8 habits that can lead to depression
Depression is a disease, or set of diseases, that at the moment belong to the realm of what is relatively little known by science.
Little is known about what factors can trigger the onset of depression and there is not much knowledge about whether the reasons for their existence are more biological or more linked to the experiences we experience throughout life. However, there are some factors and habits that have been statistically linked to their appearance.
What factors can lead us to suffer a depression?
Below you can see a list of these customs that, although they do not necessarily have to be translated into the appearance of depression, can make us more prone to fall into it.
1. Not getting enough sleep
We spend a large part of our lives sleeping, and it is during sleep when our body (and specifically, our nervous system) is repaired in order to successfully face the challenges of the next day . From this we can already deduce that sleep is very important, but it is also that the problems during this phase can unleash many and very serious problems that can endanger our lives if they intensify too much.
One of them is the fall in depression. Part of the reasons for this are in the functional and chemical imbalances that the lack of sleep during long periods (or, directly, the sleep disorders) produces in our brain, but it can also be due to a looping effect: with sleep all it is very tired, we are unable to perform relatively simple tasks and it is less likely that we enter into states of euphoria and joy, as this would be an "unnecessary" expenditure of energy.
If we learn to see life with the glasses of fatigue, depression has the most paved ground to become part of our lives.
2. To demand too much of ourselves
This habit is related to the previous one, and it is also related to fatigue and stress. It is the other side of the same coin; Instead of getting tired passively, it is about doing it actively, setting too many goals or making them too difficult. This will not only negatively affect our health levels (making it hard for us to sleep if we work late into the night), but alsoIt will give us a distorted image of ourselves .
If we get used to this dynamic, instead of asking ourselves if the goals we have set ourselves demand too much of ourselves, we will begin to ask ourselves what is wrong with us so that we will not be able to get where we wanted to go.
This, if you do not know how to manage, can negatively affect our self-esteem, it can lead us to suffer outbursts of anger and will damage our way of relating to others. All this, in turn, will leave us with fewer resources (social and health) to face tasks that were too difficult from the beginning.
3. The lack of exercise
Although performing too expensive physical tasks can exhaust us and leave us unable to do anything else during the rest of the day, the practice of moderate exercise will provide many benefits. In fact, in most people it is absolutely necessary, to maintain an optimal state of health, to devote at least a few hours a week to practicing some type of sport, or several.
Sport will not only make the muscles of our body stay well, but also make us secrete more dopamine and serotonin, two substances linked to the state of euphoria, the feeling of well-being and happiness . They can be considered antidepressants produced naturally by our body.
4. Keep negative thoughts
There are some people who, despite not having developed depression, they show a certain propensity to feed the negative thoughts that assail them . A part of the appearance of these ideas is involuntary and accidental, of course, but that does not mean that staying always in a state close to sadness and bitterness is not perceived as a problem and as something that can be mitigated if you put effort On it.
If the default mood has to do with sensations and feelings that produce pain, it is closer to making these emotions worse and become chronic.
However, we must bear in mind that it is one thing to be a person with pessimistic tendencies and without a diagnosis of depression, and another to suffer from the presence of constant intrusive and recurrent negative thoughts, regardless of whether they are related to a fictitious situation or with memories about something that really happened, that seriously damage the quality of life.The first situation does not have to seriously affect health, while the second can be very limiting if it is not treated.
5. Stay in a work environment with mobbing
Do not forget that many of the phenomena that lead to depression may be due to how others interact with oneself. In the case of mobbing, the harassment at work may be aimed at harming us on a psychological level to the point of forcing us to leave work. Recognizing this problem is a fundamental part of stopping the passage of episodes of depression.
The depression can also appear where there is a dynamic of harassment and mistreatment, even if it is not in the work context, and even if we are not the direct victims of it.
6. A bad diet
We are what we eat, and this also has implications for what we think and the way we feel . The health of our neurons and the type of neurotransmitters and hormones that interact in our neuroendocrine system depend totally on the type of diet we carry, so serious imbalances in this aspect usually produce a chain reaction with unexpected consequences to some extent, but always of wide scope and with serious effects on our quality of life. The appearance of depression favored by these problems is one of them.
If these changes in our body become visible enough and affect our self-esteem, the loop reaction and the possible appearance of eating disorders will make the situation worse .
7. Drinking too much alcohol
People with diagnosed depression are much more likely to fall into alcoholism if you do not take measures to avoid it, but, in addition, people who do not yet experience depression can develop it if they get used to drinking too much.
Alcohol has a depressant effect on the body and also facilitates the appearance of self-control problems that can damage the quality of life of the person in multiple ways, making it more and more isolated. This also happens with the consumption of many illegally traded drugs.
8. Isolation
Isolation is part of the way of life of millions of people across the planet , and unfortunately it is also linked to depression. Not only can it be related to the lack of sensory stimuli and the partial absence of cognitive-type challenges, but it also leaves without the material and affective help network that other people provide and is usually linked to unhealthy lifestyle habits.
In the case of depression in old age, isolation is usually a constant that must be tackled by sufficiently competent and competent elderly care services.
