Depression Also Affects Your Ability To Sleep
Adults should sleep seven hours a day or more, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For people with depression, that task may be challenging.
“People with depression often have trouble falling asleep or difficulty staying asleep, or both,” says Dimitriu. People with depression may experience less slow wave or deep sleep, according to a September 2014 review in the journal Sleep Science. The end result? Sleep feels “less restful and restorative,” says Ricke.
Plus, people who are depressed can engage in “maladaptive behaviors that contribute to poor sleep,” says Ricke. For instance, depression-related fatigue can lead to someone taking a nap, which will only make falling asleep in the evening harder, she says.
Dimitriu and Ricke note that staying active may be hard for someone with depression, but resisting the temptation to stay on the couch can go a long way in fact, getting some physical activity each day may even help you sleep better at night.
You Have Limiting Beliefs
You might actually not be lazy and unmotivated. You might be telling yourself that youre lazy and unmotivated because thats what you believe.
And this could be due to low self-esteem or something a parent instilled in you.
For example, if your parents told you since you were young that you are lazy and up to no good, youll be inclined to believe it even when youre older.
Or you might be engaging in negative self-talk. Maybe you tell yourself that youre not good enough and arent destined for great things.
What you can do:
Get out of your head and prove yourself wrong.
2. Stop letting others perceptions of you shape who you are.
They only see one piece of you. When 500,000 pieces make you.
Heart Attack Or Stroke
While you may be on the lookout for chest pain to signal problems with your heart, you should also add sudden-onset fatigue to the list, per the American Heart Association. .
In addition, the AHA points out that fatigue or confusion can be one of the initial symptoms of a stroke. Other signs might include a severe headache, arm weakness and difficulty with walking or talking.
Warning
If you have sudden exhaustion along with any other symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, call 911 immediately. In either case, your likelihood of recovery is better the sooner you get treatment.
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Practice Mindfulness Meditation And Relaxation
Mindfulness meditation, relaxation, and breathing exercises can help calm your mind and body, which may allow you to feel more energetic. Plus, it only takes a few minutes each day to feel a difference. Use this time to be aware of whats going on in your mind and body.
Start with five minutes a day and work your way up to mindful moments several times a day. To help you get started, listen to a guided meditation, or recorded breathing exercises. Once you feel comfortable with the practice, you will find that you have more focus and awareness throughout the day.
When To Seek Professional Help
Any level of depression should be taken seriously and the faster you address the symptoms, the less likely you are to develop a more severe type of depression. Seeking professional help is a sign of bravery and self-respect because it shows that you are dedicated to caring for your mind and body. A therapist can offer more clinical advice and guide you through treatment with approaches that are more tailored to your specific situation and needs. However, if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, tell someone you trust and seek assistance immediately.
Everyone experiences low points in their life and their mental health, but depression is a treatable mental illness and you can recover. Whether you or a loved one is feeling depressed, every persons experience with mental illness is different but help is available. Visit our Key Services page to learn more about the treatment methods we offer and to explore our list of additional health and wellness classes to support your overall mental health.
If you are in a crisis, please call us at 303-425-0300 or by calling the crisis line at 844-493-8255. The 24/7 crisis walk-in center and withdrawal management program is open at 4643 Wadsworth Blvd, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.
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Low Mood And Depression
Difficult events and experiences can leave us in low spirits or cause depression.
It could be relationship problems, bereavement, sleep problems, stress at work, bullying, chronic illness or pain.
Sometimes it’s possible to feel down without there being an obvious reason.
If you are experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety call Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87.
Tips For Better Sleep
Follow these tips to get a better nights sleep:
Try sticking to a sleep schedule. Follow it during the week and on weekends to keep your rest times consistent.
Create a bedtime ritual. Dim the lights and engage in quiet, relaxing activities.
Avoid napping, as it can interfere with nighttime sleep. Naps in the late afternoon may particularly make it difficult to fall asleep at night.
Exercise each day. Vigorous exercise may help you sleep best, but even a light workout can help you nod off more easily at night.
Fine-tune your sleep environment. Most people sleep best when the room temperature is between 60 and 67F . If there are distractions in your environment, consider using blackout curtains, earplugs, or a white noise machine.
Check your pillows and mattress. If they arent comfortable, it may be difficult for you to fall asleep. A mattress should last you around 10 years. While youre at it, make sure these items are free from allergens that might bother you.
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Narcolepsy Vs Being Tired
Narcolepsy, a condition that causes people to fall asleep suddenly, usually develops in people between the ages of 10 and 25.
