Worrying Yourself Into Depression
I'm coming back to this business of worrying, because it's one of the root causes of depression.
You can be worrying yourself into depression.
The more you worry, the more likely it is that you dream.
You should spend only about a third of sleep time in the Rapid Eye Movement, REM, state.
More than this, and you're not enjoying the slow wave sleep which is so important for your body's reparation.
There is this manifestation known as 'The Cycle of Depression.
' It can start in one of two, closely allied, ways.
Worrying too much is one of them.
If all manner of adverse things seem to be happening to you; not necessarily you directly, but to friends and relatives as well, so much so that you worry about the health of this person.
Whether your friend's husband will be able to find a new job and avoid having their house foreclosed upon.
Whether another friend's son will be safe in Afghanistan.
All these things prey on your mind and you find yourself worrying more and more, to the extent that you start to lose sleep, then when you do finally manage to drop off, you find yourself dreaming a lot, often weird, disjointed dreams, scraps of dreams.
You wake up the following morning feeling tired out.
Instead of spending a mere 25% of your time in REM, (dream) sleep, you could well be up to as much as 75%, leaving very little time for the slow wave sleep.
Hence, exhaustion.
Now, we brushed on this once before, but it bears repeating because it's so important.
Remember the saying I'm sure you know, that 'a problem shared is a problem halved?' Write down all that's worrying you, just as they come into your head.
Be as thorough as possible.
Then go through them, and write them out again in the order of importance.
Then yet again, listing those worries about which you can effectively do something, and those over which you have no control.
For instance, there's no way you can help your friend's husband with a new job.
There's no way you can keep your friend's son safe abroad.
So do your best to shelve these concerns.
This doesn't mean you're not a good and caring person.
You've shown you are by worrying about these things, but now these very worries are starting to hurt you.
This can affect your family, so this is something you must address.
Then, perhaps, you come to certain things about which you are able to 'fix.
' You may have been putting them off, but this makes your worrying ten times worse.
Meet them head on and sort them out.
These are your most pressing needs, and it's vital you rid yourself of these concerns.
From personal experience, you will find that by writing everything out like this, it's a bit like talking it over with an old friend.
Now your journal knows about them and every time you look at your journal, there they'll be, looking back at you.
Sort out the ones that impact you directly, and shelve the rest.
You can be worrying yourself into depression.
The more you worry, the more likely it is that you dream.
You should spend only about a third of sleep time in the Rapid Eye Movement, REM, state.
More than this, and you're not enjoying the slow wave sleep which is so important for your body's reparation.
There is this manifestation known as 'The Cycle of Depression.
' It can start in one of two, closely allied, ways.
Worrying too much is one of them.
If all manner of adverse things seem to be happening to you; not necessarily you directly, but to friends and relatives as well, so much so that you worry about the health of this person.
Whether your friend's husband will be able to find a new job and avoid having their house foreclosed upon.
Whether another friend's son will be safe in Afghanistan.
All these things prey on your mind and you find yourself worrying more and more, to the extent that you start to lose sleep, then when you do finally manage to drop off, you find yourself dreaming a lot, often weird, disjointed dreams, scraps of dreams.
You wake up the following morning feeling tired out.
Instead of spending a mere 25% of your time in REM, (dream) sleep, you could well be up to as much as 75%, leaving very little time for the slow wave sleep.
Hence, exhaustion.
Now, we brushed on this once before, but it bears repeating because it's so important.
Remember the saying I'm sure you know, that 'a problem shared is a problem halved?' Write down all that's worrying you, just as they come into your head.
Be as thorough as possible.
Then go through them, and write them out again in the order of importance.
Then yet again, listing those worries about which you can effectively do something, and those over which you have no control.
For instance, there's no way you can help your friend's husband with a new job.
There's no way you can keep your friend's son safe abroad.
So do your best to shelve these concerns.
This doesn't mean you're not a good and caring person.
You've shown you are by worrying about these things, but now these very worries are starting to hurt you.
This can affect your family, so this is something you must address.
Then, perhaps, you come to certain things about which you are able to 'fix.
' You may have been putting them off, but this makes your worrying ten times worse.
Meet them head on and sort them out.
These are your most pressing needs, and it's vital you rid yourself of these concerns.
From personal experience, you will find that by writing everything out like this, it's a bit like talking it over with an old friend.
Now your journal knows about them and every time you look at your journal, there they'll be, looking back at you.
Sort out the ones that impact you directly, and shelve the rest.
Source...