How Harmful Is Depression To Your Health?

Many of us go through some form of depression at many points in our life. It can be harmful to one's health if it has come to the point when one becomes unable to sleep, lacks the desire to eat, and loses focus and concentration. It is not necessarily bad, however, if you know how to deal with it in a positive way. The problem is, while some of us are able to bounce back to our pre-depressive state without need for medical treatment, others either allow their depression to take control of their lives or cope with depression by doing things that are harmful to their health.

Here are a few examples of how others cope with depression and how such can affect their health:

Resorting to comfort foods. Comfort foods are foods that provide instant gratification. Usually they come in the form of junk foods, and junk foods are exactly what they are - junk. They are loaded with empty calories that make you fat, salt that affects your kidneys and makes you bloat, artificial ingredients and preservatives that really do not do anything more than poison your body. Comfort foods can make you obese, which itself has plenty of complications, diabetes and heart disease among them.

Food binging. Depressed individuals may resort to what experts refer to as "going on a food binge", especially involving foods that are high in sugar and fat content. Such foods increase or boost the production of serotonin and endorphin, the brain chemicals that are said to be greatly responsible in making one "feel good". As the combination of high fat-high sugar foods tends to be addictive, going on a food binge will have many untoward consequences to one's health over time.

Cigarette smoking. Some people learn to smoke out of the need to feel relaxed. Somehow, the chemicals in cigarettes give them a euphoric feeling. But these same chemicals can also affect your health in a number of ways. They can interfere with the normal process of oxygenation, depriving your cells of essential nutrients and affect blood circulation, causing hypertension and worsening heart conditions. Cigarette smoking can also affect your skin, your lungs, as well as many other organs of your body.

Resorting to illegal drugs. People who are depressed escape from reality through the use of illegal drugs. Drugs, such as the likes of ecstasy, can certainly provide one with a sense of euphoria. But the effects of such drugs are much worse than those of cigarette smoking. Reliance on illegal drugs can damage your brain; it can make you delusional, and worse, make a criminal out of you.

Excessive alcohol drinking. Among the places you will find depressed people in are bars, taverns, and pubs. Many depressed individuals find comfort in alcoholic beverages. But while wine, which is an alcoholic drink, is regarded as heart-friendly, too much consumption of red wine isn't good because of the alcohol content and the calories. Too much alcohol can affect your state of mind, making you do things you wouldn't have otherwise done.

Oversleeping. There is a tendency for depressed individuals to oversleep, as if they can literally sleep their problems away. Well, they can't. Sleeping on your problems will only make things worse for you. You will only end up feeling more depressed than ever, lifeless, without energy, and with your head weighing a ton.

Taking over one's life. In very extreme cases when depression becomes very severe, one may be led to commit suicide.

Most certainly, these are not how you should deal with depression, no matter how bad it may seem. You must learn to control depression before it affects your health and your life.