Tips in Dealing with Depression

A key tip in dealing with depression is to remember that you are the one in control of your own thoughts. Remove the word depressed from your entire vocabulary. It is such a negative word to describe feelings and leads to negative thoughts. Replace it with a phrase like “low mood” to describe those feelings instead and this will lead to a more positive outlook.

If you suffer from depression, it is important that you do not skip meals. Not eating anything can cause you to become irritable and tired, which can, in turn,cause your depression symptoms to flare up. Try to eat 3 meals every day, and space these meals about 4 to 6 hours apart.

A great tip that can help you battle depression is to make sure you’re getting enough sleep everyday. It’s important that we get enough sleep because it helps our bodies function. If we don’t get enough sleep, we can get tired and that can lead to feeling depressed.

Although clinical depression is a medically documented disease with roots in your brain’s bio-chemistry, you will still be able to trick it sometimes. This basically means that the power of positive thinking will be an incredibly effective trick, as long as you are able to cut the sad moments before they get too strong.

Don’t let your depression interfere with your normal life. Just as people who are having trouble with physical diseases shouldn’t stop everything, neither should you stop your life just because you are suffering from this problem. Find ways to motivate yourself to get out of the house and you may even find the your depression greatly reduces.

Be sure to discuss your depression with your partner. Involve your partner in your treatment efforts such as regular exercise and counseling. Working together in these endeavors will help bring you closer as a couple, and will also make your treatment plan more effective than if you were going it alone.

Banish the words depressed and depression. While very real, the words depression and depressed have a lot of extra baggage attached to them and can actually worsen the feelings of hopelessness. Instead, when you are feeling down, think of it as a low mood. It is much easier to think about raising your mood level than it is to think of it as battling “depression” even though it is exactly what you are doing.

If your income is low and you are suffering from depression, try and find free or low-cost social services that can help you. Local governments offer community counseling services to those with low incomes, especially those people who qualify for Medicaid. These community counseling centers can also provide free samples of medication for those who can’t afford to fill a prescription.

Challenge your depressive thinking patterns. If you are thinking something about yourself, consider if you’d ever make that statement about another person. If the answer is no, you’re probably being overly hard on yourself. Try to reframe these types of thoughts in a more realistic and constructive manner by making statements that provide suggestions on how to fix the problem.

If you suffer from depression and are looking into self help solutions, you should strongly consider joining a support group that deals specifically with depression. This is a great way to connect with other people who understand what you are going through and you will be able to motivate each other to get better.

Never underestimate the role of diet, exercise, and good sleep in staving off depression. If you are feeling depressed, a quick fix may be a swim, bike ride, run or brisk walk. In the long term, avoiding processed foods, getting light exercise daily, and being certain to get 8 hours of good sleep every night may permanently chase away your blues.

In addition to a healthy diet you should also invest in starting some kind of exercise that you enjoy. This can be something as simple as regular walks or even something as organized as a team sport. This will help you to feel better physically and will probably have effects on your mental life as well.

Try to find support in as many places as you can. It is especially helpful to find other people who have been successful in holding off their bouts of depression as they will be great sources of knowledge and tips for you as you struggle through it in your own life.

Become more physically active. A healthy body is a necessity for a healthy mind. In addition to the obvious health benefits, exercising releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins. It is these chemicals that give rise to the term “runner’s high”. It is a natural high, one that is safe and even healthy to become addicted to!

If you are depressed, you should try to work on something productive for at least 30-60 minutes per day. Doing absolutely nothing all day can cause a vicious cycle where you not only have your “base” depression symptoms, but also depression because you are unable to get anything done.