People are now working routinely more than 8-10 hours a day. If you include traffic, then the time spent out of home goes up for 12-14 hours in a day. Compared to people who work between 6-8 hours the longer hours increases the chances of depression. Excessive working hours can also negatively affect sleep quality. A variety of genetic, physical, emotional factors can make a deep impact on the mental health of a person.
How does working long hours cause depression? Depression is more common than you think. It’s much more common in women than in men. The difference between depression and sadness is the presence of life altering side effects. Our bodies have been built to have little mental stress, more physical stress and good sleep. We are also meant to have a good appetite, eat well and rest well. For thousands of years we have worked from dawn to dusk with physical work taking up most of the time. This type of habit has resulted in good sleep and good health. With industrialization and modern life everyone tends to wake up late, work late, eat poorly and sleep poorly. Also major part of the work is related to the mind with very little physical effort. This also results in poor appetite, lack of quality food, poor eating habits, sleeping late, poor quality of sleep and consequently a poor physical and mental health. This kind of a life causes a lot of stress on a constant basis and results in initially tiredness, then a sense of feeling low, feeling depressed on and off and then finally resulting in a deep depression. There is also a difference between being depressed and having depression. It’s possible to have a one-time bout of depression. Major depression doesn’t always have a trigger. Unfortunately, the majority of people with depressive disorders don’t seek help. Seasonal Effective Disorder is a kind of depression that affects from our brain also. These are temporary ones which one can recover from without much effort. The strange and dangerous thing about depression is having suicidal thoughts, the fear of death remains the same. Depressed people react differently. Some become reclusive, some become violent. Either way they are not able to live a normal life. what we can do to avoid this? 1. Getting physical exercise in a routine keeps your mental & physical health strong. Don’t give any excuses as lack of time. If you realized what can happen then it is important to prioritize. 2. Adjust your diet to eat healthy food. Also eat when hungry and eat early in the evening. Fasting once in 15 days also helps. This helps feel active mentally. You feel the better way to take decisions. You feel the awareness to handle any situation. If you are already depressed then what do you do?
While one can attempt by the above mentioned activities to come out of the situation, many times one finds it extremely difficult to do it oneself. It is suggested to take the help of a coach. As much as possible avoid taking any medication for depression. It only makes the situation worse. Identifying the root, working through them, and working on transforming the thinking process helps. This is where the coach comes in to facilitate this process. Positive mentoring is necessary and the coach can do it effectively. Even if you are getting depressed and it stays for some time, take help from a life coach to ensure that it does not get worse. Early recognition and prevention is the best. Do not feel ashamed or scared to approach a life coach for help in early stages or in a late stage. It is important to get well without any medication on a permanent basis for a success in career and life.