Millions of people worldwide live with depression, impacting their personal and professional goals, and preventing them from living life to the fullest. For many, medication provides a valuable lifeline that allows them to manage their depression while living active, fulfilling lives. For countless others, medication is either not an option or is not enough to treat their depression on its own.
In today’s article, we’ll explore five ways you can deal with depression independently of medication.
Table of Contents
Healthy Routines
In many ways, the symptoms of depression are the result of chemical and hormonal fluctuations in the body. For this reason, medication is often an effective treatment—but medication is far from the only way to limit depression and restore balance to our bodies. Adopting healthy patterns and routines is a key strategy for battling depression.
Light Exercise
Even a small amount of light exercise practiced daily can produce big long-term benefits in terms of combating depression. Exercise not only helps regulate stress but also promotes the production of dopamine. Our bodies adapt to our environment, and the mechanisms that produce dopamine sometimes need a kick-start that exercise provides.
Prioritize Sleep
When people struggle with stress, anxiety, or depression, healthy sleep patterns are often the first thing to suffer. Sleep is critical to ensuring that our bodies reset properly. A good night’s rest improves our ability to regulate our emotions and provides a burst of energy.
Healthy Diet
As with sleep and exercise, the right diet can influence mood and eliminate depressive symptoms. Yogurt, fish, and nuts are all examples of foods that have been shown to have a positive effect on brain health.
Get Creative!
While depression often saps us of our ability to get things done, it’s helped provide countless musicians, artists, and writers with fodder for their creativity. Engaging in creative activities can help you process your emotions and negative thoughts. Remember, the creative process doesn’t have to be about producing a great work of art. Rather, it can be used as a form of expressive play. Give yourself the freedom to explore and create, without feeling pressure over the end result.
Challenge Negativity
Given the highly connected nature of the world, it’s no wonder that so many of us end up drowning in our internal negativity. All day, we’re exposed to negativity on social media and in the news; it’s easy to lose hope and to fall into the trap of negative thinking. Our ability to challenge negativity (especially our negative thoughts) is a skill that can be practiced and learned. Learning to recognize those negative thoughts and challenge them is one of the most effective ways to break free of the cycle of depression.
Bright Spaces
As humans, our bodies exist in conversation with the world around us. Accordingly, ensuring that you get enough sunshine, or surround yourself with a ‘vibe’ that appeals to you can go a long way toward dispelling the gloom of depression. Brightening up your spaces with proper lighting, plants, flowers, and other living things has been shown to have a positive effect on people’s moods.
Counseling & Support
In some cases, it may be necessary to seek out counseling or support groups to help you manage negative thoughts and your feelings of depression. Some forms of therapy that are particularly effective in treating depression include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Schedule an Appointment
Are you struggling to stay motivated? Are there days you worry that depression is winning the battle, and you don’t know how to turn the tide? Reach out today to schedule a free consultation. Together, we can form a plan to push back on the gloom that has you in its grip so you can live a happy and fulfilling life.
