Are These Bad Habits Making You Moody, Anxious & Depressed?

If you are doing everything correctly, eating a well-balanced diet, getting sufficient exercise and sleep, and generally making good lifestyle choices, but for some strange reason cannot shake off persistent feelings of moodiness, anxiety, and depression, it may be caused by some fairly innocent habits. While you can blame it on genetics, the fact is you may simply have some bad habits you have never taken notice of, which might be the underlying issue. Habits can be insidious and the following are some of the ones to take note of.

Drinking An Excessive Amount Of Caffeine

Caffeine in beverages releases adrenaline and produces hyperarousal. Caffeine has health benefits but it is also easy to build up a tolerance to it, and caffeine withdrawal will leave you feeling irritable and sluggish. Too much coffee can leave you in a state of hyperarousal and feeling the side effects of caffeine such as jitteriness and anxiety after a cup of coffee. Caffeine also raises an individual's heart rate and causes them to have sensations of nervousness and agitation. Individuals who are already prone to anxiety, coffee can greatly provoke its negative effects, and can even cause sweaty palms, a pounding heart, ringing in the ears, and possibly a full-blown panic attack.

Sitting Around Too Much

A sedentary lifestyle is connected to multiple diseases, anxiety, and depression. Inactivity is a common symptom of depression and anxiety, as an individual often will lack the energy and drive to do the things they once enjoyed. It's okay to take a break once in awhile, however, getting up and staying active will significantly improve an individual's overall mood and mental health.

The good news is that exercising not only improves your physical health, it also releases neurochemicals, specifically dopamine and serotonin, the feel-good hormones that boost overall happiness and health. Studies show that performing moderate exercise, such as walking twenty to forty minutes, three times a week, is highly effective in decreasing depressive symptoms and improves the long-term outcome for those who are dealing with depression or anxiety. So, what are you waiting for? Get up and exercise to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.

An External Locus Of Control

An external locus of control is the view that events that take place in our lives happen by chance or fate, and are beyond our control. This produces feelings of helplessness, anxiety, hopelessness, and depression. If an individual has this way of thinking, they will need to work on switching to an internal locus of control, which is the belief that one can influence and take control of their lives and ultimately how things turn out (and hopefully for the best). An internal locus of control will make an individual feel better and have more power and control over what happens in their life without unnecessary worrying over what good or bad things can happen to them.

Being Inundated By Technology

Taking a break from technology and spending face-to-face interaction time with others can greatly improve a person's mental and emotional wellbeing. For those of us who spend far too much time with technology or social media, whether it is at work, at home, or both can actually cause anxiety and trigger symptoms of depression. A study performed by the Pew Research Center revealed that the use of social media, specifically Facebook, increases levels of anxiety and stress in people.

Further studies done by the Australia Psychological Society discovered that fifty percent of teenagers experience high levels of anxiety from fear of missing out, especially when it comes to their online social presence. Yes, technology has simplified our lives, but it can become an addiction. Spending too much time on a has been linked to insomnia, social isolation, anxiety, and depression.

Poor Diet

The foods you eat can negatively impact your emotional health, as a study published in the The American Journal of Psychiatry discovered a link between diets high in processed foods, refined grains, sugary snacks, and beer had increased rates of anxiety and depression among individuals, particularly women. These simple carbs like refined and processed foods, sugary treats, and carbonated drinks are quickly processed by the body and cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

The results in heavy mood swings, as quick drops in an individual's blood sugars, releases stress hormones. Avoid eating too many simple carbs and go for complex carbs instead. Complex carbs include sweet potatoes, brown rice, yams, oatmeal, multigrain hot cereal, and whole wheat bread.

Rumination

All-or-nothing or rumination thinking fails to see a more objective middle ground and is when a person dwells on negative thoughts. Negative thought patterns include dwelling on rejection, failure, loss, and other types of stress. When an individual dwells on difficult problems, they compulsively aggravate symptoms of depression and anxiety.

