People experience periods of sadness, feeling out of sorts, a bit blue, and detached. When these feelings become constant this can lead to depression. Depression can affect every area of your life and your success. Clinical depression can eventually affect a person’s physical health and ability to perform regular daily activities. Let’s look at how to manage depression.
Depression is no joke. If you are depressed you might have suicidal thoughts. You might also have self-destructive tendencies. Thankfully there are ways to manage depression. We are going to look at some of these things that you can do now. When you look at your emotions it’s important to understand that there is a range of emotions. We live in a world where we are told these emotions are bad. All our emotions are important however they are not always helpful to us. If we can better understand our emotions then we can deal with them better. I guess it’s like having an owner’s manual on your feelings.
Below is a scale of emotions, as you can see there is a range of emotions. Most times there are many emotions before depression.
Below are some symptoms of depression:
- Sadness
- Irritability and anger; angry outbursts with little provocation
- Unexplained aches and pains; headaches; backaches
- Low energy; small tasks sap energy
- Extreme weight gain or weight loss
- Changing daily routines
- Changed sleeping patterns–from excessive sleeping to insomnia
- Poor concentration and memory
Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Depression can occur for a variety of reasons.
Some cases of depression are caused by nutritional deficiencies. Sometimes things in life just happen. Many times these things are totally out of our control.
Remedies may be as simple as making lifestyle changes or dietary adjustments. In extreme cases, prescription medication is required. Either way, the great news is that we can do something about it. There are many Facebook Groups for instance that you can join. Very often this can be helpful.
All feelings are second to thoughts or certain thinking. If you have a feeling of sadness there are always thoughts of sadness first. Very often if you can catch the thoughts in time, you can completely avoid feeling depressed. You want to avoid your emotions from gaining momentum. Remember feeling always comes after the thought. If you can catch the thoughts in time this will be very helpful.
What kind of thoughts are you having?
Your Options In Natural Remedies For Depression
Increase physical activity
Exercise relieves symptoms of depression and alleviates stress. A simple thing like a walk can lower depression. The reason for this is exercise is a natural mood elevator. If you are not able to go to the gym you can do some home exercises. Another activity that I would like to mention is skipping. The point here is that there are options and you can start with just 5 minutes per day.
Eat well
Nutritional deficiencies can trigger depressive symptoms in some people. Patients showing depressive symptoms may undergo lab testing for nutritional deficiencies and hormonal imbalances. Some helpful vitamins include B-Vitamins, Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D.
Ask your doctor about using herbal supplements
Supplements derived from the active components of various herbs have been used successfully to treat depression. An herb commonly recommended for the treatment of depression is St. John’s Wort. Herbal supplements must be taken with care and ideally under a health care practitioner’s supervision. They can interact with other medications and may have negative side effects for some people. Eating healthy in general can also go a long way.
Establish healthy sleep patterns
The quantity and quality of sleep a person experience directly impacts their health and mental status. Getting enough sleep and completing a full sleep cycle (sleep without interruption) supports good physical and mental health. Getting a good night’s sleep allows your body and mind to recharge.
Stay engaged in daily activities and set goals
To combat mental illness, the mind needs to be engaged in ways, which offset the symptoms of depression. Sticking to a routine of daily activities and setting small goals alleviates some of the cyclical negative thinking, which often accompanies depression.
Keeping to good and healthy routines can be very helpful in lowering depression.
Explore various mind-body connection practices
Yoga, Meditation, Biofeedback, Acupuncture, and other alternative therapies offer relief from the symptoms of depression. They offer relief from fatigue, anxiety, and scattered thinking. Meditation is great because it can relax your mind. When you breathe during meditation this will also naturally lower the stress in your body. Something else you can also do is go for a massage. Another thing you can do is add some joy to your life by watching a funny movie.
See a life coach or therapist
Understanding how your emotions work can be extremely helpful. Working with a coach or therapist you can learn exercises and techniques which can completely get rid of depression. Now, this is not a guarantee but understanding your emotions is a great place to start.
Many people live with mild to severe depression without seeking medical assistance. People in depressive states no longer need to suffer from the illness. There are fortunately many options to deal with depression. You perhaps will need to try a few of them to see what works for you.
Final thoughts…
Remember your feelings start with your thoughts. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing your thoughts and you can avoid depression. If you are able to manage your feelings early on it is a lot easier. I would like to add that it’s encouraging to know you can do something about depression. The other thing to remember is that feeling sad or down is not always a bad thing. Our feelings are there also to work as feedback mechanisms. I hope this post has been helpful.
For more related posts CLICK HERE
We would love to hear from you or know your perspective. Leave a comment below!
Join our FREE Facebook Group here!!
This group is for Coaches wanting to create more clients or for coaches that want to get their calendar filled with coaching sessions.