How Poor Health Can Cost You A Lot of Money

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a health related post on the blog. Actually, if we want to get technical, I think the last time I mentioned health and fitness was when I interviewed Diana from Unleash Your Sexy.

So it’s high time I bring up living a healthy lifestyle again, because what’s the point of figuring our your money and your career if you can’t live to enjoy it? What’s the point of creating your post grad life if you don’t work in your health?

Rather than going on about how much I love yoga, how to find your personal work out style or how to even find time to work out I’m going to come from another perspective: money.

After all, what motivates people more than the cost of something?

An Investment in Your Future

Yes, living a healthy lifestyle can cost you money. Gym memberships can be expensive depending where you go. Yoga classes cost an arm and a leg (I should know). If you need a trainer due to injury or doctor’s orders say hello to a hole in your wallet.

Granted, there are ways to live healthy on the cheap such as subscription services like Exercise.tv and My Yoga Online, but let’s face it, sometimes we feel more motivated in a class. It’s also nice to have live instruction, especially when it comes to posture and form for the sake of not getting injured.

Rather than thinking about it as a huge burden on your wallet, think of it as an investment in your future. You want to travel the world, have a family, run a business and live a kick ass life? Well then how do you plan on doing any of that to it’s fullest potential if you are sick and unhealthy?

Besides, not being healthy can actually cost you more money than anything you spend on health and fitness now.

How Poor Health Can Make You Poor

Here are some facts about how poor health can actually make you poor:

Ever wonder why employers ask about your health? Unhealthy employees cost businesses $153 billion in lost productivity. Guess who an employer is more likely to hire? Sure, there are laws in place to protect against this sort of thing, but let’s call a spade a spade. Not only that, but if you already have a job then poor health reduce the hours you can work and therefore decrease your income. Poor health is also one of the primary reasons people are forced to retire early.

In case you haven’t noticed, the cost of even basic healthcare is RIDICULOUS. One way to reduce the cost is to be preventative about your health.

According to Mayo Clinic, among overweight and obese adults, each one-unit increase in BMI costs an additional $119.70 in medical costs and $82.60 in drug costs.

Diabetes was recently named the fastest growing condition among Gen Y. Diabetes can cost an individual close to an extra $6,000 a year in out of pocket medical costs. This is in addition to the $13,243 the nation spends on each person with diabetes.

As it turns out the best investment you will ever make is in your own health. When you really start to think about it, it’s an investment that basically requires no risk, is available to people of all financial backgrounds, and can actually save you a lot of money for the long haul. With that in mind, why wouldn’t you start cultivating a healthy lifestyle in your 20s?

P.S. Don’t forget to join me tonight at 10PM EST as I host a Twitter Chat sponsored by SheNow.org! I will be there to answer all your career development questions – from looking for work to running your own side hustle! Use hashtag #SheNOWCHAT to join! See you tonight!