From my personal experience, I will attest to the fact that sleeping can be
your greatest enemy. Depression is not necessarily fatigue. Get that out of
your head. Depression is apathy and sadness, either due to a chemical
malfunction or a life situation. Sleeping a consistent eight-hour nightly shift
is good, but spending whole days in bed is bad. This is true on three different
fronts. First, your blood needs to move around. When you are lying in bed, your
heart rate slows, and your blood pressure slows. Your temperature drops and
your digestive system backs up. All of this lack of activity keeps your body in
a state of chemical depression. Also, you lose any form of necessary
stimulation to keep your mind engaged. While sleeping, you could lose touch
with reality as well. And finally, lying around is not something to be proud of.
Your self-esteem and confidence, already on a downward spiral, will be more out
of control if you look back over your days and see no form of accomplishment or
improvement or effort to take pride in.
This isn’t to say that the body doesn’t require rest on occasion, in
addition to normal sleeping hours. In fact, Americans tend to be
over-productive and have difficulty taking time out for themselves. They are
frightened by a lack of productivity or of negative emotions. Though, in a
state of depression it’s difficult to make good judgment calls, try to think
cognitively about yourself and which category you might fall into, and then do
your best.
Granted, it’s not always going to be easy, and you will have many days when
it simply doesn’t happen, but trying is always better than not trying when it
comes to chronic depression. Remember, your goal is to fight the depression,
not give in to it.