On the verge of a breakdown: the invisible bridge between stress and depression

Any competent doctor will tell you that you need to control your psycho-emotional state; if you can’t do it yourself, you can even be prescribed medications. Why is this so important? When stressed, the hormone cortisol is released. It affects the functioning of all body systems. Because of this, the functioning of the cardiovascular and nervous systems is disrupted, which can lead to deterioration in well-being, sleep problems, and problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

People who know how to cope with stress and avoid conflict situations tend to lead fulfilling lives. They have enough energy for work, friends and hobbies. Mentally balanced people have happy families, give birth to healthy children and raise them to be just as psychologically balanced.

What is stress

Stress is a normal reaction of a healthy body to threat or overwork. In this way, he tries to resist high stress, fear, excessive physical and psychological activity. As a result of such protection, the nervous system is primarily affected.

If the overload protection works normally, this is not a problem. This way a person remains cheerful, efficient and fit for a long time. However, such loads are often prohibitive. This has a detrimental effect on health and causes chronic diseases.

Stress is an abnormal state of the body. When a person is exposed to it for a long time, the body intensively spends energy.

Sleep as the basis for well-being

Adequate rest and healthy sleep are the first rules of a stable psyche. A well-rested person is more resistant to stress. The norm is considered to be 7-8 hours of sleep (and at least 9 hours if a person trains hard or works on his feet).

If there is not enough sleep, the stability of the nervous system decreases. You've probably observed how small children become capricious when they are tired and want to sleep. A similar condition is observed in adults who regularly do not get enough sleep - it becomes difficult for them to control their emotions, they feel irritation and aggression.

To improve the quality of your sleep, be sure to create a comfortable sleeping environment in your bedroom - darken the room, ventilate it before bed, and try to make the room quiet. Maintain a sleep schedule - try to go to bed and wake up at approximately the same time every day and not deviate too much from this schedule, even on weekends. If these measures do not help, contact a neurologist or somnologist. Your doctor will help you improve your sleep and quality of night's rest.

What are the causes of stress?

There are many causes of stress. Each person has an individual body and psyche. The same factor may not affect one of us at all, but cause a violent reaction in another. The most common factors in the development of stress:

• conflict situations at work or at home;
• discontent;
• lack of money;
• long absence of a full vacation;
• routine life with no change;
• death of a relative or loved one;
• lack of vitamins, poor nutrition;
• problems in sexual life;
• fears;
• loneliness;
• sudden change in environment;
• other reasons that can hook a person.

Treating Stress and Depression: Natural Medicines

If the stage of the disease allows, psychotherapists recommend taking herbal medicines. They are safe and have sufficient effect for treatment. Some of them are familiar to many from home medicine cabinets and can be purchased without a doctor’s prescription:

• Valerian tincture
• motherwort
• "Negrustin"
• "Persen"
• "Novo-Passit"

Valerian tincture copes well with the stress that haunts us every day. The drug contains a plant extract that helps slow the heartbeat and calm the nervous system. Valerian relieves insomnia by providing a hypnotic effect.

Motherwort has a contraindication - it should not be taken by people with hypotension. The drug has a sedative effect, relieves stress and anxiety, but helps lower blood pressure. Motherwort is effective in treating irritability and neurasthenia.

The drug "Negrustin" contains St. John's wort extract. The effect of this herb on the human body helps to increase efficiency and raise general tone. Negrustin is used in the treatment of mild depression.

"Persen" is a drug that relieves stress and anxiety. It contains a complex of herbal extracts that have a positive effect on a person’s emotional state: valerian, peppermint and lemon balm. In addition, Persen helps overcome irritability and normalize sleep.

The composition of the drug "Novo-Passit" includes extracts of the following medicinal herbs: motherwort, St. John's wort, valerian, lemon balm, passionflower, hops and black elderberry. It has the properties of the drugs described above and copes well with stress. Taking Novo-Passit not only improves your well-being, but also has a positive effect on sleep.

Symptoms of stress

Each person reacts to stress differently. What all reactions have in common is a negative impact on the psyche and physical state. The person becomes aggressive and his mood worsens. It happens that stress also causes other reactions - silence, detachment, passivity and isolation. It all depends on the type of temperament.

