Depression can be an incredibly frustrating struggle for you to deal with, and it’s incredibly important to make sure that you are able to get the help that you need in order to deal with your problems.

While many people decide that they will need medication,others find the relief that they need by using natural remedies. In this article, we’re going to explore what depression is and help you to determine what your best course of action may be when it comes to dealing with your symptoms.

What Is Depression?

Being depressed can make you feel like you’re helpless, but you don’t have to be helpless at all. You may have a hard time getting up in the morning, or you may feel like you don’t have enough energy to get through your daily tasks of living.

You may have trouble sleeping, or you may end up fighting off anxiety and other mental health disorders as a result of your depression. You may feel hopeless and, in the worst cases, you may end up fighting off suicidal thoughts and feelings.

There are a number of disorders that fall under the category of depression, including seasonal affective disorder, clinical depression, and major depressive disorder (MDD).

Your depression can come in a number of forms, can have a lot of symptoms associated with it, and honestly, it may be hard to determine whether or not your depression is a chronic problem.

Some days may feel a lot better than other days, and so it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on in your mind and body.

Self-diagnosis can only go so far, so professional opinion is absolutely necessary for you to pursue before you start with any sort of treatment plan, including the ones that we are outlining here. Always get diagnosed by a doctor to make sure that your symptoms are lining up with your diagnosis.

Why Go Natural?

Natural remedies are a major way to deal with your depression, and you want to look at them first because of how much better they are for your body and how few addictive qualities are related to natural remedies.

You can do a number of things, and in this article, we’re going to give you some ideas that you can utilize in order to make it easier for you to function and work while you’re going through your daily life.

Therapy, medication, and various other treatments can play a huge role in your overall health. So, let’s take a good look at everything that you can do naturally that will help alleviate the symptoms and problems that you may be dealing with as you’re dealing with your depression.

Natural Remedies to Try

Change Your Diet

Your diet has a huge impact on how you feel on a regular basis. If you are not eating a healthy, “happy” diet, you may start to notice that your depression symptoms are a lot worse than they were beforehand. There are a lot of different things that you can add into your diet, and a number of things that you can get rid of, in order to make it a lot more balanced.

Try to eat foods that help your serotonin to get a bit of a burst. For example, you can eat foods that are full of these enhancers, including foods full Omega-3’s (fish, etc.) and good fats. You can also add flaxseed, eggs, and sour (not sweet) cherries to your diet. Those bursts can help to keep you going and feel better.

The various B vitamins can play a significant role in how you are feeling. As you likely know, B vitamins help various parts of your body, but if the body isn’t getting the nutrients that you need, then your mind isn’t going to be working as well as it can either.

Get more B vitamins in your diet (specifically vitamin B-12, which plays a huge role in making the chemicals that affect your mood). Foods like Swiss cheese, Fish, Shellfish, Bell peppers, turkey, and spinach can help to increase your vitamin B-12.

Processed foods make a noticeable difference when you’re trying to fend off mood problems. There are a lot of processed foods out there that people end up eating on a regular basis that make you feel like you are tired and sluggish. Those bad fats can really hurt your mood and it can make you a lot more tired than you would have been otherwise.

Relax More

Relaxation techniques are an important part of dealing with depression. The reason that you feel exhaustion on a regular basis is because you aren’t getting a good, restful sleep at night.

Sometimes, you add additional stress to your schedule and routine just by existing. And, as you likely know, anxiety usually goes hand in hand with certain depressive disorders, and so relaxing can help to reduce those symptoms as well. It can be hard, but you want to relax some more.

Meditation is a huge help for those who have depression because it allows you to clear your mind and feel better about going through your day. And, as mentioned above, you will find that the meditation helps with anxiety as well.

Meditation is something that you have to figure out for yourself, and you just have to find what works. You may find that you can only sit there for a few minutes, but those few minutes can make a huge difference in what you’re doing and what you’re trying to get through.

It helps you to refocus and get through your day a lot more effectively than you would have otherwise.

Going to bed on a regular schedule can also play a significant role when you’re trying to deal with your depression symptoms. You want to try your best to go to bed at the same time on a daily basis, and wake up around the same time as well.

Have a bedtime routine that you get into as well – turn everything off well before you go to bed, and then relax for a half hour or so before you decide to go to sleep. It may take some time to get into a pattern, but it makes a huge difference in the amount of energy that you have through the day.

Get Exercising!

Exercise is an absolutely vital part of your mood. If you aren’t getting out there and getting what you need in order to thrive, then you aren’t going to feel very good. There are a few reasons that this happens.

First, when you exercise, it helps to release endorphins for the brain. That means that you are getting plenty of the hormones that you need in order to help your mood to stay up and keep you going.

Those hormones play a huge difference in the amount of happiness that you feel on a regular basis, and if you’re getting more of them, then you’re going to have a lot more energy and you can keep the depression at bay for a longer period of time.

In short, those endorphins play a huge role in how you feel, and you should be doing what you can in order to keep them pumping.

