Hello,Steemit Friends
Depression is often termed as stress but it's not all about stress. In medical science, it is a common mood disorder which can be serious. The main causes maybe genes, medical illness, grief or drug use among others. Symptoms of depression are a feeling of hopelessness, sadness, anxiety, guilt and worthlessness. In addition, there is a loss of interest in hobbies and fatigue.
The good news is that depression is treatable. The treatment may be medication or psychotherapy and in some cases both; depressants can also be used. As much as there are even other natural ways for treatment, the main aim should be prevention. Prevention is better than cure, right? Most causes maybe things out of your hands like grief, medical illness and genes but how you handle and control the stress opens the door to prevention. The various ways to prevent depression are:
Taking care of your health
Your health comes first and a healthy body has a great immune system to fight even depression. Consider eating a balanced diet(nutritional foods) and getting enough sleep. You should regulate the blood sugar since research shows that high levels of sugar contribute to depression. Each person has different sleeping habits and you should ensure you get the hours you need. Similarly, regular medical checkups can enable promote our health and for those with illnesses, then following the treatment plan works.
Exercise regularly
In most cases, exercise may lie under health but in this case, it's independent. During exercise, the body releases chemicals which can boost your mood. In fact, the rise in temperatures has a positive effect on the central nervous system. It gives a calming effect hence relaxing your body.
Positive attitude
Pessimism is both a cause and symptom of depression. As much as life contains sad situations which may lower you emotionally, these moments do not last. Fortunately. you also get to have had other better moments and happy ones which are worth focusing on at such times. You may consider maintaining positive thoughts even in sad situations which gives a great outcome.
Connect with people
No man is an island and a problem shared is a problem solved. Reach out to your family and friends at all times and especially when you need them more. Consider sharing your feelings with those you trust which helps ease your mind. In addition, avoid staying with toxic people- those who make you feel bad about yourself.
Find your passion
There is a belief that each person was created with a purpose in life. Finding this purpose can be very fulfilling and gives focus to your life. At other times, consider taking vacations to focus on other important aspects of your life and change your routine. If you have not found your purpose yet, then consider exploring different options. This may include volunteering- it proves to have a positive impact in identifying a person's skills.
As much as one may not be in a position to prevent some cases, well in others you have the final say whether depression can take root in you. You may consider using the above ways of prevention and definitely, depression will not be for you.
Thank You for all your love, support, comments, up votes and shares
Much Love, Suzana <3
It's really important to connect with people. That's something often underestimated by introverts.
Connecting with those who gives you positive vibes :)
Maybe not underestimated, maybe it's just hard for some introverts as I speak from my own experience.
sometimes things can happen that makes us lose our trust and it is harder to regain trust then it is to keep it.
One way to treat depression is by seeing life as a huge university. And not everyone go to a university is a student. If you find yourself in a university, first you must know why you are there. You can be a professor, a chief, a chef, a thief, a cleaning personal, mail man …etc. Most are equally important for the university to exist.
The main purpose of the university is teaching students. The vast majority are students. Students are on different levels, majors, time spans …. Some quit early, some graduate fast, some takes their time, some switch majors, some repeat and repeat, some can’t wait to finish, some wish they never got there and some leave just to wish to go back again.
Nice written post @suerisue. Life throws so much at us and it never stops, so what we have to do is enjoy every day by doing what we love, by taking care of our bodies, listening to our heart but I think the best medicine of all is helping others, since it gives you the feeling of joy like nothing else and it also gives you the feeling of being needed.
Nice post! We have to remember to be positive, specially for Introverts like me.It's really hard to figure out any specific cause of depression. In my previous artices 1, /2, I discussed why it takes a lot of stimulation for some people to feel happy, and that sleep apnea could be a factor in mood issues like depression.
I see myself as both an extrovert and introvert depending in which areas and situations. I think we all have both just shifted more towards which directions. Thank you for sharing, i will take a look at your post :). cheers
Just wanted to say depression is my main area of study, and especially the beginning of this post is kind of an extreme oversimplification/bordering on false statements about depression.
Stress actually plays a HUGE role in one's susceptibility, in combination with genes. This model of depression is referred to as the diathesis-stress model (genes would be the diathesis in this case). My lab studies the impacts of early life stress on the development of depression later in life, and we know that people with significant stress in their lives are much more likely to develop depression regardless of their genetic makeup. Life stressors could include things like being abused, having a parent die at a young age, and growing up in poverty.
Additionally, while we suspect there is a genetic component to depression and a lot of research supports that, NO ONE has actually been able to confirm the existence of "depression genes". For a while scientists thought the 5-HTTPLR gene which is a serotonin transporter gene was maybe an important gene in depression, but we realized it is actually just one piece of a much larger puzzle and not necessarily indicative of susceptibility to depression.
