The terrifying link between stock market drops and the health of ordinary Americans

The financial panic this week doesn’t just raise fears about people’s savings, investments and job prospects.

Trends from past economic crises show that when the markets suffer a dip, it can wreak havoc on ordinary Americans' health for years to come.

Spikes in suicides, alcohol and drug abuse, heart attacks, strokes and birth complications typically follow when America is plunged into a recession.

And that is increasingly looking like it could become a reality following the latest jolt of economic uncertainty.

Research has pointed to increases in a wide range of negative health outcomes tied to financial stress, which were made evident following the economic crisis of 2008

Economists at Goldman Sachs at the weekend raised the likelihood of the US economy slipping into a recession within the next 12 months from 15 to 25 percent.

Fears of a US recession - sparked by data that showed unemployment was unexpectedly rising - drove the global stock market sell-off on Monday. 

The link between health and recessions is well established at this point - and it affects more than just Wall Street bankers.

The trickle-down effects of a recession on joblessness, wage decreases, increasing debt, and higher housing costs all wreak havoc on the daily lives of all Americans. 

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The last time the US was in a recession was following the 2008 financial crisis.

In 2009, there were about 5,000 more suicides recorded than would be expected in an average year, a rise of about 15 percent. 

And suicides continued to rise for subsequent years. 

Between 2000 and 2009, only 22 states had big increases in suicide rates.

But from 2009 to 2018, 41 states saw their suicide rates rise significantly, with the District of Columbia experiencing the largest increase of 70 percent.

In general, research has shown that financial strife marked by unemployment, difficulty finding a job, credit card and other forms of debt, and low income can make someone 20 times more likely to take their own life. 

It can also increase a person's odds of drinking heavily or using drugs to deal with the devastating emotional toll that debt, unemployment, and lost wages can take.  

On top of raising the odds of experiencing depression and even suicidal thoughts, chronic stress tied to financial crises can raise one's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke

Deaths by liver cirrhosis linked to heavy drinking in 2009 rose by nearly 14 percent from 2006, with 4.4 deaths per 100,000 people, to about five deaths per 100,000 people in 2009. 

And today, with fentanyl causing record overdose deaths, experts like licensed therapist Colleen Marshall are concerned that a growing sense of hopelessness and depression could drive up those rates further.  

Ms Marshall, a therapist from Two Chairs therapy group in California, told DailyMail.com: 'The Great Depression crash, it was pretty historically linked to quite an increase in suicidality, people feeling desperate. And then 2008 makes sense, there was a link there.

‘History repeats itself,’ she said.

‘The way I would look at it is, if the sort of factors that led to the 2008 increase [in suicide deaths] and the 1929 increase are similar to what we're seeing today historically, then you can sort of extrapolate that we probably would see a similar impact from another recession.'

The same trends have played out in other parts of the world. During the 1997 economic crisis in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, there were an estimated 10,000 excess suicides from 1997 to 1998.

Reports from the Great Depression show that suicide rates spiked then, as well. In 1929, there were 17 suicides for every 100,000 people. By 1932, this number rose to 21.3 suicides per 100,000 people, which is about a 25 percent increase, according to economist John Kenneth Galbraith. 

According to Ms Marshall, anyone can experience the type of deep despair that may result in a fatal act of self-harm. But the average American may experience the effects of a recession more acutely. 

From unemployment and an inability to find a job to the threat of becoming homeless, Ms Marshall said a financial crisis is always 'a real risk factor and a trigger' for depression and suicidal behavior.  

Even if it doesn’t culminate in suicide, a financial crisis has a strong link to depression, and it can happen to a high-power executive just as acutely as the average Joe, according to Ms Marshall. 

‘For someone who is being removed as CEO of a large Fortune 500 company, it could be the same sort of ego blow that would lead to hopelessness, too.’  

But it’s not just rates of depression and suicide that could creep up.

Constantly worrying about one's finances and ability to sustain themselves or their families can lead to chronic stress, which has a major influence on a person's risk for chronic illness such as high blood pressure and stroke.  

A 2018 study looked at 106 people with heart attack who went to a Johannesburg hospital. The study found that patients who experienced significant financial stress had a 13-fold higher risk of having a heart attack compared to those with minimal or no financial stress.

Among the aftereffects of the 2008 crash was a sweeping increase in heart problems. 

From 2010 to 2015, US counties that suffered the most in the forms of job losses, homelessness, and debt saw a big jump in heart disease death rates from 2010 to 2015 from 122 to 127.6 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Dr Sameed Khatana, a cardiovascular fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, said: 'Large economic trends we might read about in the newspaper – things like recessions and job losses – really do have an impact on certain communities and the cardiovascular health of individuals living in those communities.' 

The financial crisis has also been linked to an increase in strokes. 

Researchers in Ireland, where the economic crisis of 2008 hit hard, reported that stroke deaths from 2007 to 2010 increased by about 17 percent compared to the period before the crisis. 

Money troubles are also linked to insomnia. Over three-quarters of Americans have lost sleep over fears of an economic recession. 

Dr Susheel Patil, sleep medicine physician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said: 'Persistent, anxious thoughts can make it difficult to fall asleep and impact sleep quality, so it’s understandable that a substantial number of Americans are losing sleep during this period of economic instability, inflation and job market insecurity.' 

Chronic stress about money also increases a person’s risk of experiencing dementia later in life, as well as pregnant women’s chances of giving birth prematurely to an underweight baby.

Financial stress’ relentless attack on mental and physical wellbeing is well documented. 

Thinking about it triggers the body’s stress response by releasing cortisol and adrenaline. 

Chronic activation of these hormones in the case of chronic stress leads to high blood pressure, immune system problems, and inflammation that raises the odds of a long roster of heart and neurological troubles.

In addition to the physiological effects of stress, financial instability impedes a person’s ability to live in a safe, stable environment, afford healthy foods that promote health, and seek support in the form of stress therapy.

A 2023 review of 98 papers whose focus was their global impact on mental health found that a rise in unemployment following a financial crisis ‘was shown to predict the prevalence of anxiety and depression among the general population. 

The review also found that even among people who had jobs, ‘negative impacts associated with working in the private sector, having a lower income, a bank loan, an increased workload, seeing company profit reductions or stock market losses, being of an older age, or being 'mobbed' at work can lead to increases in mental illness.