Another important part of exercise is that it can be very social. If you go to the gym, or even if you’re just walking your dog, you’re getting out and around people. That can be hard if you feel depressed, so it can act like an incredibly natural way for you to deal with your depressing feelings.

Push yourself out the door and do a bit of exercise. You can even find time for you to be able to walk with friends or family members – that can make the social end of everything go even better than it would have otherwise.

Lastly, exercise helps your body to stay fit and healthy. If you are overweight, or you are struggling with your weight, then you’re going to be a lot more likely to feel depressed. Why?

Because your self-esteem is going to take a major hit, and that’s going to make it difficult for you to try and do anything. So, in short, it is all part of a large cycle – if you don’t take care of your body, your mind isn’t going to feel that great for the majority of the time, either.

That will add to your stress and make it harder for you to fight off those feelings that come when you’re having a depressive episode. Exercise alone definitely isn’t going to fix it, but it will at least help you to get your groove back and help you stay fit as well.

So, if you aren’t getting enough exercise at this point, think about adding a little bit more. The best way for you to do it is to just walk for 15 minutes or so a day – that will help you to feel great, and it’s just enough to get those endorphins ready to roll.

Get More Light

Did you know that light can play a significant role in your mood? Many people suffer from something that is known as seasonal affective disorder, which is a form of depression that comes along when the amount of light that we get during the day changes.

In short, it’s those “winter blues” that many of us end up hearing about so often. So, because the light isn’t as present, we aren’t feeling so great – and that can be incredibly frustrating, and it can make it difficult for us to do our activities of daily living.

Where does light come into all of this? Well, light has a lot of things that can help us out. The sun gives us Vitamin D, which is important for a lot of bodily and emotional reasons. It can also help with energy and other important things that we need in order to get through our day.

If we aren’t getting enough vitamin D, we can feel sluggish, which will make it difficult for us to do what we need to do to thrive.

Another reason that light is so absolutely vital is because it is what helps to regulate our sleep cycles. Sleep is incredibly important for mental health and, if we aren’t getting enough (or we’re getting too much), we’re likely to have problems with our mood. So, instead, it’s better that we get more light so that our sleep cycle goes back into the order that it should be in.

There are lots of different types of light therapy that we can utilize. Sometimes, especially during the summer months, we have the opportunity to get outside and get the sun’s rays directly.

That being said, we don’t have those same opportunities during the winter months. So, there are light boxes that have been developed for use by those suffering from a lack of sunlight.

These boxes can be placed on a desk, and they focus a special type of light right into the eyes of the person who is using them. This helps to encourage the same things that the sun encourages, thus helping to lift mood.

You can talk to your doctor about light therapy to see what course of action that they recommend and if you should try something out to deal with the issue at hand.

Try to Continue Moving Forward With Life

One of the biggest issues that a lot of people deal with when they fight off depression is that they don’t have the energy to get through their day. But, one of the best things that you can do is make sure that you are moving forward with the things that you want to do on a daily basis.

Here are a few suggestions that you can try in order to try and keep your energy up and keep your life moving forward.

Make goals for each day or goals that you want to hit in the future. Sometimes, depression can make you feel hopeless, and you may feel like you can’t accomplish much of anything that you want to do. That being said, be reasonable with the goals that you’re putting together.

Don’t make these huge goals that you may not be able to reach – that will just make things worse. By making small goals that are easier for you to achieve, it will help to reduce the stress that you feel.

Take walks and get outside on a regular basis. As we mentioned above, exercise is a huge part of feeling better when you’re dealing with depression, and the fresh air can help to clear your mind and make you feel better when you’re out and about.

Even if it’s just a 5 or 10 minute walk around the block, you will get a bit of energy. And, as we talked about above, exercise has a ton of benefits that can help with your symptoms as well.

Do one major thing on a daily basis. A “major thing” can be anything from what we mentioned above, to doing the dishes, or anything else that takes a lot of energy. You define what your “major thing” is, and you set those goals. Like we said above, goals need to be reasonable so that you don’t stress yourself out.

You may not always be able to do these things, and that is okay. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t. It can be hard to try and push yourself to do certain things, but it’s worth the time and energy that you may put into it. If you have to rest for a day or two, it’s alright, but try to do something each and every day.

Conclusion

Depression can be an incredibly difficult disorder to deal with, and because of that, it’s important to learn how to deal with your symptoms appropriately.

The more time that you take when it comes to listening to your body and fending off the symptoms in an effective manner, the better off that you will be.

And, it’s always better to seek out natural treatment first – even though a number of people still need some sort of medication supplement as part of their treatment plan, that doesn’t mean that everyone does, so it’s at least worth a try in order to try and figure the whole thing out.

So, as you can see, there are a lot of different things that you can do in order to make sure that your depression is doing better. Before you make any changes in your diet, medication, or treatment, make sure that you talk to a doctor and let them know about what your intentions are.

They are there to help you deal with your treatment plan, and they can keep track of everything that is going on. They can also give you other recommendations that you can use as well.

References:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/natural-remedies-for-depression/faq-20058026

http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/natural-treatments

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/owning-pink/201103/11-natural-treatments-depression-md-s-tips-skipping-the-prozac