I’m often asked myself, “Am I depressed or lazy?” How do I know if I’m depressed or just lazy? This article discusses many queries like how to stop being lazy and depressed and the difference between lazy and depression.
It’s an interesting and really legitimate question “am I depressed or lazy”, in that many people who actually suffer from clinical depression will initially feel like they’re just being lazy, not wanting to get off the couch or out of bed. On the surface, the two — laziness and depression — appear to share some actual similarities.
But dig just a little deeper and you can easily and quickly determine whether you’re depressed or just being lazy.
What is depression?
Depression is really a serious mental problem, a debilitating mental illness that actually impacts millions of Americans each year. It not only causes distress for the person suffering from it, but also for their relatives, loved ones and friends. For employers, it actually results in millions of hours, and billions of dollars, of lost productivity.
Difference Between Laziness and Depression
Lately, you’ve actively noticed feeling unmotivated and doing the bare minimum just to stay afloat. Now you’re really wondering, “am I depressed or lazy?” But these concepts actually aren’t the same all time. Laziness is having actually the ability to perform an activity but opting not to, while depression isn’t clearly an intentional act, but a psychological condition and mental condition requiring more than self-determination to perfectly resolve.
How Do I Know If I’m Depressed or Just Lazy?
If you’re really questioning whether you’re lazy or depressed, ask yourself if all you lack is motivation. “Laziness” is a matter of making a choice to not do work or particular activity or activities, but depression is an actual chronic illness.
Laziness may be for a short time and it may be a momentary state or an issue of character, but it is not a psychological disorder. Further, if you’re really concerned you might be lazy, ask yourself if you’re feeling deeply sad, not able to think anything, have disengaged from things you used to love, and are having problems with energy levels, sleep or your actual ability to concentrate. These are all signs and hallmark symptoms of depression.
Signs and Symptoms of Depression
How do i know if I’m depressed or just lazy by its signs? Even though laziness and depression can actually look alike from the outside, they are completely different. Depression is an actual mental health disorder. If you are really experiencing a combination of these signs or symptoms you should seek proper help right away and get started on your recovery process. Here are the classic signs of depression:
- Loss of actual interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Feel irritable and restless; your tolerance actually level decreases
- Loss of the ability to properly react emotionally to situations that once elicited emotions
- Feel sluggish or drained
- Decrease of libido
- Loss of appetite
- Frequently weight loss or gain
- Feel emotionally empty
- Loss of interest in regular or daily life
- More likely to attract or engage in escapist behavior such as gambling, substance abuse, dangerous sports
- Sleep changes – insomnia or hypersomnia
- Concentration problems and difficulty making decisions
- Unexplained aches or pains
As just we have listed above classic signs of depression and upon that signs or symptoms you can easily identify whether you are suffering or not from depression or laziness.
What Causes Depression?
Our thoughts and emotions are perfectly controlled or regulated by complex chemicals called neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Our nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, is perfectly and completely dependent on these amazing chemicals for their proper functioning. Researchers perfectly believe that when the production of neurotransmitters falls outside of normal levels, depression, as well as other psychological disorders, are the result.
Without adequate levels of these chemical messengers, our brain actually works slower and less efficiently. One neurotransmitter, dopamine, is exactly responsible for our ability to feel pleasure. Another serotonin, perfectly helps us experience and properly modulate our emotions. When brain tissue actually has a problem properly responding to or producing neurotransmitters, we suffer.
When actually approached in this way, it’s really easy to see that although depression is really experienced psychologically, it’s very much a physical ailment.
- History of trauma.
- Biological factors that actually affect serotonin or dopamine.
- Family history of depression.
- Long-term isolation or loneliness.
- Prolonged work stress.
- Drug or alcohol use.
- Serious medical illness.
- People who have serious pre-existing mental health conditions may also be more at risk of developing depression.
Can Depression Make You Lazy?
Can Depression Really Make You Lazy and Tired?
Yes, depression can easily make you lazy. A lack of motivation and a general disinterest in life are both actual side effects of having depression. The combination of these actual side effects often makes the person feel low or appear lazy.
The most significant and exact difference between laziness and depression is that people with depression actually do not choose to feel the way they do. They often want to be active, productive and energetic, but they actually find it impossible to do so.
