Losing your job can make you feel lousy. Whether you’re fired or laid-off, joining the ranks of the unemployed is not exactly a feel-good event. You don’t need a study to tell you that.

But what impact does losing a job have on your health? Could a layoff send a perfectly healthy person into a downward spiral of sickness? It’s possible, says Kate Strully, a sociologist at State University of New York in Albany. In her new study published in the journal Demography, Strully analyzed a variety of job loss situations — including being fired or laid off or losing a job after the entire company shut down — and found that job loss may indeed trigger serious physical and physiological illness.

“People aren’t sure they’re going to have a home, let alone have a holiday dinner,” said Ellyn Jeager, director of public policy and advocacy at Mental Health of America’s Georgia office. She warns that such financial pressures can escalate the stress of an already hectic season and take a toll on people emotionally and physically.

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