At times, those demands from life can aggravate very strong emotions inside us that include hopelessness, rage, fear and worry.  Incidentally, all of these are depression symptoms and therefore most people have to deal with depression every day.  Dealing with daily depression is wearing on a body.  It affects not only our mental state, which can hinder our effectiveness on the job and at home, but can eventually also affect our physical health.

One method of dealing and coping with depression is often overlooked.  This method often helps to cope with the symptoms of depression.  A very old method has been around since Biblical times.  There is perhaps nothing that is as effective at restoring emotional balance in taking care of depression.

This powerful tool can be observed in nature where we see animals that have been angered or frightened will refuse to eat until some time has passed.  In addition, many people groups will stop eating in these situations and find that they truly lack any desire for food.  However, many people, because of conditioning eat more than we need when bad things happen.  We want our comfort foods, which are heavy in starches and fats, and as a result our already diminished digestion is complicated or altogether stops.

This being said, you may want to consider that if you are working through depression symptoms or causes, at least eating lighter meals but preferably not eating at all.

Whenever we have been involved in a heated argument, or are experiencing hurry, excitement, anxiety, fear or worry, our body slows or even stops producing digestive enzymes which hinders both digestion and the entire nutrition process.

In the Bible, when people suffered from grief or were in need of atonement with their Maker, they were instructed to fast.  Fasting is a tool that may be used in dealing with depression.  When fasting is combined with prayer driven by faith, powers are released in us that allow us to solve problems.  We can closer to the intended potential as being made in the image of God.  The result is that we can think and see clearly, a necessary step for effective and powerful control over depression.

When you fast to deal with depression there are also great benefits to your overall health.  During the fast, the organs of the digestive system are allowed to rest.  The mind becomes much clearer and all moroseness is allowed to disappear.  You will re-discover the peace and tranquility.  Those overwhelming difficulties of life are less overwhelming.

Therefore, if problems seem to be weighing on you and your daily battle is with depression, perhaps the most important thing that you can do is to begin to fast.  It cannot hurt and may help greatly.

Click here to learn more about overcoming depression

When undergoing treatment to overcome depression, it can also help with your recovery to change your lifestyle for the better. Start exercising, eating a good diet and perhaps taking some vitamins. If you also make these changes there is no reason why your treatment will not be successful.

Studies have shown that deficiency of certain vitamins can have an effect over a persons mood. Certainly if you think that you may have a vitamin deficiency that may be effecting your moods then start taking a vitamin supplement. You should also always try to increase your intake of that vitamin through your diet.

Some vitamins that could help with depression are:

Vitamin B-complex – this vitamin can help to keep us mentally and emotionally balanced. Vitamin B-complex cannot be stored in our bodies so we must have an intake of this vitamin on a daily basis. Substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and refined sugars can also destroy the B vitamins so try to reduce any intake of these substances.

Vitamin B1 or Thiamine – our brain needs this to convert glucose or blood sugar into fuel for the brain to function at its best. Without enough of this vitamin we can become depressed, irritable, anxious, tired and be prone to negative thinking. Insufficient amounts of this vitamin can also result in memory problems, insomnia, lack of appetite, and constipation.

Vitamin B3 or Niacin – some deficiencies in this vitamin may produce anxiety, agitation, mental and physical slowness.

Vitamin B5 or Pyridoxine helps to process amino acids, which is the building blocks of proteins and other hormones. It is essential in the manufacture of serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine. Deficiencies can result in impaired immunity, skin wounds, and mental confusion.

Vitamin B12 is essential for the formation of red blood cells. Insufficient amounts of vitamin B12 will lead to an oxygen-transport problem, known as pernicious anemia. This condition can possibly cause mood swings, paranoia, dementia, hallucination, irritability, confusion, or mania and eventually followed by loss of appetite, weakness, dizziness, shortage of breath, palpitation, and more.

Folic acid is needed for DNA synthesis and for the production of Sadenosyl Methionine. Usually this is taken together with vitamin B12.