Additionally, depressed episodes must last for at least two weeks. In many cases or instances, they last for several weeks or months. Laziness can be really more sporadic and temperamental- people might only just act passive and lazy when they really don’t want to do tasks.
How to Stop Being Lazy and Depressed
How to Stop Being Lazy and Depressed Step by Step Method. Easily solve this problem if you perfectly identify it.
“How can I stop laziness and depressed?” You can get rid of laziness and a depressed mind. The answer may not be very simple like as cut and dry as you’d expect. While some people may be more prone and sensitive to being lazy than others, even highly productive people can really find it challenging to get things done sometimes.
Here are some effective tips to help you get rid of laziness and a depressed mind and get a grasp on your productivity.
1. Be kind to yourself
If you really feel overwhelmed, list your priorities and properly try breaking down what you need to do into smaller tasks to avoid tackling everything all at once.
That’s why you should totally stop the negative self-talk like telling yourself that you’re lazy or worthless or you are depressed all that. If you spend a lot of time thinking like these negative things, you will really escalate the problem and make yourself more prone to anxiety and depression.
Instead, try an inner dialogue where you really present yourself in a positive light perfectly and are supportive of your own efforts. Doing this can surely change your outlook and motivate you.
2. Learn mindfulness
A great way to properly avoid being overwhelmed with all that happens in your life is to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is a booster or an antidote to laziness and depression because when you are mindful, you can really easily identify your tendency to procrastinate. Because of mindfulness, you can make a proper conscious choice about either doing something or not doing something.
When you’re being mindful, you are really able to observe the excuses that pop up in your head and perfectly recognize them as simply being passing thoughts. Live in the present moment and enjoy, appreciating what you have in the now.
3. Make your goals manageable
Setting unbelievable and unrealistic goals and taking on too much can lead to burnout. While not an actual clinical diagnosis, the symptoms of burnout are perfectly recognized by medical professionals. Job burnout can actually cause exhaustion, loss of interest and motivation, lots of boring things and a longing to escape.
So, avoid overloading by setting smaller, attainable goals that will really get you where you want to be without overwhelming you along the way.
4. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect
Perfectionism is actually on the rise and it’s taking a psychological toll.
One 2017 study that actually looked at college students between 1989 and 2016 found an increase in perfectionism over the years.
Researchers noted, that the young generation of people [are] now really facing more competitive environments, more unrealistic and unbelievable expectations, and more anxious and strict and controlling parents than generations before.
This rise in perfectionism is actually causing people to be overly critical of themselves and others. It’s also led to an increase in depression, laziness and anxiety.
Another smaller study of college students perfectly concluded that actually expecting perfection was related to avoidant coping, which causes you to avoid dealing with stressors.
5. Create a plan of action
Proper planning of how you will get something done can make it really easier to get there. Be realistic about how much time, effort, and other factors are actually needed to meet your goal and create a perfect action plan. Having a plan will easily provide exact, proper direction and confidence that can really help even if you hit a hurdle along the way.
6. Use your strengths
Depressed or Lazy: Take a moment to clearly think about what your strengths are when setting goals or gearing up to tackle a task. Try to perfectly apply them to different aspects of a task to perfectly help you get things done.
Research has proven and shown that perfectly focusing on strengths increases productivity, positive feelings, and strong engagement in work. So, perfectly recognize your accomplishments along the way.
Patting yourself on the back for a job well done can really help motivate you to keep going. Consider writing down all of your real accomplishments along the way in everything you do, whether at work or home. It’s really a great way to perfectly boost your confidence and positivity, and fuel you to carry on.
7. Ask for help
To know you are depressed or lazy, just ask questions and get solutions by help. Nowadays, many people believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness and laziness. But not asking for help could be really setting you up for failure. A 2018 study found that people who really don’t ask coworkers for help were more likely to be dissatisfied and lazy in their jobs and had lower levels of job performance. They were also perceived less favorably by their employers and coworkers.
Asking for help really improves your chances of success and helps you connect with others who can perfectly encourage and motivate you to get out of being lazy and depressed.
8. Get more exercise
Depressed or lazy, one easy solution, is regular exercise. There are so many amazing positive benefits you can reap from having a workout routine. It energizes you, boosts your metabolism easily, helps you lose weight quickly, and step by step improves your ability to focus.
