Effects of depression on body

Posted by soft reboot wellness on July 14th, 2021

In the United States, depression is one of the most common mental health concerns. Around 26% of adults have been suffering from depression in the United States. It is a mental disorder that also affects your physical and psychological wellbeing and health. As part of the symptoms, a person having depression will be having lack of sleep, poor concentration, changes in his appetite and his behavior, he will be losing interest in things which he used to do enthusiastically and he started isolating himself. If left untreated, it can severely impair your life and affect all the parts of your body.

Central nervous system

When it comes to your central nervous system, depression can affect it greatly leading you to show several symptoms a lot of which are easy to ignore. One of the most significant signs of depression is memory loss and cognitive decline. Now, these symptoms can present in older adults as well which makes It difficult to identify whether it is due to age-related or depression. As stated by the American psychological association, older people who also have depression have more difficulties with the decline in memory and reaction time as well during all daily activities as compared to the young people having depression.

Gastrointestinal tract

Depression affects your digestive tract as well. It plays an important role in affecting your nutrition and appetite. The response of every person is entirely variable as some responses to it by overeating while others respond by avoid eating. This can cause weight gain and obesity-related illnesses like diabetes or it can also result in malnutrition and become malnourishment. A sudden loss of interest in eating in older people can result in a medical condition known as geriatric anorexia.

Eating problems can result in symptoms such as:

Stomach pains

Abdominal cramps

Constipation

Malnutrition

Cardiovascular and immune systems

There is a close relationship between depression with stress. Stress hormones ultimately increase the heart rate and tighten the blood vessels which puts your body in a state of emergency. With time, this can result in heart diseases.

Recurrence of heart problems is related more closely to depression than to any other conditions like:

Smoking

diabetes

elevated blood pressure

elevated cholesterol

If depression is left untreated, there is a high chance it increases chance of dying after a heart attack. Heart disease is also a triggering factor for depression though.

There are other organ systems as well which are affected due to depression. There needs to be awareness of the right treatment and consultation for the people having depression so that their condition gets treated. Previously antidepressants and SSRIs were used to treat the symptoms of depression but as they have proven to be not highly effective, physicians have started using ketamine infusion therapies. IV ketamine therapy treats the symptoms of depression is the shortest period and the person returns to his normal life. During the procedure, the anesthesiologist will administer the IV ketamine and monitor you, you will have few such sessions after which your symptoms of depression would be minimal.