Have you ever felt like laying in bed not wanting to get out, not even for work or any other important task? This is something one can call morning depression. While being part of major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, it is by itself, a major symptom that can be debilitating for the sufferer. Let’s see what it is all about and also answer questions related to why you sometimes end up waking up sad!
Understanding Morning Depression
Morning depression, also sometimes referred to as the diurnal mood variation, is exactly what the term describes. It is essentially, as mentioned before, a significant symptom of major depressive disorder (also called clinical depression) and bipolar disorder, that is characterized by sub-symptoms of extreme sadness, frustration, anger, and fatigue.
Morning depression, as the name suggests, is high in intensity in the morning and goes down as the day starts to set. The symptoms also begin to rest as soon as the moon starts to climb up the sky. Due to depression in the morning being a major symptom of known mental disorders, it is not considered to be part of its own diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). Experts believed morning depression to be a clinical diagnosis on its own, but presently they consider it one of the many possible symptoms of depression.
Symptoms are as follows(1):
- Sleep longer than normal, sometimes extended for more than 15 to 16 hours (hypersomnia)
- Persistently low mood and extreme feelings of sadness
- Fatigue, exhaustion and lethargy
- Having difficulty waking up or leaving the bed at all
- Extremely little motivation and enthusiasm
- Excessive brain fog symptoms
- The usual symptoms of depression are more severe in the morning
- Trouble keeping with a morning routine such as ensuring things like brushing, ablutions, and making coffee are done in a timely manner
- Extreme kind of irritability when waking up
Read More: The Effects of Depression on Mental Health
What Are The Possible Causes For Waking Up Depressed
Similar to depression, the causes of waking up depressed or morning depression are not known yet but there are considerable factors that do indeed contribute to the onset of depression in the morning. Let’s see what are these underlying factors:
Imbalance of Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythm aka the internal 24-clock that helps regulate our hormones during the day and night cycle(2). When an imbalance is created in it, it usually happens due to the absence or little presence of natural light. This can happen if you live in an area with perpetual darkness most of the time like Alaska or you sleep through the mornings, missing out on the sunlight in the process.
Sunlight basically helps secrete the hormone called cortisol, which helps you keep awake and after dark it helps induce the production of melatonin, the “sleep” hormone to help induce grogginess to signal it’s time to rest. When that is affected, the circadian rhythm and then so comes with the onset of morning depression(3).
This is correlated with a 2021 study where they found out that the hypothalamus, a part of the brain that is responsible for handling the “circadian rhythm”, is affected in people who have morning depression.
Sleep Patterns
Excess stress can also affect your proper sleep patterns, and if that becomes the case, that means it could bring about the onset of morning depression. For example, clinical depression and bipolar disorder are often what causes morning depression. This means mood changes correlate with the onset of morning depression(5) as evidenced by a study done in 2018. However, more studies need to be done to strengthen this link as a causation factor.
Presence of Plasma Interleukin-6
Plasma Interleukin-6 is a type of biomarker of systemic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, which can help indicate if there is inflammation in the body. This is demonstrated in key research studies that show Plasma Interleukin-6 increases during the day and reverses the effects of circadian rhythm during which someone is suffering from while in depression(6, 7).
Read More: What is Depression?
Treating Morning Depression
If you are asking questions like “Why am I depressed in the morning?”, “Why do I wake up depressed?”, “Is morning depression a thing?”, or “What causes morning depression?” a lot, then it is time to find treatment (which can be used in combination) for morning depression.
Unlike clinical depression, morning depression cannot be treated with the usual antidepressants like the ones called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) as these are not effective in treating it. On the other hand, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) such as venlafaxine (Effexor) can treat people with morning depression. SNRIs can do the same thing, which is to tinker with biological processes to induce a reduction in symptoms, but with SNRIs, the hormone that is targeted is norepinephrine instead of just serotonin and there are no side effects.
Talk therapies such as interpersonal therapy (which focuses on the interpersonal relationships that shape up your processes), psychotherapies (which helps patients look inward into the problematic behavior that arises due to negative processes and find resolutions for them), and a thing called the light therapy works really well for treating morning depression. Light therapy, which uses a simulated form of natural light to match sunlight’s behavior, is especially effective in treating depression in the morning, so you won’t be saying, “I woke up depressed” anytime soon.
Certain lifestyle changes can also help in reducing the negative effects of morning depression. These can be things like better sleep patterns brought on by scheduling and routines, physical activity, reading books, journaling, and practicing mindfulness.
Read More: ADHD and Depression: Exploring the Connection
Wrapping Up
This is the end of the line here but you now have an idea about what exactly morning depression is and how it can be treated properly. But if you need any type of treatment, including telepsychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychiatric medication management, then you can consult with Solid Foundation Psychiatry for not just treating a symptom like waking up depressed but also the symptoms of other mental conditions like insomnia, anxiety, schizophrenia, or psychosis. Book an appointment today!