We all have those days when we feel down, depressed and miserable. Instead of taking pills, practice these five natural antidepressants that can help you boost and maintain your mood. For more severe depressive episodes, combine the natural antidepressants with therapy and medication.
Practice Gratitude
We take things we have for granted, and we forgot to be grateful for the health, family, friends, and job that we have.
Gratitude does not come easy to many of us, and that’s why we should mindfully practice gratitude. Even if the main cause of your depression are circumstances in your life, there are people and things in your life to feel grateful for.
If you are feeling down lately, shift your focus on empowering yourself through gratitude to combat depressive mood. And, practice gratitude daily through small rituals early in the morning or before you go to bed.
Give!
If you give your affection, attention, time, or money to someone, it will most definitely lead to a positive mood. Taking care of a pet, your grandmother, or giving the best day to your five-years old cousin will help you more than it will help to the other person. Give a helping hand to a total stranger! Why not? It will give you a sense of feeling that you are important, helpful, useful and there is some meaning in your life or at least in one day of your life. Tomorrow, do not forget to be grateful for what you have and to give to others.
Build and Maintain Strong Relationships
When you are feeling depressed, you tend to stay home, doing nothing productive or creative. Interacting with people will occupy your time more productively. Although, isolating yourself might feel safer, creating and building relationships and getting hurt at times will make you stronger and eventually happier. Talking to others will lift your mood. Something simple as exchanging a few words with an old lady in the grocery checkout line will give you a small energy boost.
Humor and positive energy will kill a depression in a minute. Choose to have a few friends who are fun to be around. Surrounding yourself with negative people who are prone to criticism and complaining will only bring you down and drain your energy. From the other side, you should not let yourself to become that person either.
Exercise
Physical activity such as dancing, biking, walking, going to gym, pilates or yoga classes will generate more energy which you desperately need when feeling down and depressed. We need to move our body to feel more energetic. The harder you workout, the more positive energy will you experience at the end of your workout session. Chemistry is the key here. Happy hormones kick in when we sweat and move our body.
Get a Good Night Sleep
Sleep also gives you energy that your body needs. Getting enough sleep should be your top priority if you want to be physically and emotionally healthy.
Ironically, depression can cause insomnia, and suddenly you are in this wicked cycle of feeling depressed and tired. If you feel like you need professional help, contact your doctor imminently. However, more likely you are not getting enough sleep because your schedule is chaotic and hard to accomplish. Take a step back and take care of yourself.
Keep in mind that getting too much sleep can also lead to feeling depressed. When you are dealing with depression, you just don’t want to leave your bed, and excessive sleep can leave you drowsy and exhausted.
It’s important to stress that these are natural antidepressants for those who are prone to feeling down from time to time. Depression is a serious condition that requires medication and therapy as well.