If this is your habit, try to take a mental step back and view the situation more objectively and with compassion. Taking note of when you slip into this thought pattern is the first step towards correcting it. Cognitive behavioral therapy can also help those struggling with depression and anxiety and can help them identify negative thought patterns and learn how to replace those negative thoughts with positive ones, and adaptive coping strategies.

Improper Sleeping Habits

Poor sleeping habits, such as staying up too late and getting up early, sleep deprivation, and constant sleep disturbance, often caused by technology and the surrounding environment, can negatively impact a person’s emotional and mental wellbeing more than they realize. Sleep disturbance is one of the many symptoms of depression, often causing a negative sleep cycle to take place. Sleep disturbance can be either difficulty falling and staying asleep, or the complete opposite of sleeping too much.

Chronic sleep deprivation is another common trigger of depression and anxiety that directly impacts an individual’s mood, and can at times, feel like a never-ending cycle. Establishing good sleeping habits can significantly help to stop a negative sleep cycle in its tracks, especially unhealthy sleeping habits associated with sleep deprivation and depression. Individuals are encouraged to keep sleep and wake times consistent, shutting off all electronics and technology a couple of hours prior to bedtime, and eliminating the temptation by keeping all electronics outside of the bedroom as well.

Social Isolation

When life becomes overwhelming and stressful, it can be quite easy for someone to completely shut off the world and become isolated from those in their life. This makes it increasingly difficult to reach out for social support when just leaving the house feels daunting. Having meaningful social support though is what is necessary during this time, as it can greatly help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Research has proven that having social support, especially when going through a difficult time in one’s life, can moderate environmental and genetic vulnerabilities for numerous mental conditions by providing effective coping strategies and building a strong resilience to stress. To clarify, social support is more than just a text message or quick phone call. Spending time with your support system of loved ones can help an individual dealing with depression, moodiness or anxiety, and can help the individual work through their thoughts and feelings in a healthy environment that encourages positivity rather than negativity.

Procrastinating

Sometimes anxiety and depression itself can cause a person to procrastinate on their to-do list simply because they lack the energy or ambition to complete a task. But, putting things off can also worsen a person’s anxiety or depression, as they will begin to feel like there is always a task that needs to be completed. If something becomes too overwhelming, it is best to break the task up into smaller projects and get rid of any distractions that can be holding an individual back from completing their work.

By preventing or even stopping procrastination in its tracks, an individual will be able to complete their task and achieve their goal, which will release dopamine within the brain. Dopamine is the chemical responsible for experiencing pleasure and reward, thereby accomplishing tasks can help defeat lingering symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Not Getting Enough Essential Vitamins

Along with an improper diet, not getting the necessary vitamins that are essential for neurological health can greatly affect a person’s mental stability. Specifically, omega-3s and vitamin D are vital for optimal brain health and mental performance. Omega-3 fats are the building block of brain tissue, and can only be derived from our diets, and an omega-3 deficiency can leave the brain vulnerable to depression. The best sources of omega-3s are found in wild, cold-water fish such as salmon and mackerel, other seafood such as sardines, as well as in walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds, and fish oil supplements.

Vitamin D is not just essential for building strong bones, but it is essential for optimum brain health as well. Approximately eighty percent of Americans are vitamin D deficient, and the best source of vitamin D is the sun. From March to October, midday sunlight exposure stimulates vitamin D production within the skin, which is ideal for absorbing those essential nutrients for a few minutes throughout the day. For darker, colder months, an individual can take a vitamin D supplement to ensure they are getting enough.

Avoiding Sunlight

There is a reason that ancient civilizations worshipped the sun. Not only does the sun bring life to the earth, but it is also a natural mood booster and trigger’s the brain’s production of serotonin, which decreases levels of anxiety and depression while providing an individual with a sense of well-being. Sunlight also naturally helps to reset the body’s internal clock, aiding in keeping sleep and other biological rhythms in sync. When the days become cold and dark, an artificial light box can be used to substitute the sun’s natural rays, as well as vitamin D supplements, as previously mentioned. Just thirty minutes in front of a bright light box each day can help curb the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and depression.