This article is by Therese Borchard
Ten Things I Do Every Day to Beat Depression
From the moment my eyes open in the morning until the second that I pull my sleep mask over my face as I go to sleep, I am engaged in battle: I must protect myself with armour against ongoing negative intrusive thoughts that flood into my brain, while sending my prefrontal cortex — the home of logical thought — the green light to make decisions and to take charge of my brain’s limbic system (the emotional hub). That is, before the amygdala (fear center) spazzes out. I spend more time and energy chasing and maintaining good health than I do in any other aspect of my life because I know that everything meaningful and good around me depends on a stable base. I hope that one day I won’t have to fight so hard for my sanity; however, until then, here is a list of things I do everyday to beat depression.
Exercise.
Exercise is the most powerful weapon I use every day to whack the demons. If I go more than three days without working out, my thoughts turn very dark and I can’t stop crying. All aerobic workouts release endorphins, while helping to block stress hormones and produce serotonin, our favourite neurotransmitter that can relieve depression.
Volumes of research point to the benefits of exercise for mood, for example: three sessions of vigorous aerobic exercise were approximately as effective at treating depression as daily doses of Zoloft, when the treatment effects were measured after four months.
Record my “joys.”
A very wise person once told me to try to let go of the big thoughts (“Why do I suffer from depression?” “When will I feel better?” “Will I ever feel good again?”) and concentrate instead on the little joys that happen throughout my day, to allow those unsuspecting moments of delight carry me over the ones fraught with anxiety and sadness. So each day I record in my mood journal a list of joys: a long swim with friends, my daughter’s little hand in mine as we crossed a street, my son’s proud expression after making a three-point basket, seven hours of sleep, a warm dinner. This exercise forces me to be open to little joys, to collect them, and to have more appreciation for what is right in front of me. Psychologists like Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, at the University of California Riverside say that keeping a gratitude journal (or a list of joys) can increase your energy, and relieve pain and fatigue.
List my accomplishments.
My list would include things like: ate a full breakfast, took a shower, picked up the kids from school, got groceries, wrote an email, read a chapter of a book. Today I make sure to record all my efforts toward good health: I list how many laps I swam, how many minutes I meditated, if I helped someone with his depression, or if I made a difficult food choice. I will record work feats (i.e., wrote a blog), but I make sure to balance out my list with the kinds of small but important accomplishments that I often dismiss (talked to a friend about anxiety, had tea instead of rushing to work).
Laugh.
Charlie Chaplin once said, “To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.” I suppose that’s why some of the funniest people out there — Stephen Colbert, Art Buchwald, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller — have journeyed through periods of torment. There is an unspoken message hidden within a giggle that says this: “I promise, you’ll get through this.”
Studies indicate that human beings can heal (at least partially) from a host of different illnesses if they learn how to laugh. Two hormones — beta-endorphins (which alleviate depression) and human growth hormone (HGH, which helps with immunity) — increased by 27 percent and 87 percent, respectively, when volunteers anticipated watching a humorous video. Simply anticipating laughter boosts health-protecting hormones and chemicals.
Meditate.
I’ve read more than 100 articles on how meditation can help relieve depression and anxiety. Research has shown that formal practices of meditation can halve the risk of future clinical depression in people who have already been depressed several times, its effects comparable to antidepressant medications. Meditation, alone, doesn’t take away all of my symptoms of depression as some studies suggest it can, but I think it’s lengthening the time span between negative intrusive thoughts, or at least making my brain a less healthy environment for them to thrive.
Take DHA and vitamins.
Okay, this is coming from someone who gets vitamin catalogues sent to her house, but I believe that a brain armed with all the right nutrients is going to minimize your struggle with depression by at least 50 percent. I start with 2,000 milligrams of DHA. Consider this: One quarter of the brain is DHA. DHA is an important building block for the membranes surrounding brain cells, particularly the synapses, which lie at the heart of efficient brain function. Second, DHA is an important regulator of inflammation. It naturally reduces the activity of the COX-2 enzyme, which turns on the production of damaging inflammatory chemicals…[And] DHA helps orchestrate the production, connectivity, and viability of brain cells while at the same time enhancing function.
Editor: You may know DHA as omega-3 oil. Vegetarians, please see https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323144#vegetarian-and-vegan-sources
I also take liquid vitamin D and vitamin B12 (because they are more easily absorbed that way), as well as iron, vitamin K2, vitamin C, calcium, and magnesium. Vitamin D and B-Complex vitamins are especially important for optimal mental health.
Drink a power smoothie.
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I start off with a smoothie of kale, chard, spinach, or collard greens mixed with pineapple or strawberries. Then I add a potent probiotic, a powdery mix containing bacteria (yep, you read that right) that helps keep the intestines healthy and supports digestion. Why? Because your brain is only as healthy as your gut. In fact, the nervous system of your intestines is so complex, including an estimated 500 million neurons, that neuroscientists often refer to the gut as the second brain. The nerve cells in our gut manufacture 80 to 90 percent of our body’s serotonin, the neurotransmitter we need to stay sane. That’s more than our brain makes. The gut is in constant communication with the brain, sending it information that most definitely affects your mood, even as the messages never come to consciousness. If you are a person who has struggled with stomach and digestion issues like I have, you might be surprised to learn that some depression and anxiety symptoms can be relieved by tending to the gut and feeding it organisms that keep it happy.
Avoid sugar and grains.
The cornerstone of all degenerative conditions — including depression and anxiety — is inflammation, and the most prominent stimulators of inflammation in our diet are gluten and sugar. We get into trouble because we can’t feel the inflammation in our brain like we can in other parts of the body, so we rarely link a kind of food we eat with our mood. Depression is found in as many as 52 percent of gluten-sensitive individuals. Studies have shown that a diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in fat can improve symptoms of depression and schizophrenia.
Use my sun lamp.
This is by far the easiest thing I do on the list. Each morning I turn on the sun lamp on my desk. An hour later, I turn it off. It’s relatively small for producing full-spectrum fluorescent light at an intensity of 10,000 lux. The fluctuation of natural light can cause mood-related chemicals to shift, causing depression in sensitive folks like myself.
Pray.
Lots of folks lump meditation and prayer together. I think they are very different. Meditation, for me, is a mental-health exercise of being aware of my breath and staying in the present moment as much as possible. Prayer is my chat session with God. I start by saying my three favorite prayers: “The Prayer of Saint Francis,” “The Serenity Prayer,” and “The Third Step Prayer.” I’m hoping you can use my struggle and my pain for some greater cause, and, if not, please don’t let me know that. Help me to see with eyes of faith, hope, and love, and to always err on the side of compassion.”
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