Keeping depression at bay – 4 lifestyle changes to try when dealing with depression

People dealing with depression often avoid getting professional help due to a high relapse rate or outdated methods. Some (more and more patients, as a matter of fact) will switch to non-conventional treatment centers, where customized treatment, innovative therapies, and protocols, together with holistic and evidence-based methods, are used for treatment.

Unless you are struggling with severe depression, you could handle your low depressive episode with a couple of changes in your life. A recent study from Illinois University revealed that more than 50% of the participants with mental illness symptoms didn’t get any wellness advice on from their health care provider.

Is lifestyle important for mental health?

Even if lifestyle alone won’t cure you from depression, anxiety, or PTSD, it can still alleviate some of your mental health symptoms, especially when they’re not debilitating or severe. Simple activities like healthy dieting or exercise can impact your life significantly, in the right way. And we can tell that healthy dieting (raw, plant-based, organic, and non-GMO food mostly) and physical activities are beneficial for one’s anxiety and depression. These simple steps work for bipolar disorder or PTSD and are part of the treatment at most prestigious treatment centers (mainly the alternative kind). A healthy diet and proper exercise will reduce the development of other factors that would otherwise cause cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, or hypertension. Recent studies also revealed that these physical illnesses are more common among people with mental health issues.

Should you struggle with mental health issues and enroll in an outpatient treatment program, you shouldn’t hesitate to talk to your physician about the lifestyle changes you could do for a better recovery. Ask your clinician what changes you should make for improving your mental health, as there are no standard answers. Some changes in most significant areas of our lives will impact mental health more than others, so keep reading for the details.

1. Improve your diet

Research has been revealing that diet will affect our mental health, both positively and negatively. Vegetables and fruits improve mental health, which is why patients switch to plant-based dieting in most successful treatment facilities for mental health issues. Resilience, happiness, and optimism will occur more often when switching to plant-based dieting. Additionally, they’re good for physical health.

Fatty foods will raise the risk for psychiatric symptoms, as they change the bacteria in the gut. A study on mice revealed higher anxiety, poor memory, brain inflammation, repetitive behavior due to high-fat dieting. It’s why reputed centers would run liver detox, parasite/candida cleanse for their patients throughout the detox phase. Cleaning the body prepares it for treatment, ensuring a better chance for success.

It’s not the case of “good” fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids. These can have a positive impact on people with depression.

It may sound redundant, but, once again, sugar is the culprit for some of your mental health issues. Not only that, it makes you gain weight, but it also causes an addictive answer. Sugar increases the rate of depression, worsening mental health symptoms. Click Here Luxury Rehabs

2. Look for techniques to reduce your stress

Stress is feeding mental conditions, and mental health issues cause stress as well. You want to control your life’s pressure so that you take control of your mental health problem. Mindfulness meditation is an excellent technique for that. A study from the Carnegie Mellon University showed that meditating for 25 minutes a day, three days in a row, will create resilience and lower your stress level. A John Hopkins research analysis also revealed that meditation would alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.

At top treatment centers for depression, patients are taught to do Kundalini Yoga, both stress-reducing and good exercise. A study from Queen’s University noted that yoga helps us see with more bright eyes the world. For people with mental health issues, with negative thoughts and thinking, yoga will bring them a positive take on life and the world in general. Yoga is suitable even for bipolar patients, leading to positive changes in their lives.  

3. Make time to exercise

It will help if you start by checking with your physician before engaging in physical activities. Physical activity has a positive effect on patients of mental health conditions. A southern Methodist University study defined exercise as a powerful drug for people with depression and anxiety disorders, advising doctors to prescribe it more often for people with a mental health condition.

Even low physical activity levels, such as gardening or walking for more than half an hour daily, will keep depression at a distance.

Should you struggle with schizophrenia, exercise will also help you have better mental and physical health. However, for bipolar patients, exercise could trigger mania at times.

On top of everything else, physical exercise will help you keep the gain weight under control. Sadly, medication for mental illness causes weight gain, yet another reason for one to begin exercising. Being overweight affects your health, increasing your risk of developing diabetes, a heart condition, worsening your mental health. Luxury Rehabs California

4. Sleep well

The quality of sleep is tremendously important for our physical and mental condition. We may get better sleep at night by maintaining proper sleep hygiene. It would help if you tried to go to bed at the same time every night, get enough exercise (it’s better to do it in the morning), staying away from caffeine and heavy meals in the evening. Try some relaxation techniques (meditation or yoga for unwinding at the end of the day has miraculous power for your sleep at night). Avoid activities that require you to stay with your eyes wide open too.

Try your best not to turn to sleep aids from the first attempt. Always turn to pills as last resort when 2 am, and you can’t still fall asleep, The Holistic Sanctuary can help

It’s essential to take care of all the little details helping you sleep throughout the entire night. Get the memory-foam mattress or the organic linens if they help you sleep better. Inadequate sleep will always affect your mind and body. Studies revealed that fatigue makes you choose the wrong food, which causes obesity and cell damage in the long run. Also, it could worsen mental illness symptoms. It sounds incredible, but sleep deprivation can trigger schizophrenia symptoms. Having a good night’s sleep every night will reduce stress, improve your mood, protect the brain, and give you the energy you need for dealing with life’s constant difficulties.

What’s the main takeaway?

There is no method, principle, or luxury therapy that will give the same results for everyone. Some people will feel better by taking care of their hobbies, whereas others will feel more relaxed and energetic by exercising and eating plant-based food. In the end, you should do whatever works for you best.

Don’t be afraid to try new things and techniques that improve your mood and overall health. As long as you’re determined to keep depression at bay, you should see results even sooner than expected.

Resources:

• https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.27074
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10887150902905454
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JACH.57.5.521-526
• https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2726983
• https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/80af/673bcb7c29b0d49e7d5610f1ec9c4c58917a.pdf