Vitamin C is needed, especially if you are pregnant or lactating, or under a lot of stress.

Along with vitamins it is also important to make sure you are not deficient in minerals. Insufficient intake of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese and zinc can lead to depression, so make sure to also take supplements for these minerals.  It is certainly worth boosting your system with the right minerals and vitamins to help with depression.

If depression is lingering it is very easy for it to become full blown, especially when we are confronted with sad and depressive stories every day. Even if not in our own lives, we still constantly hear sad stories in newspapers and on television. We hear stories of poverty, war, crime, destruction and despair and hearing this things daily will only aggravate depression.

If you suffer from depression it is a good idea to try to avoid reading the newspapers or watching news on television. Feeling empathy towards the people involved in these tragic situations will only add to your depression.

Try and assert some positives in your life. I know its hard when you are depressed to see the positive side of things, you tend to be always focused on the negatives. It does help, however, to make a huge effort to see the positives. Write it down at the end of the day, keep a notebook where you right down all the positive things that happened throughout that day and try not to think of the negative moments. When you are with your friends, try and see the positive things about them and tell them.

A healthy body is a healthy mind. Start doing some exercise and get or keep your body in shape. How fit and healthy you are can have a huge impact on your mind, your attitude and the way you think. Start of slowly and gradually increase the amount of exercise and keep going until soon it will become a routine. Change your diet and make sure you have the correct amount of fruit and vegetables each day. You will be amazed how much better you will feel within your mind as well as your body.

Be organised. A cluttered, unorganised house or workplace can also results in a cluttered mind. Being unorganised can make tasks twice as hard. At the beginning of each day, set some goals for the day and write a list of what you need to achieve. Don’t be realistic and try to achieve too much. If your goals are unrealistic there’s a good chance you wont meet them all, which will seem a failure and make you more depressed. Keep your goals simple and realistic, then once you achieve them you will have a feeling of success and happiness.

Go out and socialise with your friends. Being depressed makes you less sociable and often you will just feel like being alone, staying home and just can’t be bothered going out. Although you feel like this, you will often find that if you do go out, it will help to forget some of your worries and make you feel better. Part of depression is the constant thoughts going through your mind, negative thoughts, so the more occupied you are the less thoughts that are likely to invade your mind.

Listen to your favourite music. Listening to your favourite music can always make you feel better and give you a little more energy. Dance around a bit and try and have some fun. Don’t let depression keep you down, you need to fight it to stay on top and win.

If you have an argument or a fight with a good friend or loved one, try and work it out, don’t hold a grudge. Holding grudges does nothing to help a situation it only makes you feel worse. If you’re friend or loved one is really an important person in your life, then you should be able to talk and work it out. If they aren’t important enough to work out the problem, then let them go and try to forget about it, but DON’T let an argument keep you feeling down.

Make some time for yourself. This doesn’t mean to isolate yourself, but do make a bit of time each week just for you. Do something that you like doing, whether its going for a walk, having a bath, whatever you enjoy doing, find the time to do it.

It is always good to still seek medical help for your depression and perhaps see a counsellor. As much as these tips can help depression, some of these things can be hard to accomplish for someone who is depressed. It can be hard to get out of your ‘rut’ and begin doing these things. Talking about these problems with a counsellor or even a friend or family member, can motivate you to change the way you deal with these things and help you to overcome your depression.

Don’t be ashamed of having depression, it is a disease that a large number of people suffer from. Just like any other illness it needs treated and needs full support from your family members. Always try to be positive and tell yourself that you can beat this. It is very important to help beat depression to have the positive thought that ‘you CAN do it’.

7 Steps To A Depression Free Life is a highly recommended source for information on helping to overcome depression.  I highly recommend this ebook for anyone suffering depression.

Its more than just telling yourself to snap out of it and it certainly wont happen overnight, it needs work. There will still be plenty of bad days, but we need to work at having less bad days and more good ones.

