Toxic Relationship: The Adverse Effects It Has On Your Health As A Student

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By Sadik Omolola

In one way or another, every aspect of life involves the presence of a relationship, which includes friendship, kinship, partnership, and so on. People tend to, however, define the word “relationship”, as a romantic and passionate affair between two humans.

It is quite unsurprising that we live in a society where a good number of undergraduates feel the burning desire to be in a romantic relationship. For these sets of students, having a romantic partner is as necessary as a basic amenity.

Being a single student in the university might leave you feeling jealous, “oppressed” and left out. At this stage, many single students would feel pressured to find a romantic partner without putting the odds of a relationship into consideration.

Admittedly, a relationship can be a good thing, as long as it is not toxic and injurious to your well-being. To ensure that you realize the damaging effects of getting yourself caught up in one, this article entails ways in which a bad relationship could adversely affect your health as a student.

What Is A Toxic Relationship?

To begin with, relationships exist to foster connections, ties, attachments, and affairs.

Negative relationships are commonly referred to as being “toxic”. Anyone can be entangled and involved in a toxic relationship. A relationship is toxic when it makes you feel psychologically, emotionally, and even physically unwell, traumatized, vulnerable, verbally manipulated, physically abused, unsupported, and threatened in several ways.

A toxic relationship can leave you feeling depressed, misunderstood, and hopeless. It can affect your level of confidence and self-esteem negatively.

Although there exists no perfect relationship. Disagreements and arguments do occur even in the best of relationships. It is however very important to recognize the difference between a toxic relationship and a slight misunderstanding.

The Effects Of A Toxic Relationship On Your Health

Mental Exhaustion

Being in a stressful relationship causes a decrease in mental health. Extensive studies have shown that a lovely, relaxing, and stress-free relationship is good for our mental health and a difficult, bad and strained relationship is however the opposite, as it impacts negatively on our health.

A stressful relationship leaves the partners involved, especially the one on the receiving end, feeling mentally exhausted, emotionally down, and psychologically hostile. In certain cases, individuals involved in bad relationships could go as far as having suicidal thoughts. As a student, the last thing you would want to experience is “poor mental health”.

Increase In Blood Pressure

Being in a toxic relationship could cause a significant increase in blood pressure. Yes, a bad relationship can cause chronic stress.
People in stressful relationships release more cortisol (the stress hormone) compared to single people. This is because they go through more stress and the body needs to protect itself from the effects of stress. An over-secretion of this hormone could trigger an increase in the pressure of blood flow to the heart, and increase the risk of obesity, heart attack, diabetes, and stroke.
Remember, as a student in Nigeria especially, you already have your education to think about and many things to sort out. A toxic relationship that would damage your health is not worth it!

Heart Diseases

Being in a stressful relationship increases the risk of having heart disease. It promotes constant heartbreaks and leaves you vulnerable. Having high blood pressure could increase your chances of developing heart disease over time. Different studies have proven the fact that people in toxic relationships have a high increase in the possibility of having heart conditions and are more likely to suffer heart attacks compared to people in happy relationships.
A stressful relationship causes overthinking, frustration and depression in most cases and this will affect the heart’s health adversely.

Anxiety

Relationship distress affects the overall health and the social life of the partners involved. Being in a bad relationship could trigger full-blown anxiety, lack of sleep, and reduced brain function.
One major outcome of a toxic relationship is anxiety, which could in turn cause a lack of concentration in class, lack of confidence, and struggles to keep up with school responsibilities for a student.

Weakened Immune System

If you do not get out of a toxic relationship or seek help before things get worse, you could slowly reduce the strength of your immune system and your chances of living longer.
A stressful environment can cause negative impacts on our immune system and reduce its normal response to fight back over time.

In conclusion, a healthy life is a happy life. We must always find ways to distance ourselves from events or actions that will affect our health negatively and employ every possible means to promote healthy habits for ourselves.

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