A year ago I started to discover some additional or surprising – to me at least – symptoms of depression. When thinking about depression, what does come to mind? Maybe a sad mood, gloomy thoughts or a more introvert life style. So I thought but there was a whole lot more to discover and subsequently to deal with. It’s all interesting to read about when you see the list of symptoms of depression wrote out in de DSM V but to live with them on a permanent basis, that is something else!
As I started to understand more about depression I’ve managed to recognize some of the symptoms that come along. For me, that works reassuring because I am able to relate some things that are happening with me to the illness and I’m not making character flaws out of them. When depression messes up with my mind, now at least I know that it dares to lie to me. I can put it into perspective. I try to manage it.

Some of the symptoms I wrote about you can read in my series ‘Surprising Symptoms of Depression’ Another symptom that is a surprise to me was when I was met with excessive teeth grinding, clenching or better known as ‘bruxism’.
Why is teeth clenching something to address?
I’ve never ever had it, that I know of. Not as a child, not as a teenager, not in periods of stress or anything. But it did came around and sometimes I grind so hard that Pierre was woken up by the noise and called me lovingly his ‘land mower’. A part from the noise and that it’s really bad for your teeth, bruxism comes with other symptoms during the day. I had facial pain, so much pain that I couldn’t bite or chew my food anymore. While having less appetite due to depression, I still ate something. I like to nibble on nuts when I don’t feel like eating anything else but that wasn’t possible anymore. The tension in my cheek was so bad that I cried myself to sleep. Every time I lay down my head on the pillow the pain became worse. It disrupts sleep and eats away at sleep quality (pun intended).
Where does it come from?
Bruxing can be influenced by many factors. One of them is stress. When people tend to be more tense during the day, the theory goes that the body wants to get rid of that additional stress by moving and you start to grind. This can also happen during the day but it’s more easy to control as you notice it more quickly.
One thing that stress will do is increase adrenaline, which mobilizes energy in the body and can manifest in teeth grinding when you’re not moving your body.[1]
Other factors that can play a role are depression, antidepressants (I can’t win here!) , alcohol, nicotine, caffeine. The remedy could be to relax more before bedtime. Even some exercise could help to ‘loosen up’.
What can you do about it?
Doctors also recommends physical exercise. Not only does moving the body off-load adrenaline that may be associated with nighttime grinding, but they say that exercise can also change neurotransmitters in the brain that help us cope with stress.[2]
Secondly you can obtain a night guard, which I’ve done. I had it custom made by my dentist. It was quite pricey but I would give a lot to have a pain free night and dinner. Sleep and food is somewhere at the basis for a human being no? I know you can also buy them on the internet but I can’t tell you if that’s good or bad as I don’t have any experience with that. You can read about the different types of night guards here.

Relaxation before bedtime is also a strategy that is recommended. It is just better for yourself, sleep quality and your mind. You can take a bath, read a little, listen to soft music. My doctor prescribed other sleeping medications for me, not especially for bruxism but to be able to reach deep sleep. It ‘s all related.
Have you ever heard of bruxism or do you suffer(ed) from it? What are your experiences or do you have tips or recommendations? Let me know it the comments!
Notes and further reads.
[1], 2 https://elemental.medium.com/what-teeth-grinding-reveals-about-your-psyche-3aace1291850
Online article. American Sleep Association. Bruxism, teeth grinding symptoms, treatment and causes.
Online article. American Sleep Association. Night Guard for Bruxism: Teeth Grinding and Clenching.
Online article. Texas A&M Health, Vital Record. (2017). A breakdown of teeth grinding.
Depression/burnout and surprising symptoms. Part 1.
Surprising for me at least. Hello and welcome to my blog. I would like to share some surprising side-effects I experienced during my burnout and depression. I must admit that my thoughts of what a burnout and depression felt like were adjusted quite a bit. Initially, I thought that burnout made you feel tired and … Continue reading Depression/burnout and surprising symptoms. Part 1.
