21 Effective Tips To Overcome Depression
Going through depression can be overwhelming. Depression affects and drains our mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
If your thoughts are racing and thinking of how to fight depression — you are a conqueror because you are on the right path to conquer depression. Don’t allow depression to control you.
You have to take charge and kick depression out of your life. To overcome depression, you need to get to the root cause of depression.
What is depression
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a long episode of sadness, loss of motivation, or loss of interest in activities. It is caused by an unbalanced level of dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin (the hormones released by the brain when we are happy).
What Causes Depression:
- Unbalanced hormone levels
- Differences in the brain chemistry and structure
- Financial problems
- Mental health problems like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
- Family or societal pressure
- Trauma
- Lifestyle choices such as poor diet and poor sleeping patterns
- Low self-esteem
- Substance abuse
Symptoms most depressed people experience
- Long episodes of sadness.
- Depressed people have a higher tendency to isolate themselves.
- Altered sleeping pattern (either sleeping too little or sleeping too much).
- Lack of motivation to engage in activities.
- Suicidal feelings (suicidal thoughts, or talking about killing themselves).
- Mood swings (depressed people experience a roller coaster of emotions).
- Some depressed people may engage in unhealthy eating habits (like overeating or undereating).
Other symptoms of depression
- Reduced sexual drive.
- Irritable (depressed people are more likely to get irritable or angry as a result of their unbalanced emotional state).
- Lack of concentration (most depressed individuals may find it difficult to focus on tasks).
What everyone wants & needs to know: How to Cure depression naturally
Here are 21 powerful tips to cure depression naturally:
1) Have a routine
Most depressed people have little-to-no motivation to carry out daily tasks. Having a routine can help you cope. Take baby steps by setting a goal for a particular daily activity. Here is a good example: having a goal to take a bath every day by 9 am.
When you have a routine, your brain will get used to that routine activity, which will give you the consistent push you need to be more active — even when you don’t feel like doing it.
2) Avoid negative thoughts
The more you allow negative thoughts, the more you give way to depressive thoughts. If you are depressed due to a poor financial situation, don’t get worked up. Say this to yourself — “I can achieve success. If others can be financially stable, then I am capable of attaining financial stability.”
After declaring positive statements to yourself, work towards achieving your goals. Don’t say what if it doesn’t happen, say this, “what if it happens.” Ensure your goals follow the SMART criteria (S for Specific, M for Measurable, A for Achievable, R for Relevant, and T for Time-bound).
Also, surround yourself with people that have a good outlook on life. If you surround yourself with negative or toxic people, it can affect your outlook on life negatively.
3) Engage in your hobbies
We usually get a feeling of happiness whenever we engage in our hobbies. Doing things you love can keep your emotions under control. Try to engage in 1 or more activities.
Most times our brain needs a stimulating activity to ignite feelings of happiness. You can also find new hobbies that you can enjoy.
4) Participate in volunteering activities
Volunteering is an act of rendering your services for free. Studies have shown that volunteering can increase your pleasure hormones by making you happier and more fulfilled.
Dopamine is a hormone that is released when you are happy or excited. You can help orphanage homes, disability centers, or anywhere you feel comfortable offering your volunteering services.
5) Use your goal as a motivation
Is there something you would like to achieve? Use your goal as a driving force to motivate yourself (no matter the challenges). Even great minds have experienced one challenge or the other before they became successful.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light bulb tried a thousand times before he became successful in powering the light bulb. Don’t give up — continue working towards achieving your goals.
6) Talk to someone
Don’t bottle up your overwhelming emotions. Talking to someone that you trust is a good way to overcome depression. How do you plan to get out of your depressive state if you don’t seek help?
Someone is out there ready to listen and help you with your problems. If you don’t have a significant other or friend that you trust, seek help in your local community or via social media. Or you can seek the help of a counselor or therapist.
7) Become more engaged in activities
Increase your activity level by doing more chores, or adding more engaging activities to your routine.
An increase in activity level can help you stay engaged. This technique pumps blood to the brain and releases endorphins which helps to improve brain health and also maintains a stable emotional level.
8) Laugh more
Laughter is an effective therapy for overcoming depression. As you laugh more, your brain processes your outburst of laughter by releasing your laughter hormone (endorphins), which can keep your emotions in a healthy state. You may ask how can I laugh more, here is how: Focus is the key.
Try to focus on anything that can give you a good laugh. You can follow funny pages on social media to get daily updates so that you can enjoy a good laugh.
9) Be in nature
Explore and observe the scenery of your surroundings. Observing nature while staying focused will help you stay more relaxed and less anxious, which will enable the warmth of the sun to increase the level of serotonin in your brain.