Symptoms of narcolepsy include:
- Sudden loss of muscle tone that can lead to slurred speech or general weakness. Also called cataplexy, this symptom may last only a few seconds to several minutes. It is usually triggered by intense emotions.
- Sleep paralysis, which is an inability to move or speak as you fall asleep or wake up from sleep. These episodes usually only last a few seconds or minutes, but they can be extremely frightening.
- Hallucinating as you wake between dreams and experiencing your dreams as reality.
Heart Disease And Fatigue
Symptoms: Fatigue from an activity that should be easy
If youre exhausted after an activity that used to be easy — for example, walking up the steps — it may be time to talk to your doctor about the possibility of heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. If your fatigue is related to your heart, medication or treatments can usually help correct the problem, cut the fatigue, and restore your energy.
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Causes Of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness And Being Tired
Many of the causes of sleepiness and being tired include sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, narcolepsy, and other sleep disorders.
Lets return to determining the difference between fatigue and sleepiness. With fatigue, a person will usually complain that he or she does not have enough energy to get going, or to do certain things. But, when they close their eyes sitting or laying down, they do not fall asleep. This is an important point in differentiating the two symptoms.
With tiredness and sleepiness, obviously when the person does sit or lay down for a rest opportunity, the person does fall asleep.
How To Get Sleep In Uneasy Times
Chronic stress also triggers low-grade inflammation, she adds.
“We have this inflammatory response when we’re feeling severe states of stress that can last. It’s subtle, it’s low grade and it can absolutely cause fatigue and a worse mood.”
A year of anxiety, grief and trauma
The fatigue and fog so many are feeling now also could be symptoms of other mental health issues that flared over the last year, says Dr. Jessica Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis. “After this long, most people have had some degree of anxiety, depression, trauma, something,” she says.
As studies have shown, rates of anxiety and depression in the population have gone up during the course of the pandemic.
I think that because so many people are struggling with this and because it is so normal, everybody has something to say. If we could just get to the point where we could be talking about the stuff more openly, we’d feel a lot less alone.
Dr. Jessica Gold, psychiatrist
Long-term anxiety can also exhaust the body, says Gold.
“We evolved as creatures, people that run from predators in the animal kingdom, right? To have anxiety as a way to predict and run from threat,” she says.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis And Fatigue
Symptoms: Fatigue, morning stiffness, joint pain, inflamed joints
Rheumatoid arthritis , a type of inflammatory arthritis, is another cause of excessive fatigue. Because joint damage can result in disability, early and aggressive treatment is the best approach for rheumatoid arthritis.
Medications that may be used early in mild RA include:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs
Other drugs used in more serious forms of RA include the anti-cytokine therapies , as well as shots and other forms of treatment.
Other autoimmune disorders, such as lupus and Sjogren’s disease, may also cause fatigue.
Can Depression Be A Symptom Of Other Mental Health Problems
Depression can be a part of several mental health problems, such as:
If feelings of low mood or suicidal thoughts are the reason you first speak to your doctor about your mental health, your GP might offer you treatment for depression without realising that you are also experiencing other symptoms.
If you think you’re experiencing other symptoms, you can talk to your doctor about this to make sure you’re getting the right treatment to help you. See our pages on seeking help for a mental health problem for information on how to make sure your voice is heard, and what you can do if you’re not happy with your doctor.
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A Sign Of Atypical Depression
Dr. Drerup says that oversleeping is a symptom in 15% of people with depression and she notes that it tends to more often be related to atypical depression.
Atypical depression is a specific type of depression in which the persons mood can improve in response to a positive event. But even though their mood may brighten, its only temporary and the root depression remains.
Often, they dont realize theyre depressed, Dr. Drerup adds. Besides oversleeping, other symptoms are increased appetite and interpersonal sensitivity, like the feeling of being rejected. And that depression feeds into other reasons sleep can be so greatly affected.
Sleep Disorders And Fatigue
Symptoms: Chronic fatigue, feeling exhausted upon awakening, snoring
Sleep disorders are a group of conditions that disrupt or prevent restful, restorative sleep. That can take a toll on your health and quality of life, so its important to look out for signs and symptoms.
Continued
Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. If you or your partner notices loud snoring and you wake up tired and stay that way, you could have sleep apnea. More than one-third of adults in the U.S. snore at least a few nights a week. But if the snoring stops your breathing for seconds at a time, it could be sleep apnea. Learn more about the best sleep positions and see if sleeping on your stomach is bad or not.
Obstructive sleep apnea causes low blood oxygen levels. That’s because blockages prevent air from getting to the lungs. The low oxygen levels also affect how well your heart and brain work. Sometimes, the only clue that you might have sleep apnea is chronic fatigue.