Exercise will get your blood pumping properly and put your body into a perfect energized state that can last all day. If you find it tough to get up and go in the morning, try proper exercising for even just 15 minutes only. This will really make you feel more active and energized through the afternoon.
Once you get on a perfect schedule and make working out a priority in your life, it will become really easier to do, and will perfectly prevent you from slipping back into a lazy mindset.
Choose the perfect workout that actually fits your schedule. While you’re at it, benefit your mind and body by regularly eating a healthy diet as well. Junk food and processed food won’t give your body the perfect nutrition that it needs to be active. Without any exact or proper energy, you can really start to feel lazy and stop caring.
9. Avoid distraction
Actually, the reality is that we all have our favorite distractions we turn to when we’re just not feeling like doing a task — whether it’s scrolling through social media or playing with a pet.
Find proper ways to make your distractions less accessible. This can mean finding a perfect quiet place to work, like the library or an empty room, or using an app to block sites that you scroll mindlessly when you should be on task.
10. Make tedious tasks fun
We tend to avoid jobs that we actually find boring or tedious. Chores like cleaning the gutters or bathroom will never be loads of fun, but you can really make them more enjoyable. Try listening to music or a podcast, or put on your fitness tracker to exactly see how many calories you really burn or steps you get while performing these tasks.
11. Reward yourself
Reward yourself to get out of depression and lazy life.
Getting an amazing job done is a reward in itself, but some people are driven by some external rewards. Focus on what you’ll gain from getting something done amazingly, like getting closer to a promotion, getting some extra money, or rewarding yourself for a job well done. Celebrate the end of a big project with a night out or invite best friends over for a drink after a day of cleaning.
12. Dress for success
Dressing well really reflects your intention to succeed, whether you are in a corporate setting or at home. When you look at the part, you are really more likely to be confident and actually act the part as well.
Other people will surely look at you (and therefore treat you) more respectfully, and see you as an authority figure. On the other hand, if you dress poorly and badly and therefore don’t feel good about yourself, you will not act confident—and that will be totally clear to other people in your actions. Changing your clothes will really change your behavior.
You can easily set very small rewards for yourself for doing a set amount of focused work.
13. Keep going
Don’t throw in the towel when things get really difficult. Accept that some days will be more challenging and hard than others. This may involve reminding yourself of your goal so you can perfectly stay focused. Part of achieving success or finding an exact solution to a problem totally depends on remembering why it actually matters to you.
If you lose sight of your goal, you will easily become distracted and hit bad and dead ends that might make it seem impossible to continue. Doing regular reassessments of the actual importance and value of your long-term goal will really help keep you focused.
One way you can perfectly maintain momentum in your life is to embrace the philosophy of Kaizen. This is an amazing Japanese business concept, which actually revolves around actions and activities that continuously improve the entire organization from the ground up. Because there is always room for proper improvement somewhere. So Kaizen stresses the idea of overcoming challenges and never giving up on any situation.
You can easily create Kaizen in your life by just looking for (and implementing) those 1% improvements throughout all aspects of your life.
What is Intermittent Depression?
History of intermittent depression: Disorders actually characterized by periods with depressive episodes lasting hours to days have been perfectly described since 1852 and have been labeled “periodic melancholia”, “intermittent depressive disorder” or sometimes called “very brief depression”.
The third version of the proper Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1980), which actually relied heavily on findings from accurate studies conducted in psychiatric in- and out-patient settings, required at least 14 days duration for a perfect diagnosis of depression to treat properly. No diagnostic category was exactly allocated a depressive episode of shorter duration. Thus, intermittent depressive disorder, actually included in the Research Diagnostic Criteria (1975) was exactly considered to identify minor versions of major depression (“minor depression”) and not included in the DSM-III.
Recurrent brief depression (RBD) actually defined as a mental disorder. And it is characterized by intermittent depressive episodes, not exactly directly related to menstrual cycles in women, occurring between nearly or approximately 6–12 times per year, over at least one year or more fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for heavy or major depressive episodes (DSM-IV and ICD-10) except for exact duration which in RBD is actually less than 14 days, typically 5–7 days. Despite the very short duration of the depressive episodes, such episodes are actually severe, and suicidal ideation and impaired function is really rather common.
