8 habits that can lead to depression

If you habitually engage in any of these activities and routines, you may be more vulnerable.

Depression is a disease, or set of diseases, that for the moment belong to the realm of what is relatively little known to science.

Little is known about what factors can trigger the onset of depression, nor is there much known about whether the factors that trigger depression are the same as those that trigger it. nor is there much knowledge about whether the reasons for its existence are more Biological or more linked to the experiences we live through life. However, there are some factors and habits that statistically have been linked to its onset.

What factors can lead us to suffer from depression?

Below you can see a list of these habits that, although they do not necessarily lead to the onset of depression, can make us more prone to fall into it.

1. Not getting enough sleep

We spend a large part of our lives sleeping, and it is during sleep that our body (and specifically, our nervous system) repairs itself in order to it is during sleep that our body (and specifically, our nervous system) repairs itself in order to successfully meet the challenges of the next day.. From this we can already deduce that sleep is very important, but it is also that problems during this phase can unleash many very serious problems that can endanger our lives if they intensify too much.

One of them is the fall into depression. Part of the reason for this lies in the functional and chemical imbalances that lack of sleep for long periods (or, directly, sleep disorders) produces in our brain, but it may also be due to a loop effect: with sleep everything is very tiring, we find ourselves unable to perform relatively simple tasks and we are less likely to enter into states of euphoria and joy, as this would be an "unnecessary" waste of energy.

If we learn to see life with the glasses of tiredness, depression has a more level ground to become part of our lives.

2. Demanding too much of ourselves

This habit is related to the previous one, and is also related to fatigue and stress. It is the other side of the same coin; instead of passively tiring ourselves out, we try to actively tire ourselves out by setting too many goals or making them too difficult. This will not only negatively affect our health levels (also making it difficult to sleep if we work late at night) but will also give us a distorted image of ourselves.It will also give us a distorted image of ourselves..

If we get used to this dynamic, instead of asking ourselves if the goals we have set for ourselves demand too much of ourselves, we will start to ask ourselves what is wrong with us so that we are not able to get to where we wanted to be.

This, if we do not know how to manage it, can negatively affect our self-esteem, can lead us to suffer outbursts of anger and will damage the way we relate to others. All this, in turn, will leave us with fewer resources (social and health) to face tasks that were already too difficult to begin with.

3. Lack of exercise

Although performing physical tasks that are too strenuous can exhaust us and leave us unable to do anything else for the rest of the day, moderate exercise will bring us numerous benefits. In fact, for most people it is absolutely necessary, in order to maintain an optimal state of health, to dedicate at least a few hours a week to practice some type of sport, or several.

Sport will not only keep our body's muscles in good shape, but will also cause us to secrete more dopamine and serotonin, two substances linked to the state of euphoria, two substances linked to the state of euphoria, the feeling of well-being and happiness.. They can be considered antidepressants naturally produced by our body.

4. Maintaining negative thoughts

There are some people who, although they have not developed depression, show a certain propensity to feed the negative thoughts that assail them.. A part of the appearance of these ideas is involuntary and accidental, of course, but that does not mean that always staying in a state close to sadness and bitterness is not perceived as a problem and as something that can be mitigated if you put effort into it.

If the default state of mind has to do with sensations and feelings that produce pain, one is closer to making these emotions aggravated and become chronic.

However, it should be noted that it is one thing to be a person with pessimistic tendencies and without a diagnosis of depression, and another to suffer the presence of constant intrusive and recurrent thoughts of a negative nature, regardless of whether they are related to a fictitious situation or to memories of something that really happened, which seriously damage the quality of life. The first situation does not have to seriously affect health, while the second can be very limiting if left untreated.

5. Staying in a mobbing work environment

It should not be forgotten that many of the phenomena that lead to depression may be due to how others interact with you. In the case of mobbing harassment at work can be aimed at harming us psychologically to the point of forcing us to to the point of forcing us to leave work. Recognizing this problem is a fundamental part of slowing the pace of depressive episodes.

Depression can also appear where there is a dynamic of harassment and mistreatment, even if it is not in the work context, and even if we are not the direct victims of it.

6. Poor nutrition

We are what we eat, and this also has implications for what we think and the way we feel.. The health of our neurons and the type of neurotransmitters and hormones that interact in our neuroendocrine system depend entirely on the type of diet we have, so that serious imbalances in this aspect usually produce a chain reaction with consequences to some extent unexpected, but always far-reaching and with serious effects on our quality of life. The appearance of depression favored by these problems is one of them.

If these changes in our body become sufficiently visible and affect our self-esteem, the loop reaction and the possible appearance of eating disorders will make the situation worse..

7. Drinking too much alcohol

People with diagnosed depression are much more likely to fall into alcoholism. If measures are not taken to avoid it, people who do not yet experience depression can develop it if they get into the habit of drinking too much.

Alcohol has a depressant effect on the body and also facilitates the appearance of self-control problems that can damage the person's quality of life in multiple ways, making him or her increasingly isolated. This also occurs with the use of many illegally marketed drugs.

8. Isolation

Isolation is part of the way of life for millions of people around the world, and unfortunately it is also linked to the use of many illegally marketed drugs.Unfortunately, it is also linked to depression. Not only can it be related to the lack of sensory stimuli and the partial absence of cognitive challenges, but it also leaves without the network of material and affective support provided by others and is often linked to unhealthy lifestyle habits.

In the case of depression in old age, isolation is often a constant that must be tackled by sufficiently capable and competent elderly care services.