Depression is the health condition in which you suffer from extreme sadness, fatigue, overwhelming hopelessness, and in fact some physical symptoms of generalized aches and pains. Depression tends to run in cycles making it more difficult to manage.

Because of the cyclical nature of the depression some people tend to lose hope and slide down that very slippery slope into the darkest realms of depression.

The cycle of depression seems to rage so that your mind locks on to the negativity surrounding your emotions and feelings, bringing up more negative thoughts, completely invading your mind so that there is nothing else to consume your mind except the overwhelming unhappiness that you feel with every single breath.

Because your mind locks so firmly onto the negative thoughts and is working churning away again and again, hour after hour, throwing more and more ill feelings into the mix, your body actually responds by dreaming more and being more active while you're asleep. And so the harder your mind works during the day, particularly on negative thoughts, the more you dream at night. The more you dream, the less rested you feel.

At night when we sleep we passed through a variety of sleep stages called rapid eye movement or REM sleep and deep sleep.

REM sleep is the shallow sleep we have during which our dreams occur, and if our mind is busy creating dreams while we are sleeping, then the longer we remain in REM sleep and the less deep sleep we have. Think about it, without getting enough deep sleep this simply makes us more exhausted. Our bodies need deep sleep to feel restored.

Without getting enough deep sleep you feel exhausted. Then your body and mind begins to interpret the reality of your life differently, typically this means in a more negative or depressing manner. In many cases the lack of sleep can be the initiation of a depressive episode.

Over time the lack of sleep you experience can actually impact the repair and grow your body undertakes night after night when you are in deep sleep. This also impacts your immune system making you feel even lower than before.

Once a cycle of depression gets to this level many people end up drowning in their own despair so that you are unable to actually bring yourself to get out of the bed each every morning. And this level of depression and feelings of worthlessness and overwhelming sadness can get so dark that suicide seems to be the only way out.

There are some times that the only way that you can break the cycle of depression that you're in is, with the help of your physician, to look forward and try to imagine what life will be like when you are feeling better.

Breaking the cycle of depression may sound easy, but it is far from such.

If you wish to break the chains of the cycle of depression that have engulfed you, then you absolutely will need medical help. This may come in the form of counseling or it may come in the form of medication that your physician decides is best for you. You may even need a combination of both.

For those that suffer with depression there is a better day, and there is help available to you.

Seek help. Do not feel that you simply must live with depression.

Life can be different.

Break the cycle of depression that you are in.