Severe Depression Symptoms: The Physical Ones You Can Notice

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Apr 21, 2022

✨POV✨: You're wondering if depression can affect you physically - if your body pains, inability to sleep well (despite all the internet hacks that guarantee a good night) and the overwhelming fatigue have anything to do with your mental health.

One important distinction - if not the most - between mild depression and severe depression symptoms is the physical aspect. Mild depression manifests in the form of only emotional problems (which may or may not translate into behavior changes), whereas the intensity of severe depression stresses the mind and body, leading to noticeable physical symptoms.

Even though the root is (generally) psychological, a person's depression symptoms spill over into looking like and becoming a physical discomfort/ailment over time.

What are the physical symptoms of depression

Physical symptoms are those that are experienced in the body. They're not about how you feel or think anymore, it's your body refusing to function the way it's supposed to. These physical symptoms form a negative feedback loop (aka known as a vicious cycle), where each symptom makes us more susceptible to other depressive symptoms (and becoming risk factors of depression).

Headaches

When these don't always have a rhyme or reason and are more regular, they indicate depression. This type of headache is experienced near the eyebrows, in the middle of the head or near the neck.

Body and back pain

It may feel like - again - for no rhyme or reason that your body is sore. It is theorized that this inflammation of muscles is caused when our brain circuits are not running smoothly. To read more about how you can boost brain health, click here.

Lower tolerance and immunity

Severe depression may cause our pain tolerance to go down, which is also linked to lower immunity levels. We may be getting sick very often, develop new allergies or be vulnerable to external irritants like heat and pollution.

Extreme fatigue

Ever experienced, ‘I woke up feeling tired’? That's what this is. When no rest or relaxation is enough to get you out of your grogginess, it may be a sign of severe depression. This fatigue can last all day and for days, affecting your mood, motivation, and activity levels.

Exercise is known to boost feel-good hormones in our body - but how do you get up to even go for a walk when the idea seems exhausting?

Stomach pain and digestive problems

Depression is connected to the brain and the brain is connected to the gut (yep, the stomach). So depression directly affects how our stomach feels and functions. Cramps and stomach aches are common, which are usually accompanied by diarrhea and poor gut health. It is also not uncommon to develop lactose intolerance as a result of mental health issues.

Sleep problems

Out of all the mentioned symptoms, this is the most comprehensively researched physical symptom. Having chronic sleep problems - either being unable to sleep or sleeping too much or not getting quality sleep - are a sign of depression.

These sleep disturbances are linked to the dis-balance of two hormones - serotonin (our happy hormone) and melatonin (our sleep hormone). To read more about how depression causes sleep problems, click here.

Last Word on Mental Health

Everything is interconnected - our bodies and minds. A mental health condition can trigger physical symptoms and vice versa.

And because everything is connected, when even one symptom is improved, our entire state of being improves (even if it's just 1%). And that's the hack.

Severe depression can be scary but it is treatable fo sho. To know more about how you can improve your symptoms, click here.

Note on Mental Disorders🚩

Depression (aka clinical depression, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is a mental illness that can be of two different types - mild depression (aka persistent depressive disorder) and major depression (aka severe depression or major depressive disorder). Common symptoms of depression include prolonged depressed mood, low self-esteem, mood swings, loss of interest, and having trouble focusing. If you have symptoms of severe depression (medically reviewed and diagnosed by licensed mental health professionals) or thoughts of self-harm, please use the national suicide prevention lifeline or contact a mental health professional to seek treatment options.

It is also common for other mood disorders like bipolar disorder or premenstrual dysphoric disorder to occur alongside clinical depression. Antidepressant medications may be prescribed in the case of severe symptoms, in combination with a form of therapy such as interpersonal therapy or brain stimulation therapy.