The majority of patients with RBD actually also report symptoms of anxiety, laziness and increased irritability. Hypersomnia is also rather frequent. About 1/2 of patients perfectly fulfilling diagnostic criteria for RBD may have additional short episodes of brief hypomania which is actually a severity marker of RBD. RBD may be the only mental disorder present, but RBD may also sometimes occur as part of a history of recurrent major depressive episodes or bipolar disorders. RBD is also sometimes seen among some patients with personality disorders.
What to Say to Someone Who Is Depressed
- Tell Them You Really Care
- Remind Them You’re Always There for Them: When you reach out to a friend, letting them know that you are really going to be there every step of the way can be very reassuring.
- Ask How You Can Help: The help you think your friend sometimes needs may not match at all with what would actually be beneficial in their eyes. Suggest some best options—and listen carefully.
- Urge Them to Talk With a Specialist or Doctor: If your friend really has not yet seen a doctor, encourage them to seek help and reassure them that there is really nothing wrong with asking for assistance. Depression is a real—and nowadays perfectly treatable—illness.
- Gently Ask Them If They Want to Talk: Listening can really help make their mental and emotional pain more bearable as they properly go through the course of treatment prescribed by their doctor and/or therapist.
- Tell Them You Really Understand (If You Really Do): Keep in mind, however, that there are actually several different types of depression, and even if you did really experience clinical depression, it may have been really very different than what your friend is going through.
- Remind Them It’s Really OK to Feel This Way: During this time, what actually your friend needs most is not references to fast, best and easy solutions, but a perfect awareness that you actually will be by their side through their treatment.
- Assure Them Properly They’re Not Weak or Defective
- Emphasize That There’s A Big Hope
- When Good Intentions Go Wrong: If you or someone relative or you love are having suicidal thoughts, immediately contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 for fast support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or your friend or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
Why Am I Depressed for No Reason?
The pressure to perfectly explain or justify negative emotions can actually worsen symptoms of depression. In general, researchers are still regularly learning about the different mechanisms that actually drive this mental health condition. But more often, it’s an actual combination of factors that cause or trigger the onset of symptoms. Research suggests for some specific cases after diagnosis that for some individuals, neurotransmitters may sometimes play a big role in contributing to mental health disorders. The lack of certain substances in our brain can easily lead to imbalances in brain chemicals. Antidepressants may be sometimes necessary to restore balance.
Understanding the actual chemistry of depression may help others become familiar with the various best treatment options. Psychotherapy is really helpful for most diagnosed with clinical depression. However, if a client finds that therapy alone is not fully addressing issues, antidepressants combined with psychotherapy may be more powerful and effective.
Treat Depression With No Reason
No reason for depression is really hard to understand and treat. If someone you really care about is depressed, especially if they are struggling with “having no reason” for it, the most important and really needed thing you can do for them is to be a compassionate and active listener.
This actually doesn’t mean you should put your emotional needs second or withhold your own feelings. Keeping the lines of communication open helps the person you really care for feel safe to discuss what they’re going through and exactly express the desire for help when they’re actually ready. If you are really worried about them, perfectly maintaining a “lifeline” can reassure you of their safety and well-being.
In short, feeling sad and moody all the time for no specific reason doesn’t always mean you have depression, it may be laziness, but it does really suggest you could be actually experiencing something different and more complex than sadness alone.
When actually sadness lingers and really becomes more of a fixed state of being, talking to a therapist and explaining in detail, can have a lot of benefits. In the meantime, be gentle and calm with yourself and try to remember that this feeling actually won’t last forever.
Final Thoughts
There are different reasons why people actually become lazy and depressed, but there are ways to perfectly overcome them. You don’t need to make a drastic change in your life. Instead, I recommend picking just one of the ten strategies perfectly that we covered in this article and properly focusing on that for the next few weeks. To get started, perfectly identify one small change that can make a difference in your life and properly schedule it into your routine.
Hopefully, the advice in this article really inspired you to stop being lazy and depressed in your own life. Now you can easily know how do I know if I’m depressed or just lazy and how to stop being lazy and depressed. Answer the question of “am I depressed or lazy” is perfectly understood now, Right?
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