For most people gambling is seen as a way to earn money. Others see it as a means to relax, catch fun, and entertain themselves. However, when it becomes uncontrollable it can be a problem. A compulsive gambling habit can lead to gambling addiction. Gambling addiction is an uncontrollable behaviour to continue gambling despite the effect it takes on one’s life. Gambling addiction can also have the same disastrous effect as drug abuse. If left unattended, it can have a serious impact on one’s financial status, relationship, and health.
The National on Problem Gambling states that gambling addiction affects more than 2 percent of Americans. If you were to extend that number to the world’s population, then you can imagine how impactful gambling addiction is. People with gambling habits usually have an uncontrollable urge to visit casinos, purchase lottery tickets, stake bets on sports, or gamble online. Despite the negative effect of your gambling behaviour, you would not be able to stop. While the majority of the gamblers are men, some women still gamble. Gambling addiction if left untreated can cause negative effects on your mental and physical health. Further, we are going to discuss serious diseases caused by gambling addiction.
Depression
Depression is a mood disorder that involves a constant feeling of sadness, loss of interest, and feeling down. Depression causes you to be distant from your friends and family members, it makes you lose meaning in life. Depression could last for weeks, months, or even years. It makes you lose your appetite, feel worthless, or guilty.
One negative effect of gambling addiction is depression. It messes with your mental health. When your gambling habit becomes uncontrollable you’ll sell everything you have just to bet on the next game. You could go as far as borrowing or staking your properties just to satisfy this urge and where it becomes dangerous is if you constantly lose every bet. If this persists for a long time it could have damaging effects like depression on your mental health. You’ll lose your appetite, withdraw from loved ones, get pissed off over nothing, feel guilty, and even have suicidal thoughts. There have been many reported cases of people that committed suicide over depressing thoughts, with some cases associated with severe gambling addiction problems.
Migraine
Migraine is a physical health issue. It is a type of headache of varying intensity often followed by sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine is another serious disease caused by addictive gambling, compulsive gamblers are prone to having migraines.
Compulsive gamblers usually have a lot going through their head. They think of how or where to get money for the next game, how to pay off loans they’re owing, which game to play, which game will yield the maximum benefits, the nearest casinos to visit, the next game to bet, and so much more. With gambling addiction, there’s always a lot to think about, in time this habit will then compound into having negative effects on your physical health. Migraines are not good for your health. Just imagine having a persistent headache in addition to your gambling addiction.
While migraine may not look like the scariest illness to suffer from. Some cases of migraine might lead to nausea and vomiting if not properly treated. There’s also the strong possibility of it impacting one’s daily activities for as long as it persists
Intestinal Disorder
Intestinal disorders are conditions that occur within the gastrointestinal tract such as peptic ulcers. This condition could be caused by a lack of eating or constantly going without food for days. One serious disease caused by gambling addiction is intestinal disorder and compulsive gamblers would rather go hungry than miss a bet. They see gambling as an opportunity to provide the next meal, and what better way to guarantee it than to gamble with what they currently have to get more money. In most cases, this would lead to a loss, but they’ll keep going back.
Most compulsive gamblers skip meals or don’t even remember to eat at all just to satisfy their uncontrollable gambling habit. They could decide to go without food just to get enough money for gambling. To them, gambling is more important than actually having something to eat. They’re more interested in using all their money and properties for gambling, they even go as far as borrowing to satisfy their urge. The negative effect of this is having to go hungry, and over time this can lead to Intestinal disorder. This also has the potential to open up other life-threatening issues if not properly managed. As peptic ulcers can lead to internal bleeding or gastric cancer if proper care is not taken to effectively manage it.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling and/or staying asleep. Insomnia could be a result of different issues like depression. Asides from those listed diseases above, another scary disease caused by compulsive gambling habits is insomnia. Most addicted gamblers are consumed with thoughts of betting and gambling that create a sleeping problem.
