Assess The Parts Instead Of Generalizing The Whole
Depression can tinge recollections with negative emotions. You may find yourself focusing on the one thing that went wrong instead of the many things that went right.
Try to stop this overgeneralization. Push yourself to recognize the good. If it helps, write down what was happy about the event or day. Then write down what went wrong.
Seeing the weight youre giving to one thing may help you direct your thoughts away from the whole and to the individual pieces that were positive.
Improve Your Sleep Hygiene
As I mentioned in this article is that a routine is essential to recover from depressive symptoms. And a healthy routine comes with improved sleep hygiene.
Maybe you cant sleep very well, or your sleep is very restless and irregular. And to help you sleep better and feel more rested each morning, you need to improve your sleep hygiene.
The most important factor with sleep hygiene is that you need to stick to the same sleep and wake schedule. Because to keep your hormones in balance, you need to go to sleep at the same time every day and also get out of bed the same time every morning.
This routine is needed to create a healthy body rhythm. Because when youre depressed, your rhythm is lost. So your body doesnt know when to produce hormones to help fall asleep and when to produce hormones that help waking up. And with a fixed sleep routine, you send the right signals to your body to get into a healthy rhythm again.
Endorphins: The Feeling Of Excitement
Endorphins are released by our body naturally in response to pain and stress. Endorphins are crucial to quelling our anxiety and are our bodys natural way of fighting the blues. The more endorphins we have coursing through us, the less we suffer from pain, the easier we are able to modulate our appetite, and the better our immune system. Most importantly, with high endorphin levels, we suffer fewer negative effects from stress. If you are a runner or other athlete, you might be familiar with endorphins because they are pumped during and after a workoutmaking us feel like we are on a high or euphoric.
Hate exercise? No worries! Certain foods, such as chocolate and chili peppers, also cause a boost in endorphins. The release of endorphins upon ingestion of chocolate might explain why many people crave chocolate during times of stress.
Endorphin Boost: Move it! Yes, you can eat chocolate and chili peppers, but exercise has many other positive benefits. And you dont have to hit the gymdancing to your favorite music, going on a walk or throwing the frisbee all are great ways to get your blood and endorphins pumping.
Heres the Deal: We cant prevent bad moods from happening, but we can tap into our natural response to stress and try to harness it. This post is the very tip of the iceberg. There are so many ways to change and modify your moods. But it is a good start! Next time you are in a funk or bad mood, try one of the following:
- Look through old pictures
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Best Activity To Stay Mentally Active In Retirement
One of the best things you can do to stay mentally active in retirement is learning new skills. If you keep learning new skills, you keep challenging yourself. You can easier set new goals, which helps to deal with depression as well.
Im really inspired by Masterclass. Its an online platform where you can learn from the most successful and famous people in the world. You can find over 80 different courses and more than 1000 lessons on the Masterclass platform. Some of the famous teachers are Martin Scorsese, Tony Hawk, Kelly Wearstler, Ron Finley, and many others. They all have courses in the disciplines theyre famous for. Start today with an inspiring course, and get your all-access pass for Masterclass here.
Set Goals In Retirement
Having a goal helps you to move forward in life, and it enables you to prioritize your time better, so goals in life are essential.
- You move your life forward,
- You push yourself out of your comfort zone,
- You can make dreams reality,
- You help believe in yourself,
- You prioritize your time better,
- You can live your retirement to the fullest.
When youre depressed in retirement, you dont want to start setting high goals for yourself. You have to take it easy on yourself and go for quick wins that will boost your confidence day after day.
So set a goal for each day for the rest of this week to help you get started. And continue doing this week after week.
Sometimes getting out of bed is the hardest thing to do when youre depressed. But you need to set a goal for each day that is easy to reach but also motivates you and brings you into action. After accomplishing that goal each day, it makes you feel fulfilled and worthy. And that is necessary to build up your self-esteem.
As you move on, day after day, and week after week accomplishing goals, you will become more confident. And after feeling better and more confident, you can think about going after higher goals or dreams that you want to pursue. Maybe, you figured out your purpose in life so you can set goals in retirement that align with your passion.
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Have The Right Expectations From Meditation
People get to know about meditation from different sources that say varying things about the practice in general. Some sources praise meditation to the skies, some give a clear picture of it, and others paint a bad picture. This gives newcomers different perspectives and expectations. If these expectations are not met when they begin meditation, they can get discouraged.
