Depressed mornings are the worst days in human’s life, which in turn spoil the entire day. There are different kinds of depression which might get worse at certain times in a day.
Some of the most common symptoms of depression include feelings of helplessness or sadness, and sometimes the people suffering from it also feel hopelessness, and these kinds of symptoms might get worsen in the morning as well. Some of the common term for the diurnal variation is morning depression. Diurnal refer the symptoms will grow more severe every day at almost the same time and for many people suffering with depression, these symptoms will happen in the afternoon or evening.
Most common symptoms of morning depression
Some of the symptoms of depression might include the early signs like diminished or zero feeling of enjoyment while getting involved in various activities and difficulty in sleeping as well. A person who is experiencing morning depression might have diagnostic symptoms related to major depressive disorder and these symptoms might get worsen in the morning while they might dissipate or feel less severe during the day. A person experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned below for continuous 2 weeks or more after that as well are advised to get the treatment. One of the most common symptoms of this kind of condition includes feeling of depressed mood or feeling no interest or pleasure in activities that you enjoyed doing earlier.
Some of the other kinds of symptoms include
- A depressed mood will continue for more days, almost every day the person will feel depressed and it will become worse at some point of time as well.
- the person with depression will have no feeling of enjoyment in mostly all the activities
- there will be a significant weight loss without effort or significant decrease in appetite as well
- The patient will face difficulty while sleeping or will sleep too much
- feeling of restlessness for the whole day which will continue for weeks as well
- Patient will feel no more energetic for the whole week as well
- He/she will find difficulty while concentrating or thinking about certain things for most og the days.
- Feeling of suicide or self-harming as increases
Along with the above mentioned symptoms, the patients with morning depression might also observe some other symptoms as well:
- He/she might feel it difficult to wake up in the morning
- It will be physical more challenging to get out of bed
- Feeling of difficulty while focusing on certain things especially during the morning
- Completing the routine morning tasks like getting ready and taking bath will become difficult
In case a person is having depressed morning, then the above-mentioned symptoms will keep on reducing or might disappear as well as the day progresses.
Causes of symptoms
Doctors are still not able to identify any particular reason of morning depression but there are many supporting factors that are resulting in causing the morning depression. Since depressed mood occurs at almost the same every day, so the doctors mostly link it with the imbalances in a person’s circadian rhythm. This body’s circadian rhythm is a mind of process that signals the cycle of sleep-wake cycle and hormonal changes within our body throughout the day is the reason influencing the circadian rhythm.
One of these kinds of hormones is melatonin which tends to make a person feel sleepy. The people who are still to be diagnosed with depression mostly start witnessing some changes in their mood for the whole day, and the ones who have morning depression have higher chances of pronounced highs and lows that occur daily or mostly each day. According to many researches, the imbalances in a anyone’ body clock and the amount of sleep and light exposure to which he/she is exposed to can result in bringing significant mood changes especially the ones who are dealing with depressed mood swings.
Along with changes to the body’s natural rhythms, there are many other factors that significantly result in causing depressed mornings and major depressive disorder. Some of the factors include:
- In case a person is having a family history of depression
- Taking any drug treatment or is an alcohol addictive
- Any kind of medical conditions result in changing a person’s mood like sleep disturbances, chronic pain, feeling of anxiety and much more
- Sudden changes in life circumstances like the person dealing with divorce or loss of a loved one also witness depression
- Sudden trauma
Diagnosis
Doctors begin with the treatment post diagnosing the symptoms of depression like morning depression by asking more about the symptoms to the person who is facing it. The doctors mostly ask questions related to changes in mood, lack of sleep, weight, and appetite and they try to build a connection between the symptoms and how much they have lasted and whether they are improving with time or rather getting worse.
The doctors will also try to at all the possible causes which result in depression including any kind of medical condition that are showing similar symptoms. Hypothyroidism is one such example and taking these kinds of medicines can result in mood changes as well. Your doctor will also ask more about this drug which you are taking as part of your treatment. Morning depression is quite different to diagnose as compared to the depression because it don’t have its own diagnostic criteria and even the symptoms vary from person to person.
There are no fixed that which your will look to examine whether you are dealing with this kind of depression or not. In order to determine whether it’s the morning depression or not, the doctor will ask you few questions related to your sleeping patterns and what all changes you observed in your mood throughout the day. Some of the questions which your doctor will ask include:
- Are these symptoms get more worsen in the morning as compared to the evening?
- Are you finding it difficult to get out of bed early and start the morning routine?
- Does your mood keep changing dramatically with each day?
- Are you finding it difficult to concentrate on your studies?
- Do you find pleasure in the activities that you usually enjoy?