Combining these two points, a lot of research lately has been done on the HPA Axis which essentially regulates stress and negative emotional response, and we are finding that depressed people have malfunctioning feedback loops within this circuit. We don't know yet whether they had those before, or those were developed as a result of the depression. But this mechanism is the source of "rumination", which you kind of touch on with positive attitude, where a person has a negative thought and just keeps circling back to it and digging themselves into a hole. This isn't a choice they are making, this is a malfunction of signaling in the HPA Axis between the sACC and I believe the DLPFC (Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex).
But anyway, this has been a long drawn out comment, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew that while there are certainly things you can do to help prevent depression, honestly a lot of the prevention needs to come externally. For example, parenting styles impact a child's risk of depression. Teaching people how to regulate their feelings and recognize negative feedback loops helps people gain resiliency, but it's often something that can't be done alone and requires outside assistance. If you do get depressed, that doesn't mean you did anything wrong. Just because you are a lifelong vegan and you go on a ten mile run every morning does not mean you can't or won't develop crippling depression. I have lots of thoughts on this post, but I'll leave it at that.
Thanks for the Info. Do you have any general advice on how to stop ruminating? At least two relatives and I suffer from that. Extreme introversion combined with even mild depression can possibly alienate one from society. Your advice/tip would be much appreciated.
Yes, a lot of generalisations in this post - written for a different audience for you and I perhaps?
Thank you for your comment. I agree with that you said. This is a very long and deep topic. One can have different opinions and thoughts about it. My post is just a generalization to cheer up those who are feeling a bit down or think they aren't in their best thought. Just a little something to encourage them that they are not alone and we all can feel not at our best sometimes, nothing complicated nor too deep as everyone deal with this in complete various path. Cheers :)
Everyone goes through rough times in their lives no matter how well off you think they are. The key is to keep on moving and surround yourself with happy people. Great post!
Happiness is contagious!
I find that In the winter time when theres fewer hours in the day and I don't get as much sunlight I tend to get depressed. I'm not exactly the type of person that needs to go tanning but in the winter time when I'm at the gym I usually hop in there for a while and I feel better on the days that I do that. Staying Positive and Healthy is the key even though that might seem hard at the time.
I like this approach I find it very true, at least for most depressed people at least. In some cases this is s real illness which has genetic roots and had to be treated as a sickness. I'll post soon about it, being very close to the subject.
H = S - F
Happiness equals smiles minus frowns.
@suerisu as someone who battled with deppression for a long time i must say really, but really nice post, keep doing what youre doing, positive thinking there!
But yeah im also posting in health and took a really long time to dedicate to the posts I write and it would mean much to me if you maybe took your time to just look at them and give me some feedback, thanks and keep on steeming!! :)
Thank you so much !!! :)
Hello, I am a new member, Mario Trivelli Jolly, from Chile. I read a very good and productive book of Isha Judd, "Why to walk if you can fly", Isha (Jennifer Lee) is from Australia. She proposed a new en very effective method to expand the conscience.
Thank you for your suggestions !! Much appreciated !! I will take a look :)
@suerisue sometimes it's really hard to control what life throws at you, especially when you expected a whole thing entirely,but like you said, we can make the decision not to be rooted in depression. Good job!
resteemed! A merry heart does good like a medicine! Yes @suerisue
That is really an important health issue. Most of the time we use to ignore it but at the end, it brings other illness in us.
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Resteemed! My cousin ended his life because of depression. A really sad news for us.
Nice one!! i'm new at steemit but like your post!! awesome! keep that love spirit up! your amazing!
best way to deal with any emotional probleem is being yourself and love yourself like no one else will do! enjoy the beauty in life & the world! cheers and keep it up!!
Echoing the comments by @gguerra, I also want to share something with you about the connection with food.
Everyone has slightly different constitutional make-ups, and so different foods will be better for different people. So each person will have differing capacity to digest and metabolise in different ways.
The general statement "eat healthy foods" is actually quite meaningless - unless of course you point out that what is healthy for one person may not be healthy for another.
There is a connection between emotional health and gut health, and that is being researched more and more - how much of a connection is still somewhat of a mystery.
Similarly with exercise - different types of exercise will be better than other types, and often at different points in someone's life.
When I work with my clients, I always take a tailored approach. And I am always needing to help them un-learn the kinds of generalisations they read on the internet.
While this article is great content-writing, it's basic messaging can sometimes create more hurdles for those attempting to deal with these kinds of issues.
Don't let my comments put you off however. Keep going. Keep researching what is actually happening in the world of Depression treatment & prevention, and keep writing about it!!!! 😊🙏🏽☯️
Thank you for sharing an informative timely issue, I believe that this will help people realizing that life is worth living that there's a lot of reasons to live.
Keep posting more informative issues/topics@suerisue
@micch
Indeed life is so beautiful and I do want to add here we must be helpful to each other to grow and become successful this will also help to eliminate the stress..
I LOVE THE WAY YOU WRİTE :)
This was a nice read and complete to, i liked it thanks.