Title: Your Health and Grief
Headings: Your Health and Grief
Your Health and Grief
How we Physically React to Stress
Taking Preventative Measures to Ward Off Health Concerns

Content: Put a number of stresses together and our bodies will surely suffer. We must be very aware that our loved one’s death and the resultant grief is a legitimate reason for physical illness. We must do whatever we can to lessen our susceptibility. Heading directly into our grief and allowing ourselves to face our painful emotions is the most helpful thing we can do. Talking about our child and the circumstances of the death crying when we need to and talking with someone who will listen non-judgmentally to our anger and guilt is the only way to successfully resolve our grief—and ultimately resolve the stress that is caused by the grief. The majority of bereaved people experience some kind of physical illness in the first four to six months after the death of their loved one. For most the illness can be directly tied into the extreme stress of their loved one’s death. I know it is hard to be concerned about yourself physically when you hurt so badly emotionally. But remember, you will not always be in this emotional pain. Remember too if you have damaged your body in the early months of grief you run the risk of never completely recovering from the physical illness — and recovery for bereaved people means recovery in body as well as mind.