As a result of the surrounding conditions, the crises and the problems that become everyday worse and worse than the days before, you can find that there is a huge number of people who suffer from depression. Depression may result from other diseases and health problems such as hypothyroidism or anemia or from wrong habits, wrong way of thinking and it may come as a result of lacking specific components in our bodies. You can treat depression without the need to resort to medications and to know more, we present to you the following tips.
Change your lifestyle:
– Healthy food: Eating healthy types of food such as fruit, leafy green vegetables, fish like salmon and tuna and other types of food will help you to be healthier and will provide you with the nutrients that are required for lowering the level of your depression.
– Avoid eating too much sweets: Eating sweet makes us happy because it increases the level of blood sugar and once it returns back to its normal level, you become depressed.
– Reduce drinking alcohol and caffeine: Alcohol and drinks that contain caffeine are among the most common beverages that we drink. Alcohol is thought to relax the body and caffeine makes us more energetic, they also improve our mood. Such effects are temporary and do not last for a long time which makes us after that suffer from many problems such as insomnia and depression.
– Do exercises: Doing exercises such as yoga, aerobic, walking everyday in the morning, swimming, playing sports or any other activity will help you to decrease the level of depression and improve your mood. It is necessary for you to choose the activities and exercises that you enjoy and to do them regularly.
– Walking in the sun: The best time for sun walking is in the morning. It helps you to expose your body to the sunlight, organizes the process of sleeping and waking up, motivates producing serotonin and many other benefits that help you to decrease your depression and improve your mood. It is important not to forget to protect your skin and eyes from the sun.
– Set a schedule: Try to be more organized and set a schedule for your daily activities that you need to do.
– Easy goals: Try to set the goals that you can achieve in order not to feel that you are depressed. You can start with easy goals and after that you can move gradually to other goals that are more challenging.
– Sleep well: Sleeping well at night will help you to relax your body. In order to sleep well, you need to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday and avoid napping at the daytime.
– Think positively: Always try to think positively and do not make your head full of negative thoughts that are not true. Try to overcome those thoughts that increase your depression through thinking wisely and logically.
– Renew your life: try to make something new in order not to get bored and to refresh your life. You can simply do any activity that you did not use to do.
Herbals and supplements:
– St. John’s wort ” Hypericum perforatum “: It has been used for a long time as a herbal remedy for depression and it contains a red oil that is known as hypericin. It is found in different forms such as tablets, capsules, liquids and tea. It has few side effects if it is compared to other anti-depressants such as tiredness, dry mouth, headache, dizziness and sensitivity to sunlight which requires protection for the eyes and the skin. Taking St. John’s wort with other medicines that are used for treating many diseases is not recommended, because it can interfere their effectiveness.
– Omega-3 fatty acids: It can be found in fish oil such as salmon, tuna and sardines. It is necessary for the brain to function normally and its lack in our bodies is responsible for having depression. It can be found in the form of capsules and it contains EPA and DHA which are very effective for reducing depression.
– Folic Acid: It contains B vitamin and it can be found in many types of food such as vegetables like leafy greens, nuts, broccoli, dates and beans. The lack of this vitamin in our food that we eat, using aspirin and birth control pills decrease the level of B vitamin in our bodies. The deficiency of folate in the body of those who suffer from depression does not allow them to get the therapeutic effectiveness of anti-depressants.
– 5-HTP: It refers to 5-hydroxytryptophan. It is one of the best natural treatments for depression and is responsible for producing serotonin. It should not be taken with other anti-depressants. It can be found as capsules and it is also used for treating insomnia. It is extracted from griffonia simplicifolia seeds.
– Magnesium and calcium: Magnesium is necessary for producing serotonin that affects our mood and for relaxing muscles. It can be found in different types of food such as green vegetables, nuts, whole grains and legumes. Calcium is responsible for strengthening our bones, keeping our muscles healthy and treating insomnia through drinking warm milk before sleeping.
– See your doctor: If you failed to overcome your depression through the previous ways, then you will need to visit your doctor and ask him\her about the cause of your depression and the best treatment for it.