Yes, depression can absolutely make you feel physically sick and weak, causing significant fatigue, aches, pains, headaches, and gut problems because mental and physical health are deeply connected through the brain-gut axis and stress responses. These physical symptoms, like exhaustion, muscle pain, and digestive issues, are common signs of depression, demonstrating it's a real illness affecting the whole body, not just mood.
Because of how depression affects both body and mind, long-term effects can be significant. Fatigue, loss of energy, and general hopelessness can lead to unhealthy habits. Loss of physical activity, poor nutrition, and weight gain or weight loss can have long-term impacts.
Exercise and physical movement: Depression is our body's shut down response which can lead us to be physically inactive and stuck. Finding ways to move our bodies can counteract this shut down response. This may be as simple as stretching or getting up to take a short walk.
Immediate hospitalization is essential for those who express suicidal ideation or have attempted self-harm. Severe Functional Impairment: Moreover, patients unable to care for themselves, including neglecting personal hygiene, nutrition, or medications, often require hospital-based treatment.
Clinical depression is the more-severe form of depression, also known as major depression or major depressive disorder.
Ten common warning signs of a mental health crisis include extreme mood swings, withdrawal from friends/activities, significant sleep/appetite changes, increased substance use, difficulty concentrating, persistent hopelessness, major hygiene/appearance decline, excessive anxiety or anger, illogical thinking/hallucinations, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide, all indicating a person can't cope with daily life.
Vitamin D may help improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression by lowering certain substances in the body that cause inflammation [16] Omega-3 fatty acids are also very important for helping to prevent depression. Omega-3 fatty acids, especially a type called n3-LCPUFAs, are found in large amounts in the brain.
Physical symptoms include:
Depression is a disorder of the brain, a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being and can cause alteration in sympathetic activity of the body, thus affecting heart rate variability (HRV).
You'll likely experience changes in appetite, weight fluctuations, and digestive issues. Depression also alters brain structure, affecting memory and cognitive function. Physical symptoms often include muscle tension, chronic pain, and persistent fatigue.
Symptoms associated with depression include joint pain, limb pain, back pain, gastrointestinal problems, fatigue, psychomotor activity changes, and appetite changes. In the primary care setting, a high percentage of patients with depression present exclusively with physical symptoms. Simon et al.
Feelings of fatigue and lethargy are also common in people who are struggling with their mental health. Feeling mentally or physically sluggish can make it harder to concentrate, follow conversations, or think quickly.
These findings indicate that patients experiencing dizziness and high levels of psychological distress may have more vertigo symptoms; in particular, patients with both depression and anxiety have more vertigo symptoms.
“Nervous breakdown” isn't a medical diagnosis. But, it's a type of mental or emotional health crisis. You may feel an overwhelming amount of stress, anxiety or depression. In turn, you're not able to function in daily life.
An acute change in mood that persists for weeks or is associated with thoughts of self-harm should not be ignored. In some cases, it may constitute an emergency. Depressed mood, whether from a major depressive episode, or in the context of another problem, can become an emergency when there are thoughts of suicide.
Losing your balance while walking, or feeling imbalanced, can result from: Vestibular problems. Abnormalities in your inner ear can cause a sensation of a floating or heavy head and unsteadiness in the dark. Nerve damage to your legs (peripheral neuropathy).
Signs that someone may be experiencing poor mental health
These, in turn, translate into effects on cognitive and psychological processes, including mental and physical fatigue. This review is focused on B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B8, B9 and B12), vitamin C, iron, magnesium and zinc, which have recognized roles in these outcomes.
Research suggests that depression doesn't spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, and stressful life events.
Depression is a disorder of the brain, a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being and can cause alteration in sympathetic activity of the body, thus affecting heart rate variability (HRV).
Vitamin D may help improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression by lowering certain substances in the body that cause inflammation [16] Omega-3 fatty acids are also very important for helping to prevent depression. Omega-3 fatty acids, especially a type called n3-LCPUFAs, are found in large amounts in the brain.
Without treatment, depression can: Become worse. Increase your chance of other health conditions, like dementia. Lead to the worsening of existing health conditions, like diabetes or chronic pain.
In particular, deficiencies in B vitamins, i.e., B1, B6, B9, and B12, have been linked to depression, as they are essential for neuronal function [78,79,80]. They also have a protective effect against hypercysteinaemia, associated with an increased risk of mood disorders [81].
It's thought that your chance of getting severe depression may be partly affected by the genes you inherit from your parents.