A Couple of Healthy Habits for People with Depression
(one for your body and one for your mind)
The foremost healthy habit for people in depression is regular exercise. Multiple studies have proven that it works both as a vaccine and cure for depression. If you are physically active, it’s harder to get into and stay in the depression.
It makes sense even for common people. Think of a depressed person. How does she act? Shoulders slumped, moving slowly, sits or lies in one place for hours. It’s logical that doing the opposite will bring the opposite psycho-physical state.
I recommend a very specific exercise: one series of consecutive pushups to the failure point.
The biggest advantage of pushups is that you can do them at any time and any place. When you are depressed you don’t really have will to raise your finger, not mentioning exercises. And you can come up with zillion of excuses:
“I need to go to gym”
“I need to change my outfit”
“Jogging? It’s cold outside and I can get sick”
“I don’t have a necessary equipment”
Pushups are excuse-proof. All you need is to lie on the floor and start doing them.
It doesn’t have to be pushups. Start from any 2-minute exercise you are capable of, even walking around your room.
Incorporate small daily exercise habit into your days and into your life. At the beginning, you are not able to do anything, but small things and you cannot afford to sit on your hands and wait for an ephipany.
Rewire Your Brain
Depression starts in your mind. Objective factors don’t make you feel miserable and hopeless. Need proof? There are people out there who are in your situation and thrive. My son has depression because his girlfriend dumped him. Plenty of people are thrilled that they are alone again and look at this as an opportunity, not the end of the world.
So, it’s not just your situation, but what you think about your situation that depresses you.
Here is an ideal fix for you. It’s quick and it’s easy, which is very important. People in depression don’t have the energy or will to do anything, so the easier the start, the better.
And it is effective. The fix is: keep a gratitude journal.
Gratitude rewires the human brain into positivity.
When the brain is positive, every possible outcome we know how to test for rises dramatically.
The power of gratitude is mind-blowing (pun intended). Scientists discovered that it was enough to write three new things you are grateful for in the morning to change people from pessimists into optimists in 30 days!
Participants of studies had the pessimism gene and they were still able to overcome their dark mood. One guy was 84 and he rewired his brain, despite the negative conditioning he received his whole life.
Take pen and paper. Come up with three things - people in your life, their help, items you possess, your living conditions, your health or talents or the beauty of nature - anything which makes you grateful. Repeat this exercise the next morning and the next one, for the next 30 days.
By the way, “every outcome” also means your health. Practicing gratitude is very healthy and will provide tangible positive effects for your health. Research results say that all the metrics they could measure - like body’s biochemistry, number of days without sickness or the strength of an immune system - were better.
But most importantly, practicing gratitude will take your mind from the dark place where it dwells → into the light.
Originally published at www.quora.com.
