12 Non-Medicinal Ways to Fight Depression (#2 Seems Weird but It Works!)

Photo credit: bigstock.com

8. Avoid Caffeine

Although it’s true that coffee and other drinks with caffeine can have health benefits, when you are suffering from depression, these just aren’t the drinks for you. Being exhausted from lack of sleep but wired from three or four cups of coffee is not a good combination. Coffee does not do anything for your mood or for the chemicals in your brain that regulate your mood. In fact, some studies have shown that those who drink more than two cups a day have lower levels of serotonin than those who don’t drink coffee. For now, at least, coffee is a drink you should avoid.

9. Drink Green Tea

Now that you are cutting out coffee, you have plenty of room for green tea! Although green tea contains some caffeine, in this case, the caffeine in green tea will work in conjunction with another substance in the tea called L-theanine. The two work together to give you the energy boost of caffeine without the crash. It can reduce stress and is one of the few things that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Green tea has also been shown to boost dopamine levels. So, simply exchange your coffee habit for a green tea habit, and you will be good to go!

10. Give Acupuncture a Try

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this ancient method of dealing with pain and promoting healing. For every person who says it helped them, you can find someone else who says it didn’t work for them. If you feel as though you have tried everything else, why not give acupuncture a shot? It has been shown that when the needle enters your skin, the body responds by releasing feel-good endorphins. This can leave you feeling happy, relaxed and more in control of your feelings than you have felt in years. For those who say that this method worked for them, these feelings last for weeks after a session.

Continue to Page 5