Typical signs of stress are:

• inability to concentrate on any one type of activity;
• causeless attacks of irritability, anger, dissatisfaction with others;
• lethargy and weakness, depression;
• insomnia, nightmares;
• inability to completely relax and unwind;
• panic attacks, constant feeling of fear;
• desire to cry, melancholy;
• lack of trust in yourself and the people around you;
• lack of appetite or, conversely, the desire to eat a lot;
• sudden appearance of bright and strong emotions (for example, laughter, which quickly gives way to tears and vice versa);
• increased sweating, excitability, itchy skin and headache;
• dizziness, rapid breathing;
• numbness of the limbs;
• nervous tics, desire to bite nails or lips;
• interest in alcohol or drugs;
• chronic fatigue that does not disappear even after a night's rest.

Signs of Depression

Under certain circumstances, this condition can occur in every person, regardless of gender, age and social status. Depression is a type of mental illness accompanied by a persistent decrease in mood. A person remains in this state for more than two weeks continuously; he experiences a decrease in memory and concentration, loss of interest in life, and retardation of movements. In the absence of timely treatment, the patient loses the ability to live and work fully for many months and even years, and the possibility of attempting to commit suicide cannot be ruled out.

Why is stress dangerous?

When stressed, cortisol is released, which changes the functioning of the entire body. The cardiovascular and nervous systems are primarily affected. People who are often under stress experience the following symptoms:

• redness of the skin, appearance of a rash;
• chronic fatigue;
• losing weight or vice versa, developing obesity;
• bowel disorders.

Prolonged exposure to stress is dangerous for the body as it causes such consequences.

1. Increased blood pressure. At the same time, under the influence of adrenaline, cardiac output increases. All this leads to an increased risk of developing a heart attack. People who smoke and are overweight have a significantly higher risk of heart disease.
2. People who are constantly under stress are at risk of developing acute respiratory diseases and bronchial asthma. This happens because prolonged overexertion and hormonal imbalances disrupt the functioning of the immune system. Medical research shows that chronic stressful situations in adults adversely affect the health of their children.
3. Chronic stress negatively affects the functioning of the digestive tract. A person often develops gastritis and peptic ulcers. In addition, stress negatively affects the intestinal microflora, which causes pain, flatulence, diarrhea or constipation.
4. Problems of the musculoskeletal system. Increases bone fragility and the likelihood of developing a fracture.
5. Endocrine disorders. Stress leads to increased production of glucocorticoids, in particular cortisol. An increased level of this hormone in the blood can cause diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and depression. The risk of developing autoimmune pathologies increases.
6. Stress depletes the central and autonomic nervous system.

To prevent the dangerous effects of stress on the body, it is important to learn how to resist it.

How to learn to control your psycho-emotional state?

How to maintain health and increase stress resistance?

• Don't take on several things at once. Complete every task you start without being distracted by extraneous factors. If your job does not allow you to do only one thing, make a schedule for the priority of tasks and, in the time allocated for a task, do only it.
• If you are nervous about a situation, ask yourself if there is something you can do. If not, then you need to come to terms with the fact that this situation and its result are beyond your control and try to distract yourself with something else. If you can, no need to worry, just do it.
• Try to develop independent self-esteem. Of course, listening to a negative assessment and scolding is unpleasant - but, if you think about it, this assessment has nothing to do with you. This is just the opinion of another person, which can be taken into account if the person is important to you, but should not be taken as an objective reality. Evaluate yourself.
• Set realistic goals for yourself. Not the easiest, but achievable. When determining the deadline for completing a task, reserve 15-20% of the time for force majeure situations and the human factor, then delays will not unsettle you.
• Light physical activity helps stabilize the psycho-emotional state - nothing calms you down like a light jog or swimming.
• Go to bed no later than 11 pm, try to sleep at least 8 hours.
• Organize your workplace in such a way that it is pleasant to be there and easy to find everything you need.
• Eat the right foods. For the stability of your psycho-emotional state, it is very important to eat a balanced diet. B vitamins are especially important.
• At least once a week, do something that makes you happy. Meet with friends, dance, eat delicious food, play computer or board games.

