How Being an Empath Affects Your Health
and What You Can Do about It
Tips for
dealing with effects of being empathic or being an empath
Do you often find yourself listening to, advising, and comforting friends and
family? Is your shoulder permanently wet from offering it up as a place for others to cry on? As an empath, you
give so much of yourself that it can often leave you feeling drained. Unfortunately, this has negative effects on
your physical health.
There's a difference between being an
empath and being
empathic. When you are empathic, you relate to other people's
feelings. While being an empath involves being more classed as a highly sensitive person. But this article
doesn't concern itself with the differences between the two, which are often blurred. It simply deals with the
effects of empathy on your health, to whichever category you might belong.
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Whether you are being an empath or have feelings of
empathy towards others,
it will affect your health and you need to know how to deal with it. (Photo by Filippo Cozzini on
Unsplash) |
The Health Effects of Being an Empath
Researchers at McGill University’s McGill Centre for Research found
in a 2008 study that
people with high empathy scores felt stronger physical pain sensations when exposed to others experiencing
uncomfortable stimuli. The results suggest that in addition to feeling the emotions of others, empaths also acutely feel the physical pain of others. Dr. Judith Orloff, the author
of The Empath’s Survival Guide, points out that empaths feel people’s emotions before they think about them, which is the
opposite of most individuals.
By some estimates, 20 percent of adults are highly sensitive, and a significant
proportion of these people are empaths. However, the official guide to psychiatric disorders, the DSM-5, does not have an empath diagnosis. Instead, it is commonly misdiagnosed as social
anxiety.
Greater creativity, intuition, compassion, and a deeper connection are all
benefits to being an empath. However, there are also several negative physical health consequences, including
absorbing negativity and stress from others as well as becoming easily overstimulated, exhausted, and overwhelmed.
This leaves empaths vulnerable to emotional burnout, depression, addiction (to drugs, sex, shopping, food, etc.),
and anxiety.
How to Minimize the Health Effects
You must avoid excessively absorbing others’ negative energy and
stress if you want to protect your emotional and
physical well-being. Here are a few strategies to help you with this:
Take Some Time Alone
To center and regroup yourself, spend some time alone. This might include
meditating, sitting quietly, listening to soothing music, taking a bath, or breathing deeply and slowly.
It's essentially taking time for yourself only.
Set Boundaries
Keep conversations to a minimum with someone who is draining your emotional
reserve or energy or spend less time with them. You must protect your energy so you do not give until you are worn
out.
Know Where Your Emotions Are Coming
From
Ask whether a new feeling is yours or belongs to a companion when you feel the
onset of emotional overload or a shift in mood. This will help you avoid absorbing the feelings from other people
and learn to recognize your own feelings.
Enjoy Nature
Clear negativity by getting out into a clean, green, fresh environment. Here, you
can replenish your energy and shed other’s pain. A good walk will always clear your mind and help you focus on what
matters for you, rather than what others might be feeling.
The above tips and strategies will help you better understand your own feelings,
while getting away from giving undue attention to what other might be feeling. While it's important to understand
what others might feel and even empathize with their problems, you must first understand and look after yourself.
By knowing how being an empath affects your health, you can then help others more competently.
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