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Top 15 Natural Ways to Deal with Depression
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6. Try meditation
Try meditation or guided imagery. The positive effects that meditation can have on your mood are very well documented. Calming your mind can improve your mood.
7. Get enough sleep
But not too much! Depression makes some people sleep all the time, while others are plagued with insomnia. If you sleep too much, try not napping during the day and be sure you get plenty of sunlight. If you have insomnia, don’t lie in bed watching TV. Set a regular bedtime and make a regular routine for sleeping, such as having a cup of tea or a warm bath about 30 minutes before bed. These things will become a signal to your body that it’s time to sleep and getting the proper amount of sleep can help with depression symptoms. Read more about dangers of sleep deprivation.
8. Eat more serotonin rich foods
Speaking of a healthy diet, you can also try eating more foods that cause your body to make more serotonin such as turkey, coconut oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and wild caught fish.
9. Challenge those negative thoughts
When you are fighting depression, a great deal of the work is mental. It will help you if you change the way you think.
The next time you find yourself having terrible thoughts about yourself, or imagining the worst case scenario, remember this little story:
A woman watches two dogs walk into a room. When they come out, the woman notices one dog is wagging his tail, the other dog is sulking, with his head down. Curious, the woman goes into the room to see what was there and finds the room filled with mirrors. The happy dog saw a thousand other happy dogs, wagging their tails, while the sad dog saw a thousand other sad, unhappy dogs looking back at him.
The choice is entirely yours. What do you see when you look in the mirror?
10. Do something different
Depressed people tend to get into a rut. Push yourself to do something different. Drive home a different way, go to a museum instead of the same old mall, read a book in the park instead of sit home and watch TV. When we do different things, there are actual chemical changes in the brain. Doing new things actually changes the levels of dopamine in the brain, the chemical that makes us feel pleasure and enjoyment.
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