- Have your daily routines changed recently?
- Are you feeling improvement in your mood during the day?
Treatment
Your doctor might advise you to undergo psychotherapy in case you are dealing with the depression. In case you are having suicidal thoughts or feeling that you must harm yourself, then you need immediate medical attention and refer to your doctor to get immediate and continuing care which you need at the earliest. There exist natural ways to get rid of depression. There are various kinds of treatments available for depression which includes:
Psychotherapy
This kind of treatment is helpful in recognizing the negative thought patterns and tries to build positive behaviors. The group or family therapy is useful in strengthening the bond and establishing stronger relations with the person suffering from the depression.
Medications
Other kind of treatment includes anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics that are helpful in bringing some relief. Though this process is time consuming and might need some kind of trial-and-error to look for the right kind of drug and dosage that can be given to the patients.
Exercise
By exercising on a regular basis, a person can feel better and can help them in reduce mild to moderate depression symptoms. By exercising in fresh air, the person dealing with depression can get benefit in dealing with the morning depression, as it will lower the insomnia and gives them much required exposure to natural light that helps in speedy recovery.
Brain stimulation therapies
Though very rare, this kind of treatment are helpful in lowering the worsen symptoms of depression. Some of the kinds of therapies given to the patient include brain stimulation therapies like electroconvulsive therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation among others advised by the doctors.
Speaking therapy
This is yet another popular treatment which is given to the patients suffering from depression, talk therapies include interpersonal therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy therapies as well which all are used to cure morning depression. When we combine the medication and talk therapies, they both together give better and effective results and patients dealing with depression feel an improvement in their condition. These kinds of therapies are helpful; in solving any issues that might result in causing depression and will make the symptoms more worsen. Depression can result in causing differences in a romantic relationship as well and can result in causing problems at the workplace as well.
Light therapy
Light therapy which is also being referred to as light therapy or phototherapy is useful in curing people dealing with morning depression. Under this kind of therapy, the person dealing with depression is advised to sit or work close to a light therapy box which emits bright light. The more the person is exposed to light, the better and quickly he/she will recover. Though this kind of treatment is mostly recognized as a method for seasonal affective disorder, but the people dealing with depression find this kind of treatment more helpful and beneficial.
Making some life style changes
Along with taking medical treatments, a person dealing with depression might feel better in case he/she brings some chances in the life as well. BY following healthy habits, people can easily cope with symptoms and can see positive changes within themselves:
Improve your sleep hygiene
A person who is dealing with depression can promote better-quality sleep through darkening the bedroom and maintaining low temperature inside the bedroom. Also, by removing distractions from screens like those on cell phones, computers, and laptops, the person can feel relaxed and can help in improving their quality of life.
Preparing for the next day activities a night before
The person who is witnessing depression must prepare for the next day activities and set their clothes and items for work or school a day before. Also put together the lunches in advance so that managing next day task becomes easy, it will be helpful especially for the people who are little motivated or lacks energy when they wake up.
Take enough rest
You must try to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night so that you can improve your symptoms and feel more energetic the next day.
Have extra time in the morning
You should get up little early in the morning so that managing the daily task won’t become difficult anymore, you can make adjustments in your work schedule so that you can feel relaxed and face less stress in the morning.
Let light comes inside your room
You must open the curtains in the morning, it should be the first thing that you need to do right away so that you can get enough exposure of light and fresh air makes you feel refreshed.
Your doctor or therapist will advise you’re the recommendations according to your symptoms and needs.
Some other steps that we can take include
Along with the above mentioned treatments, making some changes in the sleeping pattern will help the patients greatly. By making the below-mentioned changes, the person dealing with morning depression, will be able to experience significant reduction in the overall symptoms of morning depression. Some of the changes include:
- Try to go to bed early so that you can wake up at the same time every day in a more energetic way to skip the depressed mood
- Try not to miss any meals in a day and eat meals at regular times
- Try not to take longer naps
- Create an environment that is helpful in promoting sleeping like make your room look with silent environment
- You need to avoid those substances that can prevent the quality of your night’s sleep which include caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco
- Spend some fixed time daily for exercising but you must avoid strenuous exercise for a minimum of 4 hours before going to bed
By taking these small steps you can stabilize your circadian rhythm and your body will start making the right kind of hormones at the right time and besides it will help in improving your mood to come out of depressed state and other kinds of symptoms as well providing the best result to cure depression.
Warp- up
According to many researches it has been found that morning depression is one of the most common forms of diurnal depression and in case you are dealing with morning depression, then you must take medical treatments at the earliest that will help you to overcome your depression at the earliest.
Sirisha B 
Raju Ch