Accruing thousands of dollars in debt due to credit card charges, medical expenses and mortgage payments may directly cause significant health risks. Owing unsecured debt, or debt detached from specific property, potentially results in feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty among its victims. As it worsens the health of aging adults, debt may ultimately shorten your lifespan.
Bankruptcy could provide potential monetary relief to consumers, and it may just save your life.
Older adults are most affected
In the United States, adults over the age of 55 hold an average of nearly $10,000 in debt on s. Most often, health care and medical costs top the list as the source of owed money. When you reach a well-deserved retirement age after a lifetime of work, you lessen your ability to accumulate income to pay off outstanding debt. You may already lack the ability to work due to physical restrictions.
The weight of long-term debt can prove incapacitating. Unfortunately, lingering debt leads to chronic stress. According to several health studies, stress affects older adults’ mental and physical state drastically.
Life-altering symptoms
The stress of owing thousands with the inability to pay may result in serious health risksand lower life expectancy.
These symptoms, including anxiety and stress, can cause:
- Fatigue
- Faltering immune systems
- Loss of concentration
- Heart problems
- Depression
Chronic stress also accelerates the aging process by further weakening deteriorating cells in older adults.
Relief of debt outcomes
Time spent with family and friends far exceeds lengthy phone calls with collection agents. Being unable to work and experiencing emotional and physical problems, the relief of debt by filing bankruptcy becomes increasingly essential.
Lifting the expensive debt burden can directly improve wellbeing. Debt is not a life sentence, but the health problems it induces may be.
