One study estimates that US taxpayers spend over 6 billion hours per year working on their taxes (in Canada, it may be as high as 600 million hours). And with all those hours comes a tremendous amount of stress and fear:
• You’re under a tight deadline.
• There’s a lot of money on the line.
• You have to track down countless receipts and slips.
• The forms are confusing.
• Getting it wrong—even by accident—can result in stiff penalties.
Putting yourself under such stress can have serious health consequences. Your regular eating habits may be disrupted so you’re more likely to reach for high-fat, high-sugar comfort foods. Worrying may lead to sleep deprivation, which can weaken your immune system and make you more prone to sickness and disease.
In fact, stress itself is known to suppress the immune system. Stress causes the body to release endorphins (opiates related to morphine), which relieve pain and produce feelings of euphoria. While morphine makes us feel better, research indicates that it also profoundly suppresses immune cell activity.
Isn’t it ironic that doing our taxes can actually increase our health care needs, which in turn increases the amount of tax we pay! If tax season stresses you out, next year consider paying someone else to do it.
