Depression can creep up on you, leaving you drained of energy and happiness, and feeling fatigued, lethargic, or empty. These negative emotions can hinder your personal growth and stop you from getting the necessary help and treatment.
Most people consider depression as a lifestyle choice. It is not. Depression is as deadly as an untreated physical ailment.
What Are Some of The Symptoms of Depression?
Since depression affects each person differently, there are several symptoms you should consider.
Some are sadness, lethargy, outbursts of anger, frustration, crankiness, irritation, tiredness, lack of or reduced appetite, loss of interest in exercise, sex, hobbies, or sports, insomnia, anxiety, agitation, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, self-blame, fixating on past failures, recurrent headaches, trouble focusing and concentrating poor decision making, and so on.
How to Treat Depression
Several things can help you naturally get out of depression. These should be done in consultation with a psychologist or a doctor.
- Get Treatment:
If you feel you are depressed or suffering from unexplained depression, seek the help of a reputed psychologist or psychiatrist. Just as you would approach a cardiologist for a heart issue, you should contact a doctor well versed in mental care for depression. Many doctors prescribe a set of medications and a routine to follow while you undergo treatment. This treatment could be long or short term depending on the assistance you require. If you’re concerned about drug costs, there are groups that work towards providing better access to treatment and help you get the best price with free prescription coupons.
Some doctors also prescribe time away from the things that may be troubling you. You could check into a depression rehab to stabilize your mental health and feel rejuvenated and clear-headed once again.
- Set a Routine:
Most psychologists believe that establishing a routine helps in organizing your thoughts and your day. Depression tends to strip away all feelings of normalcy from your life. By setting a routine and sticking to it, you are actively combating the depression that stops you from leading a normal and healthy life.
Since depression feels like all the hours melt away into a never-ending loop, having a set structure to the day can help demarcate different aspects of your life that bring meaning to you. If you get up each day, shower, and head to work, then that is a set routine. A healthy lunch and snack can also help greatly. In the evening, a short walk or jog will help the brain release happy hormones and combat lethargy.
- Exercise:
Just like routine, exercising is crucial for the development of your mind and body. Feel-good hormones or endorphins are released into the bloodstream, making you feel lighter and better for the remainder of your day. Exercising has shown to have significant long term benefits for people combatting clinical depression.
Regular exercise also helps rewire the brain into expecting a good workout and encouraging a release of endorphins. Apart from this, exercising also helps you sleep better, aids you physically, and enables you to increase mental focus and determination.
- Get Ample Sleep:
Giving your body enough rest is critical for battling depression. Negative feelings and emotions can hamper your nightly routine and keep you awake at all odd hours. Most doctors advise tiring yourself out during the day with work and exercise so that the body naturally falls asleep at your given bedtime.
You should, ideally, go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Once you’re up, you should eat healthily, avoid fatty foods, or foods that promote acidity and an unhealthy lifestyle, exercise, and sleep on time. You should also avoid napping at odd hours. Short naps can mess with the circadian cycle (sleep cycle), and hamper your nightly rest.
- Challenge Negative Thoughts:
Challenging negative thoughts is probably the hardest thing you will have to do. While combating depression, most people can keep up with a routine, but fail to keep themselves mentally free from negative emotions and thoughts. Psychologists say that you cannot control all the thoughts in your head. Instead, what you should do is allow them to come and try to put them to rest. Doing this will bring about a natural change in the mindset and help you on the road to recovery.
Use logic to battle negative thoughts and emotions. If you feel lonely at work, look around, and you will see you are not alone. If you feel worthless, ask yourself if that is true. Doing this takes time, but is very rewarding in the end. If you try to make positive reinforcement and thoughts a daily process, you will find that you can come out of depression and treat it much faster than usual.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