Your doctor may prescribe a medical device called CPAP that helps keep your airways open while you sleep. In severe cases of sleep apnea, surgery may help. The surgeon will remove tissues that are blocking the airways. If left untreated, sleep apnea can increase your risk of a stroke or heart attack.
But sleep apnea is just one of many sleep disorders that cause fatigue. Other common types include:
Continued
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What Are The Causes Of Depression
Experts say that depression is caused by an interaction of genetic factors and real life triggers. Because depression often runs in families, experts believe that genetic factors make some people more vulnerable to than others, because of their individual brain chemistry.
Depression triggers can include:
* Situational factors: Major problems and life crises — a romantic break-up, job loss, or the death of a loved one, for example — are often the immediate, most obvious causes of depression. But ongoing life challenges like poverty, unemployment, and social isolation, as well as childhood trauma, also put people at higher risk for depression.
* Medical factors:Chronic pain or illness can lead to depression. Certain medical conditions — including hypothyroidism, cancer, and hepatitis — can cause depression. Nutritional deficiencies and some medications are culprits as well. Therefore, it’s important that treatment for depression include a medical evaluation.
* Gender: Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression, a discrepancy likely due in part to the tremendous hormonal shifts that accompany menstruation, child birth, and menopause.
* Stress: A connection between chronic stress and depression has been established and could explain why stressful life situations, like poverty and unemployment, put people at far higher risk for depression.
Treatment for Depression
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Anxious Meditation Can Help You ‘relax Into The Uncertainty’ Of The Pandemic
The rise in symptoms of anxiety and depression, which include exhaustion, is a predictable response to the trauma of the pandemic, says Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University.
“The definition of a trauma is an event that threatens people’s sense of safety and stability,” which this pandemic is, he adds.
Nearly all of us are grieving the loss of life as we knew it, says Dr. Jennifer Payne, director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins. “We’re just in a completely different world right now,” she says. “A lot of things are not going to go back to the way they were. And so that causes grief and is a normal reaction to a big change.”
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Why Is It Hard To Admit That You Have Walking Depression
You may recognize many of these signs in your life but still be slow to admit that you are depressed. Why is that?
Because it feels presumptuous to put yourself in that category when youre still getting by. You feel like it would be insulting to those who are much worse off than you. You may feel like you have no real reason to be depressed.
Because your pride and your identity take a hit. You have to admit vulnerability and allow that you are not the all-conquering superhero you thought you were.
Because you realize that you and your life need to change, which feels like more work piled on your plate.
Because you are admitting your own responsibility for your unhappiness and that can trigger self-judgment.
Because you might uncover grief or anger at those around you for not seeing and taking better care of you.
Problems With Your Thyroid
It’s a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits in your neck. It makes a hormone that helps control how you use energy. When your thyroid gland is out of whack, you’re out of whack.
“People with an underactive thyroid are going to feel tired,” Friedman says. “Their cells aren’t working well, they’re sluggish, and their reflexes are slow.”
Your doctor may test your blood for thyroid hormone to see if it’s to blame for your fatigue.
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Missed Milestones To Faded Friendships: The Unacknowledged Grief Of 2020
However, the trauma is much bigger for individuals directly affected by the pandemic, says Galea. That includes those who’ve lost loved ones, lost a job or housing, struggled with child care, or have had COVID-19 themselves some of whom report continuing to experience exhaustion that’s thought to be associated with the viral infection.
I Was One Of The Walking Depressed Some Of My Clients Are Too
We have many of the symptoms of clinical depression, but we are still functioning.
On the surface, people might not know anything is wrong. We keep working, keep going to school, keep looking after our families.
But were doing it all while profoundly unhappy. Depression is negatively impacting our lives and relationships and impairing our abilities.
Our depression may not be completely disabling, but its real.
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Whats The Difference Between Sadness And Depression
Whether youve lost a loved one, moved to a new place, or missed out on a job opportunity, there are plenty of stressful and upsetting events that can get you down. However, the difference between sadness and depression is that sadness usually passes with a little time, while depression is a mood disorder that can appear without any specific cause and last for two weeks or more.
Depression impacts almost every part of your life, interfering with how you think, feel, and go about your daily activities like sleeping, working, and socializing. Some common symptoms of depression include:
- Feeling empty
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than normal
- Changes in appetite or weight
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Loss of interest in hobbies or activities
- Irritability or restlessness
- Aches and pains without clear physical causes
- Thoughts of death or suicide
To be diagnosed with depression, these symptoms must be present nearly all day, every day for at least two weeks.