If nothing helps, and you feel that it is difficult for you to cope with stress on your own, contact a specialist; you may have depression. In this case, you need qualified treatment.

Ways to deal with stress

In any stressful situation, it is very important not to lose composure and control. You can cope with surging emotions with the help of such actions.

1. Sit down and relax. It is important to ask yourself how important the problem is at the moment and how its solution (or lack of solution) will affect the near future (a few months, a year or five years). This will help you understand the importance of anxiety.
2. Write down on paper individual words or phrases that come to mind during stress. This will be a bit of a distraction. You can read these phrases the next day and understand how significant stressful events are.
3. Run your index finger horizontally across your lips. This technique calms well and quickly.
4. Tighten all your muscles, clench your fists and grit your teeth for 10 seconds. This will help you feel how your body switches and how relaxation comes
5. Try any classic relaxation methods. This could be a walk, a warm bath, herbal tea, a bar of chocolate, a hobby, or chatting with friends. Perhaps this is what will help you relax.
6. Try to turn a negative into a positive. The most important thing is not to let stress take over.
7. Stop overwhelming stress and negative thoughts. To do this, you can simply clap your palms.
8. You can’t turn off your phone or ignore the attention of loved ones and friends. Even the thought of hiding from others should be avoided in every possible way. Live communication is the best medicine against stress. On the contrary, you should not isolate yourself: this will only aggravate the situation.

Recommended techniques for dealing with stress are simple. If you contact them for several days after a difficult situation, they will definitely help. Even one of the suggested techniques will help cope with a difficult situation.

By learning to control stress, you can reduce the risks of developing depression, bronchial asthma, heart and vascular diseases, gastritis and obesity. For this you need very little. Even small lifestyle changes will improve your condition and reduce the negative effects of stress.

As a rapid diagnostic method, the Reader scale for self-assessment of stress levels can be recommended.

Meditation and psychotherapy, their impact on health

Meditation is a great way to cope with depression and stress without medication.

The effect of meditation on the body is:

• Improving brain function. It has been scientifically proven that a course of meditation helps restore brain cells;
• Reducing the risk of developing heart disease;
• Eliminate feelings of anxiety;
• Developing mental resistance to stress;
• Increasing immunity and strengthening the body's defenses.

Scientists from Washington conducted an interesting study. 15 colleagues from one enterprise voluntarily took part in it. Before the rehabilitation course, each of the volunteers underwent a stress resistance test. It turned out that 14 out of 15 workers live in constant stress and cannot effectively cope with nerve-wracking situations.

The workers completed an eight-week meditation course under the supervision of a specialist - and a repeat test showed that the workers became much calmer and learned to control their emotions. Psychotherapy also shows good results - it helps solve problems and combat anxiety.

Comparison

Let us draw some conclusions from the above definitions. Stress is the body's reaction to negative emotions. Its impact provokes a surge of adrenaline, mobilization of thought processes in order to find a way out of the situation. However, if it is not possible to find a solution to the problem, a period of exhaustion of the body begins, which becomes the initial stage of depression. The latter, in turn, leads to a decline in vitality, impaired thinking and motor retardation. Thus, stress mobilizes the body, making it even beneficial for health in moderate quantities. Depression, on the contrary, drains all the “juices” from a person, making him sick and weak.

It is worth noting that stress is short-term. That is, the processes of excitation provoked by a negative situation pass quite quickly. But the period of its experience lasts three times longer than the impact itself. Typically, the average duration of mild depression is a couple of weeks. Whereas serious traumatic situations for a person plunge him into an apathetic state for several months, or even years. This is another difference between stress and depression. While the individual is often able to overcome the first state on his own, the second requires outside intervention. Sometimes close people help bring a person out of depression, supporting him in every possible way and encouraging him to be active. However, if all the steps taken by the environment turn out to be useless, you have to seek help from a specialist. Consultations with a psychotherapist along with taking medications make it possible to overcome the disease.

To summarize, what is the difference between stress and depression.

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