Herbal Antidepressants

Tips For Coping With Depression

• Get Regular Exercise! Everyone knows that regular exercise is good for you. If you are suffering from a low mood, then regular exercise can increase your natural endorphins in your system. Endorphins elevate your happiness. Likewise, regular exercise will help your body to burn-off a stress hormone named cortisol, that is associated with low mood and depression. Strive to make regular exercise a habit, 30 minutes at a time, three days a week is goal. More if you can! You should begin to see and feel results within 3 to 6 weeks. The effort is worth it.
• Talk With Someone. Seek out a friend (or a licensed counselor), someone with whom you place trust in, and have a good, honest discussion about how you are feeling. Come up with a plan of action. Get a partner to help you, don't do it alone. This can be an important step to recovery.
• Eat a Healthy Diet. You must keep your body properly fueled. You need to have a balanced and nutritious diet. You need to give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs. If you are deficient in iron for example, you may have feelings of depression and experience fatigue. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, it aids in relaying messages from one part of the brain to another and it is important to psychological and bodily functions. Most of your brain's cells are directly or indirectly influenced by serotonin. Carbohydrate rich foods such as; oats, turkey, milk, and pasta can help increase serotonin levels.
• Have Realistic Goals and Responsibilities. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Have a plan of action for your future and select goals that you can reach. Ben Franklin said: "Small strokes, fell big oaks." Ben was right. Choose a tree you can fell, and don't try to fell that tree (or goal) with one big stroke.
• Prioritize and Learn to Say No. Fight the battles that need to be won first. Don't let someone else choose your battles for you. Look out for yourself so that your well-being is kept. It is fine to help others (we'll talk more about that), but you can't allow others to overwhelm you.
• Make a Conscious Effort to Stop Negative Thoughts. No STINKIN THINKIN! The mind is powerful and if you talk yourself into feeling low in mood, then it is no surprise that you are unhappy. Don't beat yourself up. Strive to think the glass is half-full, not half-empty. In short, THINK POSITIVE AND NOT NEGATIVE! Make it a habit to look on the positive side of things, this is a choice. All this change in thinking can take time, and it might not be easy, but it pays big dividends. A psychotherapist can help you to improve your positive thinking.
• Take action! You have to keep putting one foot in front of the other if you want to get somewhere. Your feelings of low mood may make you want to stay in bed all day, but you know in your heart that you don't. Start small, set a reachable goal and do it. Maybe a simple goal of sweeping the carpet, or washing the car, is all you need to get you going on to more important goals. But, you have to put that first foot in front of the other to get started. Start a cycle of action.
• Pay Attention to Nature.Enjoy the beauty of the world around you. See the sunrise, see the sunset. Take the time to look at the flowers with the butterflies flirting about them. Take a Nature Timeout and recharge your spirit. Its easy, simple, and free to do. Repeat and repeat.
• Get Help From Others. Lean on family and friends for help and support. When you are low in mood or depressed, you probably feel like doing the exact opposite and you might push people away. Instead, let others give you their love and affection. Let a pet give you comfort and love, a dog wants to be your best friend and will love you unconditionally.
• Help Others. Helping others will give you a purpose, just when your low mood might be making you believe you have no purpose. You do have a purpose and simply helping others will demonstrate that fact to you. Many organizations need volunteers, choose an organization that matches your interests and offer yourself. Everybody will win when you give of yourself. Your time, skills, and abilities are needed despite what you might feel. Find a friend or neighbor who could use your help and give it. Go ahead, give it a try.
• Make a Change. Change something for the better in your life. Learn something new, start a healthier lifestyle, paint a drab room a new color, ... these are all examples of changes you might make that will enliven and refresh. Changes can improve your mood and keep you busy. It doesn't have to be a big change.
• Read All About It. As you are reading this, you're making this step! Knowledge is power. So learn all you can about low moods or depression and how you can start to feel better. Arm yourself with the smarts needed to fight the successful battle with a low mood or depression. Search the Internet, ask your local librarian, or visit a bookstore. Information is readily available for you.