Do you often feel lazy, procrastinating your daily tasks and piling them up on the other day? Are you taking proper meals and able to sleep soundly? Ok, one more question! Do you often feel empty and dreadful in a state of detachment? Well, you may be in a state of depression. Now, talking about the treatment and therapies, it’s the most obvious and eventual process.
But what we can do before going for medical treatment and countless tablets of antidepressants is practice some effective non-prescriptions remedies.
These medically proven lifestyle remedies may reduce the impact of depression on your physical as well as mental health, inhibiting the intake of medications to rescue you from the side effects of heavy doses. Let’s dive into this article to understand the state of depression along with 7 smart non-medication remedies to fight against depression.
Defining the State of Depression
Clinically, depression is a mood disorder causing persistent sadness and reluctance. Depression affects the way you think, work, feel and approach different aspects of life.
It leads you to various emotional and physical problems. You start feeling as if your life is worthless and loses interest.
Nowadays, people with depression are seeking more medical treatments and medications as they want quick results. But the fact is that depression requires long-term treatment along with certain updates in the way you live your life.
“The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression Without Drugs’), the success rate with antidepressants is around 50%. Half of the total count of the people taking antidepressants will relapse with an actual recovery rate of 25% only. This means the medication is halfway to treating depression. We must abide by some healthy lifestyle habits to kick out depression. “
According to Dr. Stephen Ilardi (well-known psychologist and author of ‘The Depression Cure
Causes of Depression
Depression is a state of mind which brings loads of shady factors to your life. There are many risk factors or causes behind depression in people varying on their past experiences, life routine, eating habits, and quality of sleep.
The most common causes or roots behind depression are as follows-
- Past incident or moment of guilt
- Failure in work or relationship
- Being hyper-sensitive
- Lack of motivation
- Loneliness
- Imbalanced life routine
- Unhealthy eating habits
- Lack of proper sleep
- Financial crisis
- Switching jobs or place
Symptoms of Depression
Although depression doesn’t happen regularly, a single factor behind your depression may create a series of episodes to feel pity for yourself.
In simple words, you stop considering yourself the Hero of your life. If you think you’re facing a state of depression, check out the list mentioned below to understand your physical and mental state to identify whether you’re depressed.
- Dry Mouth
- Dizziness
- Feeling sad, tearful, and hopeless
- Angry outburst
- Irritability
- Feeling less motivated
- Sleepiness or Sleeplessness
- Feeling guilt over past bad events with self-blaming
- Anxiety, agitation, and restlessness
- Trouble thinking
- Difficulty in clear thinking and remembering things
- Suicidal thoughts
- Physical problems such as back pain and headache
- Reduced appetite and weight loss or increased craving for food resulting in weight gain
- Lack of concentration
- Feeling tired and exhausted
- Losing interest in your favorite activities
- Feeling detached from the society
Kick Out Depression With These 7 Effective Non-Medication Remedies
Settle Down Your Sleep Routine
Sleep and mood have a covalent bond. If you hinder the pattern of the former one, the latter will automatically be affected. Technically it is called “Good Sleep Hygiene” which supports your emotional well-being.
Make sure that you have a relaxing bedtime routine with a fixed wake-up and sleep time. This will indeed work to reduce your depression, increasing the level of serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins.
Eat Healthy to Live Healthily
Reducing the intake of soft drinks, oil, and fats along with processed food may help you get out of the depressive state.
Healthy food and water intake are the best companions to kick out depression as they help release happy hormones in your body, eventually brightening your mood and energy levels.
Another quirky factor is the high intake of sugar in your diet which triggers you to emotional highs following the sudden lows in mood. Hence, it is recommended to maintain an even intake of glucose in your daily meal.
Avoid Alcohol
Being a depressant, alcohol may interfere with your quality of sleep and trigger many of the depressant symptoms, potentially leading to risky behavior and bad decisions.
You must stop taking alcohol if you’re taking any type of antidepressant as it doesn’t interact well with them.
Social Network With The Right Ones
Where isolation triggers depression, gathering with the right troop of people may inhibit your anxiety levels. You can join the community of your favorite sport or volunteer for a social cause. Remember you have a life for yourself too.
Cut Down Caffeine
Coffee, tea, soda, and even chocolate shakes are steeped in caffeine. Try to cut down the intake of these drinks, or you can take them in adequate amounts. If you tend to rely on caffeine, cut it down gradually else, it may trigger the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. When the craving for them increases, drink water and take a quick walk to ignore the temptation.
Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
With regular exercise, you increase your hunger cravings, improve sleep quality, boost energy levels and lower the symptoms of anxiety.
Exercise can prevent your mild state of depression from getting severe. Aerobic exercises have a strong antidepressant effect, combating depression by enhancing the endorphins in your body.
Practice Gratitude
Expressing gratitude towards positive people boosts your mood and encourages you to keep an optimistic perception towards life. It’s just like someone holding the door open while you’re entering a room or getting green signals one by one while driving.
When you start expressing thankfulness by talking to your loved ones and writing in journals, you develop a positive attitude towards them, forgetting whatever went wrong in the past. And that’s what diminishes the depression dots from your mind.
When to Visit a Doctor
If the problem persists even after trying all the above-mentioned remedies, seek guidance from your family doctor and get your depression treated with medication and therapies under the observation of a verified medical counselor and practitioner.
Bottom Line
Before you go for a full-fledged medication course; try these smart therapies to reduce the impact of depression.
With these simple practices and certain changes in life routines, you can better your condition following which medication can easily diminish the remaining impact to get out of depression.
References-
- Banish Depression from Your System- https://isha.sadhguru.org/yoga/yoga-articles-yoga/banish-depression-from-your-system/?utm_campaign=aw-grants-yoga-blog-promotion-19-depression-yoga-search-ad&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_content=search-ad&utm_term=others-depressions&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maGFNEmJY7XhSDtrNtgiL46x7L9dIvCv3YHtcpV3puLehndoFwNw0JMaAgDZEALw_wcB
- Depression (major depressive disorder)- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007
- The no-drug approach to mild depression- https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/the-no-drug-approach-to-mild-depression
- How to Fight Depression Without Medication- https://www.verywellmind.com/beat-depression-without-prescription-drugs-1065079
- https://www.flowneuroscience.com/blog/5-treatments-for-depression-without-medication/
- How to treat Depression without medication: What the Science says- https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/natural-treatments
- Beating Depression Naturally- https://www.healthline.com/health/beating-depression-naturally#guided-imagery-and-music