Gambling addiction comes with a lot of issues and most addicted gamblers get tangled in these issues. If an addicted gambler is constantly thinking about where to get funds to bet for the next game, which casinos to visit, and how to pay off debts they will likely lose their interest in sleeping. The mind needs to be calm to comfortably fall asleep and this eludes most gamblers with bad gambling habits. Addiction is something that when left unsatisfied you will not be relaxed or calm until you satisfy your urge.
The problem with Insomnia is that there are many types of it. Some are more severe than others, while some could be as a result of an underlying health condition. (Adderall)
| Types | Cause | Practical example |
| Primary Insomnia | Depression/Compulsive gambling | This is usually as a result of the habits of the individual suffering from it. Chronic gamblers have been observed to have difficulties sleeping in some cases. |
| Secondary Insomnia | Other health complications like medication, pain, drug abuse, etc. | Some gamblers have turned to drugs as a means to get out of their sad situation. Migraine can also lead to sleeping difficulties. Heart problems like cardiac asthma can also cause sleeping problems. |
Personality Disorder
A personality disorder is a mental health issue in which you have an unhealthy and rigid pattern of thinking, behaving, and functioning. People with personality disorders have issues relating to other people and situations. Personality disorders like depression come with frequent mood swings, distance from people, anger issues, and difficulty mixing in a crowd.
A personality disorder is often seen in people who have a gambling addiction. Most addicted gamblers who have personality disorders often have dangerous mood swings, anger outbursts, bad relationships with loved ones, issues relating to the crowd, and other negative effects. People who have gambling issues are more likely to have personality disorders than normal people. Compulsive gambling could lead to bipolar tendencies or obsessive-compulsive disorder which are both forms of personality disorder.
Heart Issues
There are various types of heart issues and one likely heart issue that can result from a bad gambling habit is heart failure. This is by far the most dangerous disease caused by addictive gambling. A combination of all these diseases caused by addictive gambling can lead to heart failure. Constant thoughts of where to bet, how to get money to bet, sleeplessness, and similar thoughts can have a damaging effect on your heart. Addictive gambling might not have a direct effect on your heart, but if left unchecked for a long period it could have far worse damages. Thoughts of constantly losing and not making any gain as an addicted gambler could also affect your heart.
How to Gamble Healthy
Gambling in itself is not a big problem, as it has a lot of positive benefits if probably done. The problem is usually when compulsive behaviours are added into gambling exercise which then leads to those health issues. To gamble responsibly, it’s important to follow these simple rules.
- Always see gambling as a form of entertainment.
- Take a break. It doesn’t matter if you are winning.
- Set a gambling limit at all times. This would help in times of loss.
- Don’t use alcohol or drugs while gambling as it makes it easier to lose.
- Try to connect with support groups if you notice any abnormalities in gambling habits.
The best way to avoid financial problems with gambling is to have fun for free. Fortunately, there are a lot of different sites, where you can play with no need to risk and deposit. But if you still want to gamble healthy and for real money, you should take into account using different casino bonuses and promotions. Let’s see the best casinos for you in this case:
- No wagering casinos. It is the best option for any gambler who plays healthy and consciously. These casinos have the most lucrative bonuses, which you can use with no wagering requirements. So even if you deposit, the casino is honest with you, just take what you win.
- Low wagering casinos. This kind of casino can be met more often than the previous one, but it also has its own advantages. In the case of playing at the low wagering casinos, you know that there are no unpredictable problems that may happen when you want to withdraw your winnings. As soon as you fulfill those low wagering requirements, you are able to take your winnings.
Conclusion
Gambling is a very good hobby, that everyone likes. However, when some people use bonuses, increase their income and just have fun, others may get into real addiction problems. Gambling addiction goes beyond causing the gambler pain or loss of money as there are lots of diseases that can be gotten from it. Depression is the commonest health challenge that compulsive gamblers have to deal with. There are also other health problems like migraine, sleeping and personality disorders, and also heart problems. It is important for gamblers to prevent themselves from this while also enjoying the entertainment that comes from it. They have to stick to a few rules to ensure that these problems do not see the light of the day.
