5 Ways Your Health Can Affect Your Money

#1: How Sleep Affects Your Finances

Remember those all-nighters you used to pull in college before midterms?

Science has an explanation for the wooziness you felt right before you crashed: Going without sleep for 24 or more hours makes a person perform as if they had a blood-alcohol level of 1%—.02% more than the legal limit for drunk driving.

Most likely, all-nighters aren’t your M.O. anymore, but if you’re consistently getting just four or five hours of sleep a night, your decision-making skills may not be as sharp as they could be. And that can have implications for your money.

“Lack of sleep can cause us to make many poor decisions, all leading to negative financial consequences,” says Bob Gavlak, a CFP® with Strategic Wealth Partners in Seven Hills, Ohio. “It could be as simple as buying a magazine that you don’t need at the grocery, or as big as drastically overpaying for a new car.”

: How Diet Affects Your Finances

Eating too many restaurant meals is a hallmark of poor nutrition—those who indulge too often have higher levels of obesity, body fat and unhealthy BMIs.

Plus, as anyone carefully tracking his expenses can attest to, dining out can also wreak havoc on your wallet. According to the USDA, a family of four eating moderately at home will spend about $245 per week on food—that’s half of what they’d shell out eating at restaurants.

And there’s more: It seems that eating high-fat restaurant meals may also affect cognitive abilities. In an Oxford University lab study, researchers found that rats eating a high-fat diet for several days showed signs of short-term memory loss and lower levels of brain function than those receiving a low-fat diet over the same period.

“There are a lot of parallels between good eating habits and good financial habits,” says Jeff Reeves, author of “The Frugal Investor’s Guide to Finding Great Stocks.” “If you don’t have the discipline to say no to junk food or count calories, you probably make a lot of impulse buys and have trouble balancing your checkbook. Self-control is the key to good financial health, as well as a healthy diet.”

How to Get Healthier “A good tip for your nutrition and finances is to plan your meals in advance,” Gavlak says. “Even if you plan to go out for a few meals during the week, it still helps prevent gut decisions to stop at a restaurant instead of eating a good, home-cooked meal.”

And feel free to take a few short-cuts if it means you’ll be motivated to maintain your healthy diet.

“Don’t feel guilty about spending a little extra money for prewashed spinach or precut carrots,” says Marguerita Cheng, a CFP® and C.E.O. of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Rockville, Md. “If it means you eat at home and you eat better, it’s worth it.”

Bonus tip: Instead of filling up on empty calories, add more energy-boosting foods to your diet, like almonds and blueberries, so you’ll have a clear mind to tackle your financial to-dos.

#3: How Exercise Affects Your Finances

We won’t sugarcoat it. Exercising regularly is no easy feat. But skip this good-for-you habit, and you’re likely to sacrifice more than just a smaller pant size.

For starters, regular exercise results in more energy for your brain, boosting your cognitive ability and sharpening your memory. So one consequence of staying sedentary could be that you’re operating at a significant disadvantage at work, compared to your more active coworkers.

You could also be missing out on a positive attitude that could help you tackle your finances head-on. “Exercise can improve confidence, which can help people make more informed decisions and take the meaningful actions necessary to reach their goals,” Cheng says.

In fact, Cheng says she often comes up with many of her most creative ideas after attending a cardio kickboxing or Zumba fitness class.

How to Get Healthier To fully gain the health benefits from exercise, try to clock about two and a half hours of exercise each week. If you need to ease into it, make it fun by incorporating more physical activity into your daily schedule—like, say, biking to work instead of driving, or watching your favorite TV show while on the elliptical.

The upshot? You’ll start to notice the benefits of sticking to healthy habits.

“In turn, you can take that experience and apply it to your financial goals,” Gavlak says. “If you want to pay off debt, increase your savings, or be ready to retire early, you’ll need discipline to stick to a long-term plan, much like regular exercise.”

I used to be the person who loaded 99c packets of white pasta into my trolley, together with the 99c loaves of white bread, and went home feeling pleased that I had stuck to my $100 grocery budget.

It never occurred to me that saving money, by living on cheap food, might be a false economy. Not until I started researching the stuff that gets put into our food.

Nowadays, our grocery bill is roughly twice the amount it used to be. I realise that’s quite a large chunk if money is tight.

But is the food we eat really an “expense”…Or is it an investment?

My experience has taught me that it’s the latter, and here’s why:

1. Good health will save you money in the long run.

Of course there’s all the usual things like, less down-time through sickness or ill-health, less money spent on medications, less money spent on doctors and specialists, and increased productivity due to more energy and motivation.

But there’s other benefits, too, like healthier skin and hair.

It pains me to admit that over the last decade I have probably spent thousands of dollars on skin and hair-care products, with the thought that THIS one might make my hair glossy, or my skin glow….

They never did. Because the truth is, that mediocre skin and hair are less about the product you use, and more about what you put in your mouth.

I no longer waste my money on pretty products, endorsed by the latest TV star. I use only a couple of good quality products, like pure coconut oil as a moisteriser, or raw organic honey as a face-mask. If I can’t eat it, I don’t put it on my skin.

But the best benefit of all is mental health.

Take care of yourself, and you’ll think clearer, and more positively, and more creatively than you ever have before.

You simply cannot put a price on this…which brings me to my next point.

2. Good health is priceless.

Midway through 2010, after researching food additives and cosmetic ingredients, I set about to change not only our diet, but our whole lifestyle. We cut out sugar, yeast, white flour, tap water, almost all packaged foods, and any personal care product that wasn’t completely natural.

We switched to organic sourdough breads, organic dairy products, wholemeal grains, and LOTS of fruit, vegetables and nuts.

In the beginning we felt worse….

But then we began to feel better – much better. In fact, so much better, it just wasn’t worth going back.

Some of the health benefits we’ve experienced from eating better are:

- Our youngest son’s eczema disappeared, leading to a much happier little boy who started to sleep through the night for the first time ever. (He was 14mths old at this time.)

- Our older son’s reading and concentration at school dramatically improved, and his hyperactive behaviour improved to the point, that I can now tell if he’s eaten food with additives in it, without anyone telling me. The change in behaviour is that obvious!

- My energy levels improved beyond recognition. No more “nanna naps” or mid-afternoon slumps.

- My husband’s regular bouts of hives vanished, and so did the hay-fever that made him miserable every Spring.

- Colds, flus and upset tummies are now a rarity in our house. Yes, even with children attending school and childcare.

The improved quality of life and the feeling of well-being is something that all the money in the world cannot buy.

Think about it. There is nothing more de-motivating and disheartening, than constant illness, fatigue or allergies.

An investment in your health is really an investment in you reaching your potential, and living the full and rewarding life that we all wish for ourselves and our children.

And that, by my definition, is true wealth.