5 Areas Of Your Life Depression Affects

Most psychological disorders are mood disorders, and depression is one of them.

Depression is a mood disorder that causes feelings such as sadness, anger, unhappiness, and low morale which last for more than just a few weeks.

When issues about mental health like depression are brought up, most people think of it as a disorder that affects your mood, causes extreme sadness, and has nothing to do with your physical well-being but it's something more. It creeps into your life and interferes with all areas of your life: school, work, relationships, health conditions, and even lower productivity.

Depression can be tricky that you don't even realize it has entered into your life and has started causing a wreck. Here are 5 areas of your life you should watch out, for depression.

1. Your Mood.

A person suffering from depression has little or no control of his/her mood. They are often angry, aggressive, irritated, and restless. They have mood swings where they experience depressive episodes and manic episodes. They can be found crying for unusual reasons and seem very happy too.

Feelings such as sadness, hopelessness, emptiness, and despair are not far from them.

2. Your Appetite.

Depression causes noticeable changes in appetite; not that it causes one to eat less or more, but when dealing with the negative emotions becomes overwhelming, one can tend to turn to food for comfort.

You begin to gain weight or lose it, depending on your appetite. Digestion becomes a problem and your energy level decreases.

Do not mistake this with an eating disorder as they are different, but it is possible for one with an eating disorder to become depressed.

3. Sleep Pattern.

Do you remember the last time you were sad about something? Could you sleep? If your answer is yes, you're right; If your answer is no, you're also right. Extreme sadness can cause one to sleep too much or not sleep at all, and if you do sleep at all, chances are you won't sleep for long.

If a 1-day feeling of sadness could cause that, what would a month of extreme sadness do? For you to take note of the changes in your sleep pattern, you need to know your normal sleep pattern.

4. Activity Level.

This involves all types of activities: school, work, or daily routines. This is because of the irregular sleep pattern leading to decreased or loss of energy. It also causes headaches, pains, and fatigue as well as reduces productivity.

You begin to experience difficulty concentrating in school or the workplace, a decline in your performances, and an inability in completing simple tasks. Sometimes, your response in conversations is delayed.

5. Your Thoughts.

This is where the roots of depression are found. You start to have feelings of incompetence, self-hate, and worthlessness. You are unable to visualize a happy future for yourself and doubts the value of your existence leading to thoughts of self-inflicted injury or suicide.

Deal with this area of yourself and you're already winning the battle against depression.

Depression is not racist, neither is it sexist and its symptoms are noticeable in adults and children. There is no better time to fight depression than now and the best way to prevent it is to become aware of its symptoms and to realize that it affects your mental health as well as your physical health.