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Depression and anxiety are two different things but they are somehow interrelated because one of the signs includes anxiety and anxiety can also lead to depression. This explains we have decided to show you how to overcome depression and anxiety naturally in the same article.
Anxiety is one of the symptoms of depression but it can occur alone without being a result of depression. Depression is more than just being unhappy or feeling sad, sometimes it can be a medical condition. We have previously explained in details the types of depression and you should read to find out more details. For proper understanding, we will split how to overcome depression and how to overcome anxiety separately. But before we proceed, let’s define anxiety. Depression has previously been defined here.
Anxiety is a mental state of uneasiness, restlessness, worry or nervousness.
How to overcome depression naturally
The following are ways to overcome depression naturally without using drugs or medications.
1. Reach out and get support
It is important to reach out and talk to someone. If you decide to stay on your own to overcome depression, it could be more difficult.
Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for help, it doesn’t mean you’re weak. Rather, it means you’re strong and bold enough to search for a solution to your challenge. The condition (depression) will try to keep you from reaching out and make you keep to yourself, but don’t allow it. Stay connected to your loved ones and family who sincerely care for you. Reach out to people who will listen to you attentively and will be ready to help you without judging you.
Furthermore, you can reach out to support groups or individuals online. In whatever you do, make sure you speak out and never isolate yourself.
2. Sleep well
One of the signs of depression is either over sleeping or lack of sleep. Sleeping well is one of the ways to overcome depression. Make sure you take everything that can distract you from sleep away from your bedroom. Put away your smartphone, your TV, magazines and other things that can rob you of sleep. Even if you have issues with sleeping, you’ll be able to overcome it in a short while.
3. Do the things you enjoy
You may not feel interested in the things you used to enjoy and feel no urge to do them. But one of the ways to overcome depression is doing them that way, i.e whether you feel like or not.
You may not begin to enjoy the activity immediately and the depression may not leave instantly but it will eventually make you feel better and reduce the tension in your mind.
4. Limit the way you stress yourself
Stress can make depression worsen. It increases the tension in your mind and make your burden heavier. You should take a break to get yourself relaxed. Practice relaxation techniques like listening to music, meditation, watching funny TV shows and movies.
5. Exercise yourself
Exercising can make you feel better and feel good. It’ll boost your mood and eventually improve your condition.
However, it might be difficult to start exercising yourself when you feel depressed but you should get yourself to do it anyhow. At the end, it’ll boost your mood and help you feel energized.
6. Eat well
There’s a depression fighting diet which you can choose to improve your state. Also focus on eating healthily, eat balanced diet which includes a lot of fruits and vegetables.
However, you should be careful with your eating habit. One of the signs of depression could be lack of appetite or a voracious appetite. Make sure you are not eating more than you should or less than you should. Read here 10 foods that helps you fight against depression.
7. Set targets and goals
Depression usually comes with a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. You may feel as if you can’t achieve anything, so setting achievable targets and goals can help you feel more fulfilled.
Don’t set hard targets. Set simpler ones that only involves simple tasks. For example, if you need to clean the whole house and the work seems to large, you first have to accept that you’re not feeling right and you need to help yourself. Then, you should set a target of cleaning just a room within the same duration it used to take you to clean the whole house. You’ll feel better at the end when you achieve that simple goal than and you fail at cleaning the whole house.
In addition, celebrate yourself when you achieve the simple goals.
8. Do opposite of negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts.
Depression tends to bring a lot of negative thoughts into your heart. You become so discouraged and don’t feel like doing or participating in anything. Try as much as you can to do the opposite of the negative thoughts that comes to your mind. For example, you may think of committing suicide. You should immediately remind yourself that life is too precious and that you’re too valuable to other people around to die. Remind yourself immediately of all the people that loves you, including we at HealthyEveryTime. You can reach out to us with questions and we would be always willing to answer you.
In addition, challenge depressive thoughts. You may feel like staying in bed all day for example, challenge that feeling and do the exact opposite.
9. Expose yourself to sunlight
Exposing yourself to sunlight can be one of the ways of overcoming depression. One of the types of depression (SAD) is caused by reduced exposure to sunlight. So, having a fifteen minutes daily dose of sunlight will not hurt you. It’s preferable you go for the early morning sunlight dose.
Exposure to sunlight increases your serotonin levels and eventually boosts your mood.
10. See a professional
Like we said before, don’t be ashamed to seek for help, it doesn’t mean you are weak. When you’ve tried all the steps above and there are no improvements, see a professional who can help you through the process and treat you. Depression can be treated medically.
Read this article to learn about the types of depression and find out if you need medical attention. Also read what causes depression.
After looking at how to overcome depression naturally, let’s proceed to how to overcome anxiety naturally.
How to overcome anxiety naturally
Anxiety can turn out to be a difficult condition. Sometimes, anxiety disorders can be so serious and may need medical treatment. However, we are about to teach you how to overcome anxiety naturally without medications.
1. Identify what triggers your anxiety
What triggers anxiety could be different in people. For some people, it could be short term causes like alcohol, smoking etc. For others, it could be long term causes like job problems, stress, financial problems etc. Whatever it is, find out and try to reduce your exposure to it if possible or search for ways which you can manage and cope with the cause.
2. Change your thoughts pattern
One of the things that gets people so anxious are negative thoughts, especially thoughts of failure, insecurity etc. These thoughts makes you imbalanced and unsettled. How to overcome anxiety naturally includes identifying those negative thoughts and questioning them, see what you can do to change them. If they are thoughts of failure, instead of pondering on failure, search for how to win in that condition and replace your thoughts.
3. Take time to relax
Too much of stress can cause so many things. Take breaks from work to calm yourself down. Find something interesting you can do to make you feel relaxed. Listen to music, practice mediation can help.
4. Keep your mind healthy
Learn how to keep your mind away from things that would increase anxiety. These could include horror movies, scary games or pranks. Keep away from such things.
5. Stay healthy
Keep your body healthy by exercising regularly and taking balanced diet. You could also include anxiety diets such as green tea, lemon balm, chocolate etc.
6. Use CBT
Practice cognitive behavioral therapy. It helps you change your thoughts pattern and think more positive thoughts.
7. See a professional
You should open up to a doctor about your condition. Tell him about everything that triggers your anxiety and your experiences, it would help him prescribe medications that can help you fight anxiety. This should be done after trying other steps without results.
That’s it. You’ve learnt how to overcome depression and anxiety naturally. Share this post with others and also subscribe to the blog to get more health tips like this.