Serotonin is a hormone that can boost your mood by making you feel calm. If you are feeling lonely, exposing yourself to nature can give you a feeling of belonging.
10) Appreciate your life
Even though you may think your life doesn’t seem like it’s worth appreciating. Look at yourself and say, “I am still alive — I am thankful.” When you give yourself words of appreciation — you will motivate yourself and be more positive about life.
11) Listen to good music
Good music is melodious to the ears and mind. The lyrics and sounds from music can work their way into your brain. Do you have a favorite music genre? How about listening to your favorite singer?
Here are some tips for music therapy: Focus your mind on the melody and lyrics of the song.
When you focus on the music, you are allowing your brain to process the melody of the song in your mind. This will release dopamine (a happy hormone) from the brain, which is what you need to overcome your negative emotions.
12) Avoid unhealthy coping mechanism
Don’t go the wrong route if you want to overcome depression.
Overeating, alcoholism, abusing drugs, and other unhealthy coping mechanisms aren’t the best way to go (it only adds more problems and worsens your depression). A healthy coping mechanism is permanent and safe for your overall well-being.
13) Love yourself more
If your depression stems from loneliness, you need to start appreciating the benefits of self-love. It feels good to get attention from others, but you’ll feel better when you love yourself and give yourself more attention.
Your utmost happiness should stem from you. Enjoy your own company, and develop an interest in doing things alone. When you get used to being alone, you will realize that “solitude is bliss”.
14) Don’t succumb to societal or family pressure (be your authentic self)
Life is short enough to be someone else. When you allow your lifestyle choices to be controlled by other people, you are igniting episodes of unhappiness in your life.
Be yourself by standing firm on your lifestyle choices or principles. Ignore what people say about you, and live your life as you please.
15) Drink more water
Water is vital for mental health. When you are dehydrated, you may feel lightheaded and tired (this is your body’s response to a limited water reserve).
Dehydration increases the level of cortisol in the body, which leads to increased stress and depression. Drink more water to energize your brain, and keep your cortisol levels down.
16) Eat healthy foods and fruits
Nutritious foods are good for the brain. Most processed and unhealthy foods are linked to unhealthy mental well-being. Improve your mental well-being by eating nutritious foods, so that they can provide you with the necessary vitamins and minerals that are needed for a healthy brain function.
17) Sleep well
Have you ever noticed how cranky and tired you get when you don’t sleep well? It is best to sleep more by having up to 8 to 10 hours of sleep a day.
As humans, we are not machines, we need sufficient rest. When you sleep well, your brain becomes more active to keep you in a more energized and relaxed state. These are the things you should avoid and do if you are finding it difficult to sleep:
- Have a sleep schedule
- Avoid distractions during bedtime
- Avoid thinking (be in a relaxed state).
- Don’t sleep on an empty stomach
- Don’t drink caffeinated drinks a few hours before you sleep
- Lie down on your bed in a comfortable position (this is to help relax your muscles, which will make you sleepy).
18) Don’t compare yourself to others
Avoid comparing yourself to others. We can’t be the same, If not: Who will be the teachers, the lawyers, the entertainers, and who will play the roles of other careers?
Also, if we are all at the same level in life, then living comfortably will be difficult, because there would be so much competition for everyone to be able to survive at the same level.
Keep in mind that others have their time to succeed — and you also have your time to succeed. Continue striving until you achieve your goals.
19) Don’t allow traumatic life experiences to shape your life in a negative way
Life experiences have a way of shaping our outlook on life. Your past should never define you.
If you have been abused — remember, it was never your fault. Don’t allow negative experiences to control your happiness.
The truth about life is this: when good times exist, bad times exist as well. Look at life as an experiment. Go through what life throws at you. Pick the lessons from your experience — and become stronger like you never experienced those traumatic events.
20) Avoid overthinking
Depression can make us overthink. It makes us overanalyze a particular situation or predicament.
Rather than overthinking a situation, relax your mind and analyze possible and realistic solutions to your problems. If you can’t solve your problems by yourself — reach out to people that can be of help.
Remember, anyone can need help at any point in time. Seeking help does not make you weak. It shows that you are human, and as humans, we need to be there for each other — because we can’t do it all alone.
21) Avoid stress
High-stress levels have been linked to an incidence of depression. You can cope with stress by increasing your hours of sleep, listening to music, and engaging in your hobbies.
A Vital Lesson
Don’t allow depression to consume you. Utilize the tips aforementioned to fight depression. Don’t resort to suicide. You have a purpose. Everyone has a purpose. With time your purpose will be unlocked, so don’t give up. Strive to achieve your goals.
Are any of your loved ones depressed? Let your care radiate in their lives.