If you are looking at a specific type of meditation you want to try, you should first learn all there is to know about it from credible sources. Make an effort to understand its benefits and downsides and how you are supposed to go about it.
For instance, your mind wanders a lot during meditation . This can increase your anxiety, especially if your attention wanders to thoughts that increase your anxiety.
Also, expecting quick results from meditation can throw you off balance. If unreliable sources led you to believe it would solve all your problems by the first session, you are bound to be disappointed.
After checking with some trustworthy sources, compare what you learned and see if these sources over-hyped it, under-hyped it, or gave a balanced view. You should then decide if you still want to do it after this discovery.
Having a clear understanding of the practice you are about to do is important to help you have the right expectations and avoid feeling let down if things dont work out.
Morning Depression While Vacationing
Here is an interesting point that illustrates my view on morning depression. Almost everyone I talked to who suffers from depression upon waking gave the same reply to the question I asked.
The question was simple: While on vacation, are you also that depressed when waking up? The answer was no among all of them. What happened to all the causes listed above? Do they just go away on vacation?
The answer is simple. When you step out of your stressful reality and travel somewhere relaxing, all the trouble goes away. You become so laid back and at ease, so the depression you usually have during the morning time disappears.
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Moods And Mood Disorders
Did you have a bad day at work? A fight with your spouse? Or maybe your kids wont do their homework?
Those are situational factors that can change your mood from good to bad fast. A bad mood is different from a mood disorder.
When your low mood lasts for days or weeks with no external situation to point to, there may have a mood disorder and some physiological factors may be affecting your mood.
Here are a few physiological pathways that play a role in mood disorders.
Create A Positive Mindset
Creating a positive mindset is crucial to overcome your depression and to prevent depressive symptoms in the future.
In depression, you have a negative outlook on life, yourself, and the world around you. Lets say youre perfect at negative thinking. Thats your default modus right now. So to turn that around, you need to train yourself in positive thinking.
See the mind as a muscle. If you want to have bigger biceps, you need to train every day in the gym to become stronger and see it grow slowly. Well, the brain works the same way. Its also a muscle.
And you have powerful negative muscles in your mind right now. You paved so many roads within your brain that ended up in negative thoughts.
To change that, you need to train new muscles that arent strong yet and create new paved routes that lead to positive thinking. And to be able to create a positive mindset is to train the mind consciously every day until it becomes unconscious behavior. And this can take months. Some experts say that creating a new habit takes between 30 60 days of daily repetition before it becomes an autopilot mode.
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The Wonders Of Being In Nature
Being in nature reduces anger, fear, and stress, and increases your mood. Nature will make you feel better emotionally. And it also contributes to your physical health: reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.
Negative ions are the key to well being. They strengthen the bodys immune system and stimulate the supply of oxygen to the brain, and activating the mind and the body as well as bringing more mental energy. Most negative ions are present in the mountains, at sea, and in forests.
What Happens When You Are Depressed
Depression makes you cynical and is deeply self-damaging. Depressed people only hurt themselves more. Killing need not necessarily mean physical killing. For a man who goes out with the sword and kills someone, his ego is not as sensitive it does not need as much nurturing as a depressed mans ego. The violent man can be very easily settled. Have you seen this on the streets? When people get into a fight, if there is one man with a little wisdom who just handles them right, those people, who are trying to kill each other one moment, will drop it and become friends and go off the next moment. But this is not so with the depressed person. He will carry this for life. Whether they do it consciously or not, these people go on sharpening their knife and cutting their own heart. Why will a person go on hurting himself? Generally it is to get sympathy. For a very depressed person, normal sympathy is not sufficient someone should bleed with him.
Now what is there in you that can get hurt? If I beat your body with a stick, the body will get hurt that is different. Otherwise, what is it that gets hurt within you? The mind and the inner nature cannot get hurt. It is only the ego that gets hurt. If you say I want to grow, it means trampling your ego and going ahead beyond this.
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Eat Foods Rich In Omega
Growing evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may have a role in brain functioning, with deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids linked to mental health problems.
In a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, for instance, researchers analyzed 26 previously published studies that examined the association between fish consumption and the risk of depression. In their analysis of results, the study authors found that people who consumed the most fish were less likely to have depression symptoms.
