Over the last decade, much awareness has been brought into the spectrum of mental health and its importance, with specific focus given to depression. However, depression is primarily associated with emotional pain, and the physical symptoms that manifest are largely ignored. For instance, many people are unaware that depression can affect one’s metabolism and lead to problems in the stomach. Here we will discuss six such physical symptoms of depression.

1. Reduction in pain tolerance
To explain this in simple words – everything hurts more! Innumerable research studies have pointed out that depression and pain co-exist, and more often than not, the pain has a much more significant impact on people going through depression. For example, it is pretty common for a depressed individual to describe nerve pain as “feeling as if the nerves are on fire.” While one cannot find a reason for the pain, most anti-depressants prescribed by doctors help combat it.

2. Aching muscles
There is a strong connection between depression and the body’s inflammatory response. People with depression usually feel okay in the morning, but their back aches once they are at work or sitting on a desk. While it is pretty easy to attribute this to bad posture, the chances are that it is, most likely, a case of depression.

3. Headaches
This type of pain ranges from mild to severe throbbing sensation on the head, especially around the eyebrows. The headaches reoccur often, and medication could only provide temporary relief. Unfortunately, being a very prevalent symptom in most health conditions, headaches are often ignored.

4. Gastrointestinal problems
Problems with the stomach, like nausea, diarrhea, and constipation, are common in those with depression. This is because serotonin, one of the crucial brain chemicals that regulate mood, also plays a pivotal role in maintaining a balanced digestive function. One of the earliest physical warning signs of depression is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If a person has IBS despite following good nutrition and lifestyle – depression could be the sole reason.

5. Low immunity
Depression allows the immunity to get compromised pretty quickly, giving way to infections like the common cold, flu, and skin infection. In addition, it may also take a long while for the treatment to work effectively.

6. Changes in blood pressure levels
People with depression go through long periods of stress. Such chronic stress leads primarily to hypertension, which eventually exposes the person to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and other health complications.

To summarize, depression, after all, is not just “they are all in your head.” Depression causes changes in one’s body for real, and if a person wants to overcome this phase of difficulty, they should speak to a doctor or expert for an appropriate treatment plan.