How Stress Impacts Your Life Insurance Application

No one in society is a stress-free person. Everyone has to go through stress at some point in his or her life. The quantity and frequency of stress in our lives are variable and can sometimes improve, or worsen situations that we are dealing with.

To succeed in life, you need some stress to counter problems and achieve goals that you’ve set over time. However, excessive stress might be dangerous for your physical and mental health.

What is stress?

Stress is a state of emotional and mental pressure that you feel when you come across challenging circumstances. You feel stressed out when you are not able to find solutions to some of your problems. Stress can sometimes go in your favor, boost energy within you and motivate you to resolve your problems, or it can either go negative resulting in Chronic Stress.

Chronic stress is a type of trauma experienced for a prolonged period of time; henceforth, it can lead to serious health problems such as high blood pressure, heart diseases, depression and other health concerns, that a life insurance company would be interested in knowing when you apply for an insurance application.

What causes stress?

There are many reasons that cause physical or emotional stress in an individual. Some examples of major stressors include:
• Financial problems
• Not able to meet the deadline in the office
• Losing your job
• Family problems and conflicts
• Isolation
• Discrimination
• Loss of a loved one
• Lack of goals in life
• Ongoing health problems

Everyone has a different way of reacting to stressful situations. A situation that creates stress and anxiety for one person may not seem stressful for another person.

The consequences of a Life Insurance application

Do you know that stress and depression can affect a life insurance application and its rates? When you are applying for a life insurance policy, you are supposed to take a medical examination, hence submitting all of your health history and records to an insurance company.

If you are suffering from high blood pressure or heart diseases and have poor health conditions, caused by Chronic Stress and depression, then your rates may be higher and you might have to pay more for your coverage compared to the person who doesn’t suffer from all of these symptoms.

These symptoms may have a huge risk to your health in the near future; thus, insurance companies might charge higher premiums for such greater risks and consequences, depending upon your life expectancy.

In extreme cases, your life insurance application could be outright declined by the insurance company. If you have a history of stress or depression, it is advisable to apply with multiple carriers at the same time, just in case some carriers decline coverage for you. It may even make sense to secure no medical life insurance before submitting applications for fully underwritten policies.

Dealing with stress

People who suffer from depression and chronic stress have different ways of dealing with it. Some might be on medications for long and others might choose the non-chemical approach, which includes natural ways of relieving stress.

Below are some of the ways that you could apply, to help manage stress in your lives:

1. Move around: Research has proved that exercise, meditation and yoga can help ease stress and anxiety by keeping your nerves calm. Take a walk outdoors in the evening or morning.
2. Talk it out: Talk to a friend, your loved one or whomever you’re comfortable with. Tell them what makes you stressful and look for a solution together.
3. Healthy living: If you are a well-nourished person, your body and mind will be in a better position to cope with stress. Take healthy, balanced meals throughout the day!
4. Sleep well: Get enough sleep at night, as it will boost your mind and body. A tired mind will think and worry about stress unreasonably.
5. Limit caffeine: Taking too much caffeine throughout the day could aggravate the stress level, leading to anxiety and panic attacks. Limit your daily intake of tea, coffee and cigarettes.

Stress can lead to many problems in your life that you might not want to welcome, so take a deep breath and manage stress effectively as much as you can.