Good health is a matter of pride for everyone, and this is why it’s important to prioritize it at all times. As with everything else, there are consequences to ignoring something you should pay attention to. Here are some of the financial consequences you can expect to face when you ignore your health.
Lower Productivity at Work
When you notice a health issue such as consistently poor sleep for a long period of time, it’s important to talk to your health care provider. This will enable you to get back your good health, something that will help you work better and become more productive overall. With more than 40,000 illnesses and occupational injuries on average reported to the Kansas Division of Workers’ Compensation each year, it’s clear to see that many work hours are lost due to health issues. Some of these may have had symptoms that manifested themselves early on but gone ignored only to act up in the future.
Higher Expenses Down the Road
When you ignore your health, it’s a given that you will have to pay more to have the issues you have resolved if they worsen, which they most often will. The costs you will pay to have an issue treated early will always be lower than those you pay for an issue that has progressed. When you look at it this way, it’s easy to see how the financial aspect comes in. Lengthier treatments call for more time and resources, so the fact that it’s possible to avoid this by seeking treatment early should motivate you to do so.
More Painful Conditions
When you ignore your health and it progressively worsens, you stand to experience a lot more pain than you would have experienced otherwise. It goes without saying that something like a cavity can leave you in a lot of pain the longer it’s left untreated. This is important to note alongside your dietary habits. For instance, it’s been found that while sports drinks are generally harmful to your teeth, exposure to energy drinks like Red Bull®, Monster®, and Rockstar results in a high degree of enamel loss. This is twice as much as exposure to sports drinks like Propel®, Gatorade®, and Powerade®, with the rations standing at 3.1% to 1.5%. Watching what you put into your body is key!
Higher Reliance on Drugs and Medication
Ignoring your health will also lead to a potential dependence on medication. This will likely all be in a bid to minimize symptoms like pain, discomfort, nausea, and other issues that are side-effects of illness and disease. If you get the actual issue treated rather than simply dealing with the symptoms as they occur, you will need to take less medication in the long term. With the costs of drugs at the level they’re currently at, it’s clear to see that it will have a bigger impact on your finances the more drugs you take.
Development of Other Complications
Finally, you will be likely to develop other conditions apart from the main issue you started out with if you ignore it for long enough. For instance, a diabetic foot ulcer is a well-known and unfortunate complication of diabetes mellitus. It has been found to occur in about 15% of people with diabetes. If found early enough, there may be a better chance of treating it conclusively before it gets to more painful and worse levels. Ignoring your health may, therefore, leave you treating many more conditions than the one you originally started with.
The consequences of ignoring your health listed above should inspire you to take treatment seriously. Don’t ignore things that you may feel are insignificant, because if they worsen, you will painfully realize that prevention is always better than cure.