Recently Lose Your Job?… Science Warns You Might Be About to Get Sick.

By Kelley Bridenbaugh

If you’ve recently lost your job, you might want to take some extra Vitamin C. Research reveals why.

First, think about if you have ever been going through a move, a breakup, or a job transition and then you start to get sick and you think to yourself “Seriously, right now? This is the worst timing ever!” Well, it’s not by chance that your immune system needs some support during these times.

When you’re faced with big life changes, it can take a toll on your physical, mental, and emotional health. This is an easy claim to agree with when you’re going through a change, but psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe wanted to determine if stressful events can actually lead to illnesses. After examining over 5,000 patients’ medical records and various life events there were clear links between stress and illness. (Noone, 2017)

“...there were clear links between stress and illness.”

Their research and findings led to the creation of The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, also known as “The Stress Test”, which measures some of the most impactful life changes. It includes taxing life events that have different impact scores. The higher you score on the test, the more likely you will face illness in the near future and the harder you will have to work to return to a state of normal health. At the top of the list is the death of a spouse which results in 100 life change units and divorce which scores a 73.

So you’re probably wondering, well what about losing my job? The comes in as a top 10 event at #8.

However, what is worrisome is that there are subsequent events on the list that usually accompany losing your job, for example, a change in financial state, a change to a different line of work, a change in responsibilities at work, and a change in work hours or conditions.

And remember that the more of these events you experience, the more likely you will experience illness.

You might think that only negative life events cause stress, but that isn’t true. Marriage comes in at #7! Anyone who has or is planning a wedding can attest to some of the stress that comes with that. I was an October 2022 bride and then a November 2022 laid-off employee… so I’m over here collecting a couple of top-ten events.

Christmas and vacation are both on the list as well. While holidays seem joyful, they can also be very stressful socially and financially for many.

Sources

Noone, P. A. (2017, October). The Holmes–Rahe Stress Inventory. Occupational Medicine, 67(7), 581-582. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqx099