4 Habits That Can Make Depression Worse

We all have or will experience depression at some point in our lives. There are events that happen to us that leave us in a state of depression. However, unlike depression as a mental illness, that depression eases over time.

Depression, as I have referred to it many times to others, is the silent killer. One thing you learn, and you learn quickly, is how to hide your depression. People don't like to be around someone who is sad and down all the time. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just human nature.

So, in order to fit in and have friendships and relationships, you learn how to hide the depressive feelings and put on an act of being "happy, go-lucky" as the saying goes.

While depression as a mental illness is caused by the brain not releasing the proper chemicals, there are factors, behaviors, and habits that can cause depression to get worse.

Some of these other factors can include past and current environment, experiences growing up as a child, traumatic events from the past and so much more.

The more that we realize external factors that are making our depressive states worse, the better we are able to ease or improve the degree of depression.

The following are some of the more common habits that can increase the severity of a person's depression. Finding ways to improve these habits, or avoid them altogether, is a start in taking steps to improve your depression.

#1 Long Periods of Inactivity

Because one of the major issues with depression is a loss of interest, motivation, and desire to do most or even all types of activities, it can make it difficult to have the energy to do much.

Many people may find the desire to just stay in bed all day, or on the couch watching TV or movies. I myself had a period of years when the most I could do was move from the bed to the couch and just watch movie after movie all day.

Even when it came to eating, it was always something that would be easy, either microwavable or something like eggs, pancakes, or kraft dinner.

One of the things that most doctors will push often, is getting some exercise. It will not always be easy, but in the long term, it will be helpful and beneficial in helping to improve your mood.

You won't need to exercise every day. I always recommended just three days a week for at least twenty minutes of moderate exercise. This can be as simple as a somewhat fast pace walk for twenty minutes.

I always found that the easiest time for me was to do it first thing in the morning. The reason for this was because once I sat down to start watching TV it was game over. It became extremely difficult to get myself to do anything at all.

The reason the exercise is so effective is that it releases the serotonin and dopamine chemicals in your brain. These chemicals are the "feel good" chemicals.

If you can find someone to go for the walks with you, it will help with the motivation and sticking to your exercise schedule. Listening to music can also be helpful, but try to listen to upbeat music.

#2 Poor Sleeping Habits

Having good sleep habits, at least for me, was vital. If I lost too much sleep my mental health and depression went downhill rapidly.

When it comes to depression usually people fall into one of two categories. Either sleeping too much, or they develop insomnia and either can't sleep or sleep very little.

If you are suffering from insomnia, your doctor may prescribe you medications to help you sleep. It is important to keep a consistent sleep cycle.

The easiest way to do this is to decide on a bedtime and a wake-up time. Be sure to set your alarm and wake up in the morning when your alarm goes off.

It is helpful to turn off electronics when going to bed, and if you can manage it even an hour before bedtime. Let your mind settle and get into bedtime mode with your brain.

If you're having problems quieting your thoughts, practicing mindfulness can be very helpful. It can be tough to get good at it, but with time and practice it pays off.

#3 Socially Isolating

It's only natural to start turning inward and isolating yourself when you are suffering from depression. There are multiple reasons you may find yourself isolating.

It becomes difficult to continue to socialize when you barely have the energy to get out of bed. Some people can feel embarrassed or even ashamed of themselves and find it hard to reach out for help.

You don't need to be out and be a social butterfly, but it is important to get out with family and/or friends when you can and have some social time. This can often help to provide some stress relief, feelings of fitting in, and feelings of being wanted and included.

The people that I would hang out with most often I would let them know that I suffer from depression. That way if, while hanging out, I become quieter or seemed withdrawn, they wouldn't be wondering if they had done something. This also kept me from the mind games of what they must be thinking about be for becoming quiet or withdrawn for no reason.

#4 Ruminating

When you're suffering from depression, your thoughts often tend to go to negative thoughts, and you end up constantly dwelling on them. Almost like listening to a CD or a song on repeat that never seems to stop playing.

Negative thoughts such as failure, guilt, rejection, loss, and so on, are very common and easy to get hung up on.

When you end up ruminating, or dwelling, on these negative thoughts on repeat, it ends up severely increasing the severity of your depression. If you get lost in those thoughts, it can be extremely difficult to pull yourself out.

There are a couple of good techniques for helping to pull yourself out of the endless cycle of negative thoughts. As I mentioned earlier, practicing mindfulness can be extremely helpful.

Once you've practiced and been able to master mindfulness, it can help you to get rid of the negative thoughts when you need to. However, this method is more of a bandaid in the broad scheme of things.

One of the best tools to have under your belt, and not just for negative thinking, is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT. CBT will help you to identify your negative thought patterns.

Once you're able to identify those negative thought patterns, this gives you the ability to then replace them with true positive thoughts.

That is just the basics of CBT. There are a lot of coping strategies that you will learn. You will not only learn how to manage and change your thoughts but also your behaviors that are a result of your thoughts.

If you have a therapist that you're working with, they are likely to recommend looking into it or even going over it with you.

There are a lot of habits that will make your depression worse, but these are the most common, and usually found among most people that suffer from depression.

There are also a lot of coping tools out that are useful to know and have under your belt. They take some time to learn and to incorporate into regular practice, but once you do, things do get a little bit easier.