HealthMotivation

10 Best Natural Ways to Treat Depression!

Health is becoming more of a pressing concern among people these days. Speaking of health people often end up imagining physical injuries and infectious diseases of various kinds. They fail to address that mental health also plays a vital role in our healthy & happy living. Like any of the physiological disorders, these psychological disorders could also be quite troublesome. However one of the most common ones among them is the Depression. What is this exactly and what makes it be a major concern? And how do we deal with it? This article will also take you through the 10 best natural ways to treat depression!

What is Depression?

We people are filled with emotions and it makes us who we are! I believe Emotions are better when expressed but sometimes it gets too much to handle. So one could say that such emotions are a gift and a curse! Everyone tends to get emotional under various circumstances some are good and some aren’t! But when such an emotional downside tends to persist over a great period of time it may affect one’s day-to-day activities. This is a treatable condition so all it takes is to seek immediate medical attention to get rid of such negativity!

With all of the modern lifestyle and the modified food habits people often get stressed so easily, so being depressed has become quite common! People blame themselves that reduces their self-esteem and this might greatly affect their personal and the business relationship with others. To put it simply depression kills happiness and blinds us from all the good things that are happening around us! This brings us to the very next question.

How Do We Face It?

Well like in any medical treatment the first step is to identify the symptoms to make suitable treatment plans. Though it might sound terrifying, trust me it is not! The key to any successful treatment is trust! In this case, start believing and stop blaming yourself for the bad things. Take time to appreciate the goodness in everything. Attitude sets the first step towards success!

Here are some of the quick facts about depression:

  • People often misinterpret Depression and Mood swings. Being sad & Lack of interest for a prolonged period (6 to 8 months) that affects one’s routine activities is termed as Depression.
  • It is more common among women than men.
  • It is influenced by the combination of Environmental, Genetic, Biological, and Psychosocial factors.
  • There are series of tests available to screen the patients for depression.
  • Hamilton Depression rating scale is widely used to assess the severity of depression.

10 best natural ways to treat depression

Symptoms of Depression:

  • Feeling sad, blue or hopeless, futile (more than two weeks)
  • Lack of interest even in their favorite activities (in the past) like playing, watching movies or drawing etc.
  • Irregular sleeping practices either facing difficulty in sleeping (Insomnia) or Excessive sleeping (hypersomnia)
  • Irregular Weight loss or gain without any dieting involved. Or appetite loss or overeating etc.
  • Loss of energy
  • Slowed Speech and movements (Psychomotor skills)
  • Lowered self-esteem and increased guiltiness
  • Difficulty in concentrating also affects decision-making skills.
  • Sudden digestive problems, headaches, and body pains occur without any reason that is not cured by any treatment or medication.
  • Increased suicidal thoughts or attempts.

What Causes Them?

One cannot narrow down the cause of depression to a single factor. It is caused due to the combination of many genetic, environmental, psychosocial, and biological factors. Following are some of the risk factors that result in depression among certain people than the rest. This includes,

Trauma:

  • Childhood Trauma
  • Life incidents like relationship issues with family and friends, the death of loved one (bereavement), medical issues, financial issues, work stress and etc.

10 best natural ways to treat depression

Drug:

  • Prescription drugs (some) like beta-Blockers, corticosteroids, interferon and etc.
  • Abuse of alcohol, and recreational drugs like amphetamines, etc

Chronic Diseases:

  • Many of the life-threatening chronic diseases could also increase the possibility of depression among people. This includes cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes and etc.

A prolonged period of depression in the past, and being around (depressed) loved ones could also be the trigger factor.

Treatments for Depression:

Depression could make you feel useless and lower your self-esteem. This could greatly affect one’s effective way of living so one must fight back to stay ahead of these nightmares. Thankfully there are many treatment methods available in both natural and clinical ways to make it possible.

Let us get started with the natural treatment plans. It involves greater changes in one’s routine works to make it much better. According to Ian Cook, MD who is a psychiatrist and the director of the Depression Research and Clinic Program at UCLA, the Following are some of the 10 best natural ways to treat depression. This includes,

10 best natural ways to treat depression

1) Follow A Routine

Being depressed could really make you feel worthless. So the first thing to do is to make up a new routine activity to follow every day. By doing so one could feel more active & alive.

2) Set New Goals

Rather than working hard on the pointless ways set new goals or targets that could be easily achieved. This will help the individual to feel more successful.

3) Eat Healthy Foods

Healthy food is the best medicine at all times. So choose healthy foods like salmon and tuna with omega 3 fatty acids, and Spinach and avocado with folic acids that act as natural antidepressants.

4) Follow Regular Physical Exercises

Physical exercise increases the level of good chemicals (endorphins) in the body system that reduces depression. This increased physical activity also improves the brain’s activity of rewiring itself in positive ways. So remember to work out on a regular basis!

10 best natural ways to treat depression

5) Get Medical Guidance on Supplements

Speaking of workouts some people might tend to depend on certain supplements to get the desired results so quickly, here in case of depression one must be very careful in using such supplements as it might alter the brain chemistry.

6) Get A Good Sleep

Sleeping is the best time for the body and mind to repair itself. It greatly reduces depression and improves the focusing ability of the mind.

10 best natural ways to treat depression

7) Take Responsibilities

Depression could make you hate yourself but there is no point in holding on to such a thought, it could destroy your life for real. So make effort to stay away from such thoughts. Take some new responsibilities, no matter how small they might be! Get the work done at the end!

8) Be Optimistic

Depression is the worst; it fills your mind with all the negative thoughts. Though it may or may not be real. But past is past. Stay positive and work towards improving your life towards success. Remember a simple positive thought could do wonders!

9) Try New Hobbies

Be the new man/woman you always wanted to be! Follow new hobbies that keep you off from your past worries and make you a better person.

10) Enjoy Your Life

Life is all about living, so don’t waste it focusing on bad things. Try to see the good in everything and also spend more time with your family and friends and enjoy the very essence of life you have.

Regardless of the above-mentioned 10 best natural ways to treat depression easily there are also other man-made treatment methods available to provide the best medical support under serious conditions.

10 best natural ways to treat depression

This includes Psychotherapy which is also known as talking therapies. It includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Intrapersonal therapy.

The other would include the usage of Antidepressant drugs.

There are plenty of these drugs available on the market today. Food and Drug Association (FDA) states that some of these anti-depressant drugs increase suicidal thoughts in certain cases. So it is advised to seek medical guidance from the experts to ensure their effective intake for better results.

These are some of the best practices followed among people to get relieved of stress and to lead a long healthy and happy life. After all, we all get to live only once so let us make it more memorable rather than spending it on treatments and bills.

Also read: Importance of being happy

Tags

Vivek

Vivek is a writing enthusiast fond of healthy and happy living. He believes Knowledge gets better when shared. So he founded The Mindful Bytes as a platform for people who love to read and write anything that has to do with Health, Tech, Business, Finance, and Lifestyle.

Related Articles

Close