As evidenced in frantic Facebook posts, massive protests, and personal conversations that turn quickly to fascism and doomsday preparations, Donald Trump’s rise to power has sparked an existential dread unlike any in recent memory. (When the New Yorker posits with a straight face that we must be experiencing a glitch in the Matrix, it’s obvious that American progressives are not doing well.)

For the millions of Americans who didn’t vote for Trump, living in a constant state of anxiety is the new normal. But how does lingering fear and panic affect our physical health and wellbeing in the long run?In other words: What are the side effects of Donald Trump’s presidency?

 “From a clinical perspective, some of the things we look for are somatic complaints,” says Laura Lansrud-Lopez, clinical director of Southwestern College’s Tierra Nueva Counseling Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “We’re trying to find out what our clients’ bodies are doing with the stress. Common complaints include headaches, migraines, stomach aches, fatigue, sleep disturbances, weight gain, or weight loss.”

 Coping strategies vary greatly from person to person, but as writer Emily McCombs pointed out in a Tweetasking who else had gained the “Trump 15,” overeating is a popular self-soothing technique in times of stress and uncertainty.

“The current political climate has had an impact on almost all of my clients,” says Sarah Hays Coomer, a Nashville-based personal trainer and author of Lightness of Body and Mind: A Radical Approach to Weight and Wellness. “They are losing sleep, fighting depression and anxiety, pain symptoms have increased, and stress eating is sky high. Several of them put on as much as 17 pounds in a month.”

THERE IS MORE TO THIS ARTICLE BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO POST THAT MUCH.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THIS. DT RUINED CHRISTMAS FOR A LOT OF US. THE MORALE OF THE COUNTRY IS VERY LOW.