While this association doesn’t prove causality, it suggests that rigorous clinical trials are needed to explore the role of omega-3 fatty acids in depression and mental health.
Coping With Depression Tip : Reach Out And Stay Connected
Getting support plays an essential role in overcoming depression. On your own, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy perspective and sustain the effort required to beat depression. At the same time, the very nature of depression makes it difficult to reach out for help. When youre depressed, the tendency is to withdraw and isolate so that connecting to even close family members and friends can be tough.
You may feel too exhausted to talk, ashamed at your situation, or guilty for neglecting certain relationships. But this is just the depression talking. Staying connected to other people and taking part in social activities will make a world of difference in your mood and outlook. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness and it wont mean youre a burden to others. Your loved ones care about you and want to help. And if you dont feel that you have anyone to turn to, its never too late to build new friendships and improve your support network.
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Think About What Went Well
In another article in Psychology Today, doctor and wellness expert Susan Biali, M.D., said to reflect on three things that are going well or three positive moments in your day, and even replay them in your mind. According to Biali, that mentally revisiting these moments will help bring back the good mood and feelings they initially created.
Meet Yourself Where You Are
Depression is common. It affects millions of people, including some in your life. You may not realize they face similar challenges, emotions, and obstacles.
Every day with this disorder is different. Its important to take your mental health seriously and accept that where you are right now isnt where youll always be.
The key to self-treatment for depression is to be open, accepting, and loving toward yourself and what youre going through.
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Manage Your Stress Levels
If you have a lot of stress in your life, find ways to reduce it, such as learning a few time-management techniques.
Introduce regular exercise and time to yourself. These are positive changes. Taking control of your time in this way can effectively reduce stress.
If you have feelings of anxiety along with your stress, breathing techniques can help. Try this breathing exercise for stress.
When To Get Help For Low Mood Or Depression
Whatever the cause, if negative feelings don’t go away, are too much for you to cope with, or are stopping you from carrying on with your normal life, you may need to make some changes and get some extra support.
If you’re still feeling down after a couple of weeks, talk to your GP or speak to a Breathing Space advisor on 0800 83 85 87 .If you are feeling distressed, in a state of despair or suicidal outwith these hours you can contact NHS 24 on 111 or Samaritans on 116 123 .
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You Cant Just Snap Out Of Depression
Well-meaning friends or family members may try to tell someone with depression to snap out of it, just be positive, or you can be happier if you just try harder. But depression is not a sign of a persons weakness or a character flaw. The truth is that most people who experience depression need treatment to get better.
If you are a friend or family member of a woman with depression, you can offer emotional support, understanding, patience, and encouragement. But never dismiss her feelings. Encourage her to talk to her health care provider, and remind her that, with time and treatment, she can feel better.
Opt For A Regular Nutritious Breakfast
Eating breakfast regularly is associated with fewer depressive symptoms, according to some researchers. A 2017 study published in Appetite, for instance, analyzed the survey responses of 207,710 people aged 20 years and over and found that those who said they ate breakfast “seldom” or “sometimes” had higher depressive symptoms than those who ate breakfast “always.”
While the association doesn’t prove that the depressive symptoms were caused by skipping breakfast, it suggests a possible role of regular breakfast on mood that should be explored further.
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Do The Opposite Of What The Depression Voice Suggests
The negative, irrational voice in your head may talk you out of self-help. However, if you can learn to recognize it, you can learn to replace it. Use logic as a weapon. Address each thought individually as it occurs.
If you believe an event wont be fun or worth your time, say to yourself, You might be right, but itll be better than just sitting here another night. You may soon see the negative isnt always realistic.
A lengthy to-do list may be so weighty that youd rather do nothing. Instead of compiling a long list of tasks, consider setting one or two smaller goals.
For example:
- Dont clean the house take the trash out.
- Dont do all the laundry thats piled up just sort the piles by color.
- Dont clear out your entire email inbox just address any time-sensitive messages.
When youve done a small thing, set your eyes on another small thing, and then another. This way, you have a list of tangible achievements and not an untouched to-do list.
All goals are worthy of recognition, and all successes are worthy of celebration. When you achieve a goal, do your best to recognize it.
You may not feel like celebrating with a cake and confetti, but recognizing your own successes can be a very powerful weapon against depressions negative weight.
The memory of a job well-done may be especially powerful against negative talk and overgeneralization.
Focus on times when you feel the most disorganized or scattered.