Depression Affects Your Health In These 5 Ways

Taking care of your mental health is crucial. Due to lack of knowledge about it, many people don’t even recognise they’re suffering from depression until it gets worse. A lot of times, the effects of disturbed mental health go unnoticed as they are hard to notice. And if you thought mental health doesn’t affect your physical health, then you’re wrong. Here are 5 ways depression affects your body.

1. Chronic Pain

Many times, people suffering from depression experience unexplained pains and soreness in muscles, joints and almost anywhere in the body. Jeptha Tausig, a psychologist also talked about it and said,

Very often, unexplained aches and pains are very real—they are not faked or imagined. But if there is no physical explanation to account for these symptoms, then it could be the body expressing the mind’s disquiet, such as depression, anxiety, or other distress.

2. Digestion

Your body responds differently when you’re under stress. That’s because the digestion process is deeply affected by stress as well as depression. People go through an upset stomach, stomach ache and other issues when they’re depressed.

3. Speech

A depressed person might notice a change in their voice too—it comes out more monotonal and flat than usual. That’s because depression can affect one’s speech too. Research on this has revealed that depressed people tend to speak slower, take longer pauses between words and sentences, and take more time to finish a sentence than others.

4. Appetite

Our mental health is closely linked to our appetite. So, when there’s something wrong with our mental health, it automatically affects our eating patterns. Some people experience reduced hunger drive when depressed while on the other hand, others notice a huge spike in their appetite and cravings.

Madeline William, a telehealth app psychologist, also talked about this and further explained,

If eating was an enjoyable activity [prior to the onset of depression], a person may limit his behaviour. Alternatively, if eating is a soothing or numbing activity, they may overindulge in this behaviour.

5. Sleep Pattern

Depression affects our sleep patterns in both ways. For some, it could be sleeping more than usual whereas, for some others, it could be not sleeping enough. Madeline also talked about this in detail and said,

Depression can be linked to both a lack of sleep or an increase in sleep. Sleep deprivation can be a dangerous problem, as it leads to many additional health issues, including impacting one’s blood pressure, weight management, metabolism, judgment, and perception.

The next time you’re concerned about someone showing symptoms of depression, you can observe these signs and offer them a helping hand. There are many guidelines available on how to approach and deal with a person going through depression. You can also find helplines in India for people battling depression.

Don’t forget to follow us at @missmalinilifestyle to never miss a beat!

The post Depression Affects Your Health In These 5 Ways is copyright of MissMalini.

from MissMalini http://bit.ly/2vv0hRW