Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions in the world, with nearly 30% of Americans experiencing it during their lifetime. But did you know depression isn’t just a mental health condition?
The truth is that it can also have significant effects on your physical well-being. While most people can recognize depression symptoms like sadness or lack of energy, depression can also manifest with physical symptoms that can complicate diagnosis and treatment.
Recognizing the physical symptoms of depression can help you get the care you need, and learning about your treatment options is the next step toward feeling like yourself again. Our team at Integrated Neurology Services offers depression treatment with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at our locations in Alexandria, Falls Church, and Lorton, Virginia.
Here’s what you should know about the links between depression and physical symptoms, and how TMS might be able to help.
The connection between your mental health and your physical health is complex, and both influence each other. For depression in particular, this link is strong. People with depression often develop physical symptoms, and people living with physical conditions, such as chronic pain, may be more likely to experience depression, too.
Having depression alters the chemicals in your brain, and it’s these changes that create the physical symptoms of depression alongside mental symptoms. For example, depression affects your body’s stress response, which increases levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Over time, this physiological stress can contribute to the development of physical symptoms.
Plus, having depression can make it hard to stick to healthy habits. Poor sleep, lack of exercise, and irregular eating patterns — all common in people with depression — can exacerbate physical symptoms and make you feel even worse.
Depression can affect your health in a number of ways. Some of the most common physical symptoms are:
These physical symptoms occur because depression impacts your brain chemistry. It affects neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which influence both your mood and essential bodily functions like sleep and digestion.
Although depression can have a serious impact on both your mental and physical well-being, the good news is that it’s treatable. Many people find that a combination of treatments — for example, talk therapy and medication — can make a big difference for their mood and physical health.
But if you’re struggling to manage depression with a traditional treatment approach, TMS could be a good solution for you. It’s a noninvasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of your brain to help rebalance brain activity and improve your symptoms.
TMS can alleviate depressive symptoms, and it can have a positive effect on the physical symptoms of depression, too. Because it addresses the root cause of your symptoms — your brain’s neurotransmitter imbalance — TMS may reduce chronic pain, improve energy levels, and support better sleep.
Living with depression can be overwhelming, especially when it affects your physical health. Recognizing the link between mental and physical symptoms is the first step toward finding relief, and we’re here to help you take back control. Call Integrated Neurology Services at 703-313-9111 or send us a message online to learn more.
