1. Get Support Put Together
When it comes to depression, you can treat it with medication and therapy but you can also start to put together a team of supporters in your social life.
One way to do this can be to get together with family and friends to build better relationships. When you have loved ones you can count on, it can help you to be less depressed overall.
It may also be helpful to get into a support group of some kind. For instance, there may be a group you can work with in your area or you can find one online that can help you out.
2. Get Stress Under Control
If you’re always dealing with stress, there will be more cortisol created in your body. This can help you in the moment, but over time it’s not always going to benefit you.
When it comes to having high cortisol long-term, it may start to poorly impact your life in the way of depression. You need to do exercises that let you ramp down your stress so you’re not as likely to get depressed.
You can get into touch with a hotline like the one by SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357 if you want to learn more about what your options are and how you can better deal with mental health issues and things like addictions that could be caused by depression.
To get help from good sources, our National Helpline Database is a great place to get information you need.
3. Get Your Sleeping Habits Dealt With
How you feel and the sleep you get are very intertwined. A study done in 2014 has shown that most people with a depression issue have been dealing with problems sleeping enough.
Maye you feel like you can’t sleep or maybe you’re having a hard time getting out of bed because you just don’t have a lot of energy. There are ways to take care of your sleeping habits.
If you get good sleep, it can really start to benefit you and make your life a lot easier to live.
Keep electronics at bay when you’re thinking of going to bed up to an hour prior and if you’re going to read or do anything of that nature, dim the lights at least.
Bed should be a place where you have sex and sleep. Don’t start to do work in bed or anything else that you may start to associate with sleeping because that can make matters worse.
4. Get On A Good Diet
You’ll find that there are things in food that you consume that can make your depression better or worse. There was a study done, for instance, that shows that not having enough zinc in your diet can make you depressed.
Having a better diet can be what it takes to get everything under control.
However, before you do anything related to your diet including taking new supplements, ask a physician if you’re taking the right steps.
5. Negative Thoughts Can Be Tricky To Deal With
If you have depression, then you know that’s possible for your mind to get into a negative space. When you start to deal with your negative thoughts properly, your mood will get better.
Look into CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, because it helps to deal with pattern you have going on that make your thinking negative. They’re known as cognitive distortions and they can be dealt with. You’ll learn when you do your research that there are a lot of resources that can help you create healthier thinking patterns.
6. Don’t Let Procrastination Take Over
When you’re dealing with depression, you can end up having problems with your concentration and energy levels and that can make you procrastinate more.
When you put off what you need to do, it can make you feel guilty, stressed, and can cause depression to get much worse.
It’s important to set deadlines and manage your time well. Establish short-term goals and work hard to get the most important things done first. Each task you successfully complete will help you break through the habit of procrastination.
Put together a to-do list and make sure it has goals that you can put on it to reach each day. You’re going to find that every time you complete a task, it will make you feel better and that can make procrastination a thing of the past.
7. Start Working On Your Chores
Being depressed can lead to you not being able to do your chores whether they are related to cleaning or dealing with finances.
When you have a lot of paperwork and things around like dishes that haven’t been dealt with, it can start to make you feel worthless and/or just low in general.
Get your chores dealt with by making goals and then meeting them once at a time. When you get to a point where you feel down, try to just push through to get one more thing done and before you know it, you’ll have gone through your chore list.