Widows Quest » international-womens-day

Grief can damage your health

Anna Farmery — Tue, 01 May 2007 18:11:33 +0000

I was reading an article on the BBC website about research into survival rates of bereaved people. Here is a snippet

“Writing in the journal, the researchers led by Dr Carole Heart, said: “We have shown that bereavement does have an impact on mortality risk, in addition to that of individual risk factors – which had a fairly small influence – and that the effects are persistent.” Stewart Wilson, of the counselling charity Cruse Bereavement Care, said: “When a couple have been together a long time, the incidence of long-term survival is relatively low for the other partner.”Cathy Ross, of the British Heart Foundation, said the common ways of coping with the death of a loved one often led to health problems.”Some people will smoke more, other people may drink more and they tend not to eat – or to eat really badly. “It is really about how we cope with the bereavement, rather than the process itself.”

When you are bereaved it is so easy to let yourself go, turn to a more unhealthy lifestyle. It is so important to try and eat well, get some exercise and keep away from smoking or excessive drinking. You have just seen the effect of the loss of life, your family don’t want to cope with another loss so soon. I have not been great in this area and this article has spurred me to think more about exercising….

Post from: Widows Quest

Starting to Live again

Anna Farmery — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:10:57 +0000

When you suffer the loss, grief is powerful. The body seems to realise and puts you in a mindset that “gets you through” the bereavement and all the practical realities of the funeral and the months after. For me that numbness really rendered me useless, it was as though someone had taken out my batteries and my emotions. As you move through the challenge is to move from the “getting through” mentality to challenging yourself to see the possibilities. For many this is hard, but it is seeing the new possibilities that see that life flow back to your body. They may be different, they may be things that you didn’t imagine before the death but they are possibilities…..once you can see them you can then focus on achieving them. For instance if money is an issue, then see the possibilities of how to earn money and build it to an income that will support you in the future…..once you can see the possibility which is out there, then you need to take small steps to achieve it. Sounds easy, it isn’t but it is POSSIBLE.

Post from: Widows Quest

International Womens Day – Widows Quest Celebrates

Anna Farmery — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:48:46 +0000

Tomorrow we celebrate our wonderful role in the world. In widowhood we can celebrate too….

We can celebrate our strength during times of grief

We can celebrate the love that we shared and created in this world

We can celebrate how we have helped those we have lost feel happiness

We can celebrate our role as mothers, keeping society alive

We can celebrate our resilience in adversity

It is sad that we cannot celebrate with the ones we love….however at Widows Quest we have each other!

Post from: Widows Quest