Depression can be a very debilitating state to be in. I have personally gone through extremely difficult periods in my life and I know from experience that even mild symptoms of depression can ruin our experience of life. It’s even worse when you don’t know how how to deal with depression symptoms when you have them. You become trapped by them. Believe me, I’ve done it myself.
First, let’s clarify what depression is. Here are some common symptoms: inability to sleep, inability to concentrate, decreased sex drive, negative thoughts that you can’t control or just will not go away, lack of appetite or excessive binging, feelings of hopelessness and other negative emotions and a lack of self-esteem.
In reality, depression is nothing more than a word describing a certain condition that we’ve gotten ourselves into. And we can get out of that condition just as we got into it.
In order to achive this, looking at our self-esteem is particularly important. As human potential coach Brian Tracy once put it, self-esteem is not our self-concept. It is not in idea about ourselves. It is the feelings that we have about our own selves. Do we feel that we are valuable, do we feel successful, or do we feel that we are complete failures?
1. Change your thinking.
I cannot stress this enough. I suffered through a period of depression, and I know that I never improved my life until I changed my thinking.
Many people trip themselves up by the definitions they attach to certain words. For example, how do you define success? If your mind comes up with some unattainable image of a Hollywood-style mansion and a bunch of things you can buy, or if you imagine specific achievements that you must have in order to feel successful, then you have already sabotaged yourself.
So the first thing you must do is to define happiness in simple terms. You have to do this for yourself, you can’t wait for society to give you the answers. Externally-imposed answers can never be what you truly want. Do you define yourself based on negative experiences from your past? Have you allowed them to take you over and ruin your experience of the NOW? If you’re having problems letting go, then try a meditation method, which will help you learn how to release negative emotions through daily practice.
2. Change your lifestyle.
If you spend a lot of time alone, then start spending time with other people. It doesn’t matter exactly how you do it, the important thing is that you do it and that you force yourself to do it. Call old friends, go to Starbucks and talk to a stranger, do anything you have to in order to successfully change your habit of being alone. If you spend a lot of time in the city, go on a hiking trip, sign-up to a mountaineering club, go to a park. Be creative.
3. Know that exercise has been proven to be more effective than pharmaceutical drugs at improving and alleviating the symptoms of depression.
In fact, there is nothing better than exercise when it comes to making us feel better. Exercise stimulates the production of growth hormone and endorphins, which in turn impact on our energy levels and mood. If you’re not exercising now, then any type of exercise will do. If you have no time, then do a 20 minute workout in your home. Run up and down the stairs a few times. Do whatever your body can handle and never do it in excess. The chemical cascade generated in your body by the exercise will make you feel better.
4. Change your diet and take certain quality supplements every day.
In cases of depression, simple sugars and refined carbohydrates are your biggest enemy. You should stop eating white bread, white rice, white flour, sugar and sweets and even sweet fruits. You should restrict yourself to brown rice, brown bread and sour fruits, such as Granny Smith apples, Kiwis and grapefruits.
Also, it is very important to eat enough cholesterol, as cholesterol is what your body needs to make the hormones than deal with stress.
As far as supplements go, there is nothing better that you can do for yourself than to take molecularly-distilled concentrated fish oil capsules every day, at a dose of a minimum of six capsules a day. Concentrated fish oil contains DHA, one of the most important substances in the brain. Research has shown very consistently that an increase in DHA consumption can help eliminate or at least alleviate depression.
For more detailed information on the benefits of fish oil, please refer to my articles on the benefits of fish oil and general discussion of how to choose between different fish oil supplements.
A top-quality multivitamin that supplies all the nutrients your body relies on to function properly is also useful. Make sure that you buy pure, top-quality supplements by a reputable manufacturer. Fish oils should be made with fish from clean, uncontaminated seas, such as those off the south coast of New Zealand.
To conclude, I want to say that in order to succeed with this, you have to be consistent and disciplined. In the end, you have to DO it, nobody else can do it for you.
