8 Physical Signs of Depression

What are the physical signs of depression? Depression is a “whole body” illness, involving your body, mood, and thoughts. It affects how you feel, think and behave. Depression isn’t just a temporary mood swing or a sign of personal weakness. It is a serious medical condition with many emotional, cognitive, physical and behavioral symptoms that affect all areas of a person’s life. The physical symptoms of depression are often vague aches and pains that are dismissed because the sources aren’t clear. But knowing the physical signs of depression can save your life or get you treated earlier. Here’s 8 physical signs of depression.

Depression Fatigue

It’s that constant feeling of tiredness and lack of energy. Depression and fatigue feed off each other. It’s often hard to say which came first. Physical and mental fatigue exist together. If you’re fatigued all the time, you’ll also be mentally tired. Concentrating on things becomes harder. This is dangerous when it comes to tasks like driving or operating heavy machinery. If your body is overwhelmed by stress, it reaches the point of despair where you see no light at the end of the tunnel. This overwhelming despair causes fatigue that seems to never end. Sleep problems and body pains also contribute to depression fatigue. Even if the depression is being treated, fatigue may linger because of the side-effects of medication or therapy.

Sleep Problems

One of the physical signs of depression is a change in your sleep habits. You either sleep too much, up to 12 hours a day, or not enough. Insomnia is a major symptom for most people with depression, but for about 10 to 20 percent of people, the effects of depression result in sleeping too much. Sleep is necessary for refreshing body systems and keeping up your mood. Sleep is also important because its REM cycle lets you dream. REM sleep helps you resolve personal issues and daily problems. Not getting the proper amount of REM sleep can cause depression, irritability, anxiety and fatigue. Sleeping too much also changes mood, causing fatigue and irritability. If your biologic clock is disturbed, it makes your sleep irregular, and that adds to the depression.

Weight Change

Suddenly you’re either quickly putting on the pounds or losing them. Depression creates sleep problems and fatigue. Sleeping too much and eating regularly puts on the pounds because you’re not burning enough calories. If you’re eating less or not regularly, it becomes Feast and Famine for your body. Proteins get stored as fat because your body isn’t sure when it will be refueled. Some foods that are high in sugar and fat make you feel good when you’re depressed. The sugar and fat give your body a lift via the feel good hormones, which go up in levels the more sugar and fat you eat. Once you start feeling good, you eat more to stay in that mood. You may even become conditioned to eat certain foods because they help make you happy.

Heart Problems

Depression impacts your heart. People with severe depression over age 50 are twice as likely to have a stroke than people not suffering from depression. It’s unsettling because this is regardless of whether you smoke or are overweight. Depression triggers stress hormones and keeps them chronically elevated. Your blood pressure goes up and stays high. Depression affects your heart rhythm and changes how your blood clots. Depression can trigger infections. Depression affects memory, so it’s often difficult for people with depression to take their medications properly. Either they forget to take their medication or get confused with how it should be used. This can lead to side-effects like heart attack, high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, or stroke.

Stomach Problems

Kids and teens often complain of tummy aches when they are dealing with bullying. Adults also complain of stomach problems, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea when they are depressed. Depression causes lower levels of stomach acid, which makes it hard to break down food. Food isn’t supposed to stay long in the stomach. Low acid levels means food stays longer and food ferments. That causes acid reflux because the gas goes up the esophagus instead of into the GI tract. It also cause the body to vomit up the food or loosen the bowl sphincter to get rid of the sitting food. Low acid levels mean you aren’t absorbing proper amounts of nutrients into your body. Medications also lower stomach acid so this increases the risk of ulcers as the pill sits on the stomach lining.

Pain in Muscles or Back that Don’t Respond to Treatment

Body pain with chronic soreness, and muscle tension are common physical symptoms of depression. Symptoms include persistent aches or stiffness anywhere along the spine. There’s sharp, localized pain in the neck, upper back, or lower back, especially after lifting heavy objects or engaging in strenuous activity. Chronic ache in the middle or lower back, especially after sitting or standing for extended periods. Depression causes pain in muscles and the back, but the reverse is also true. Chronic muscle or joint pain can cause depression. Arthritis is joint weakness and deformities that interfere with doing daily tasks, and can damage organs. Depression is common for arthritis sufferers. Fibromyalgia is a chronic medical condition that causes widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and depression.

Headaches, Especially Migraines that are Frequent and Severe

A depression headache is worse in the morning and evening. It’s because the neck and head muscles tighten from stress. Depressed people don’t sleep well so their muscles tighten and tense up. Depression headaches have a steady, non-pulsing ache around the head that feels like a vice-grip. Depression headaches last for long stretches of time. Some people say their headaches last forever or an entire month. If there are breaks, they are short and infrequent. The research on migraines and depression shows that the relationship goes both ways: People with depression are more likely to get migraines, and people with migraines are more likely to become depressed.

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