Depression/burnout and surprising symptoms. Part 2.
Hello. Welcome back to part 2 of surprising symptoms. Glad to see you here! Why do I write about symptoms? It took me a long time before I realized that it was not ‘all me’. I attributed a lot of the following symptoms described to myself, to my character. Although I believe some are more … Continue reading Depression/burnout and surprising symptoms. Part 2.
Interesting – I have had periods of clenching my teeth – come to think about it it may well have been related to stress/depression although I’m not sure I put 2 and 2 together at the time. Making sure you go bed to relaxed is great advice – not a good idea to go to bed angry thats for sure! Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🙏
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Never go to bed angry is sound advice! I had no clue that teeth clenching was a thing, till I got depressed. So that was a surprise for sure.
Thanks for commenting.
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There was an article on Yahoo yesterday about something similar but I cant seem to find it. I think it said it was caused by anxiety over the virus, grind-grind-grind 🦷🦷🦷
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Only reading the words grind-grind makes me shiver! 🦷
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I can’t find it but on in other important news side Shakira designed her own bikini!
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That’s so great! My jaws are relaxing already from astonishment 😮
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It’s hard to be sure since I sleep alone, but I think I do sometimes, and my head hurts the next day. I seem to do it for a couple of weeks, then it stops on its own. There hasn’t been any trigger that I’ve noticed, but then again, I haven’t paid that much attention it.
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Headaches could be a sign of clenching your teeth. I felt it in my jaw, it was hard not to notice.
But the mouth guard helps really well although I bite in it still 🙂
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That’s good that it helps!
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I know when I was planning my wedding, I ended up going to the doctor because I thought I had an ear infection, and it ended up being pain from clenching my jaw, something I didn’t even know I did, but which has become worsened by the stress of planning the wedding and all the changes that went along with it.
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I can imagine! I hope it goes away with less stress. It can be so painful and it eats away at your sleeping quality.
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Well, that was 17 years ago lol. I still think I do it when stressed though. Sometimes I catch myself and have to relax.
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Oh ok, I didn’t know that was 17 years ago, I thought I missed it on your blog! 😂😂😂
It is a warning sign indeed to unwind the mind, body and relax. Thanks for commenting!
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I have TMJ and bruxism which sucks. Now I have to get jaw surgery ☹️
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That sounds unpleasant to say at least. I hope all goes well and that it’s going to be very helpful.
Teeth and jaw problems are so painful! Sending hugs!
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Very unpleasant indeed. I’m supposed to be using Invisalign even though it hurts my teeth. Not sure when the jaw surgery would be but they went to do it sometime next year.
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I don’t suffer from this, but sometimes when I am tense I do clench my muscles and so clenching my jaws and facial muscles is part of it! Not pleasant when it hurts 😦
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Isn’t it weird or wonderful how our bodies send us signals to relax? I have the muscles clenching symptoms too, especially in my upper legs.
It’s definitely not pleasant when it hurts!
Thanks for commenting!
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I haven’t had bruxism myself, though once or twice I think I’ve ground my teeth a bit. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to cause pain. I also already wear something similar to a mouth guard most nights, so maybe that’s why it hasn’t caused me much trouble. Does your night guard help a lot in that respect?
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It helps me tremendously! Before the night guard my jaws were so painful and I couldn’t bite correctly anymore. I guess when you’re avoiding the pain, you start to move your jaws around which actually makes things even worse.
Now I can sleep and eat without any pain and my teeth are protected.
I grind a little on the mouth guard itself but it doesn’t pain me anymore and my jaws can relax.
I’m all for!
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Wow, that’s great! I’m so glad it helps.
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Fortunately, I’ve never had it but I have shared a room on holiday with a cousin who did!! The noise reminded of chalk on a blackboard aarrgghh!!!
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I’ve been told that it is terrible indeed! 😣
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Nice article, I learned quite a lot from it!
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Thanks!
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Hi dear, please check my article out on depression. https://www.nuellaigwe.com/depression-as-an-illness/
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