays in this high gear too long, those chemicals can wreak physical havoc in numerous systems, causing everything from a rise in blood pressure and heart rate to problems with memory, mood, digestion, even the immune system.

However, stress does not cause stomach ulcers””which are caused by bacteria””but stress can make pain worse.

Americans are taking on more debt as tough economic times strain many people’s budgets.

Consumer debt, almost all from credit cards, now totals $957 billion, compared with $800 billion in 2004, according to the Federal Reserve.

Average car loans are up, too, to $27,397, from $24,888 four years ago. Home mortgages total $10.5 trillion, compared with $7.8 trillion in 2004.

Patricia Drentea, associate professor of sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said a significant life crisis like a major health problem or the loss of a job drives many people into debt.

“Others build up bills trying to keep up with the Joneses,” said Drentea, who studies debt and stress relief.

The survey found that upwardly mobile, middle-class families were among those who had the most debt stress. Others were women, couples with small children, low-income working families, Democrats and those who graduated high school but haven’t taken college courses. Those least likely to be stressed from debt include men, retirees, empty nesters, college graduates and Republicans.

For the poll, 1,002 adults from all states except Alaska and Hawaii were surveyed through telephone interviews conducted from March 24 to April 3 by Abt SRBI Inc. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Cynthia Roberts, 36, of Tawas City, Mich., is trying to get out from the debt she’s been under since losing her job as a convenience store manager because of health problems.

"I’m slowly crawling out of the hole that I’ve been buried in for four years,” said Roberts.

She now makes a living through a series of odd jobs such as hauling metal to the scrap yard, selling firewood, mowing lawns and cleaning houses. She’s now making payments on utility bills and on her car. But she’s unable to make payments on her credit card, where hundreds of dollars in charges are several years old.

Roberts said she couldn’t function at the height of her financial troubles. "I’m surprised I’m not in a white straitjacket in a nut house. It was that bad. I had to go for counseling because I was freaking out."