Positive Thinking

I truly believe negative thinking plays such a massive part in being depressed.

I know from my personal experience anyway, its those negative thoughts that run constantly through my head that make me depressed. Gradually it gets worse and worse until eventually your whole day is just full of negative thinking, from the moment you wake to the moment you go to sleep at night. And your whole day is just one big day of depression. Everything that happens in your day gets you down, you look at the negatives of everything. Its almost impossible to see the positives.</span>

You need to make it your goal to think positively. Its not going to come easy, its going to be bloody hard, but you need to really make a huge effort to try and see some of the positive things throughout your day. Everything that happens, don’t automatically think the worst but stop – stop what your doing and search for the positive, there has to be a positive in there somewhere. At the end of each day sit down and write a diary, it doesn’t need to be long, but just right all the positive things that happened that day. Don’t write any of the negatives, only the positive.

Each morning when you are planning your day, plan something you like to do. Something that you enjoy. Make sure you do at least one activity during the day that you will enjoy. What do you love to do? Or perhaps used to love to do but never get the time anymore. Well do it, stop saying you don’t have the time or energy, make the time, make the energy to do at least one thing a day.

Gradually increase it to more than one, and keep up with writing down all the positives at the end of the day. Soon there will be more positives and less negatives, it will get easier to start seeing the positives and not EVERY negative.

Exercise

Try some exercise. Exercise is always great for depression, allthough most depression sufferers don’t feel like they have the energy to exercise, but make it, call the energy and it will come. It wont just come on its own. The more you do it the easier it will get and the more energy you will have.

Diet

Lastly, eat right. Have a good diet high in fruits and vegetable. You’ll be surprised at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have when you eat right.

For more help on beating depression try the ‘7 Steps To A Depression Free Life’ and start your journey to your depression free life.

In the morning

• drink water
• gentle exercise – yoga or stretching
• healthy breakfast
• plan your day

Creating the right environment

• try to be in natural light every day
• have soft lighting, harsh light can cause headaches
• if sitting at a desk keep a good posture
• take regular breaks to stretch and walk

Work

• don’t work overtime constantly, don’t overdo it
• don’t pressure yourself, be realistic when you plan your day – don’t overdo it
• create a pleasant workforce, constant criticism and rudeness will cause stress in the workplace. Kind words and praise will create a pleasant workplace.

Alone Time

• make time for yourself doing something you enjoy
• reading, walking, yoga or a long bath

Time for family

• make time to spend with your family
• quality family times are the most rewarding times, take time out regularly to give your undecided attention to your family. If you don’t have time – replan your diary and make time, you will feel so much better for it in the long run
• nothing is more important than family

Time management

• be realistic when you plan your day, don’t try and fit more into your day than you can realistically achieve
• arrange your priorities
• time management is not just for the office but also for home. Organise your time for housework and cooking. Once you are organised well, you will get more done in less time
• don’t skip your lunch break and when possible have lunch outside

Eating

• always try to have your meals with your family
• don’t eat on the run, sit down and enjoy your meal
• eat healthy nutritious meals
• chew slowly, don’t rush meals

Exercise

• as mentioned earlier, exercise is very important in helping to reduce stress
• try to exercise three times a week
• stretch daily to keep your body flexible

Breathing

• our bodies need plenty of oxygen, a lot of people under stress tend to breath shallow breaths not allowing enought oxygen to enter their body
• practise deep breathing daily

Treat yourself

• treat yourself every now and then whether it be a massage or a day at the salon
• think highly of yourself, treat yourself becasue you deserve it

Sleep

• make sure you get enough sleep
• at least eight hours of sleep a night are extremely beneficial to help with your daily performance
• relax before bedtime and wind down

Positive thinking

• try to have positive thoughts throughout the day
• smile – laugh and the world laughs with you!
• if there is a situation where you are worried or feel down try and talk to someone about it – a problem shared is a problem halved – it can make you feel a lot better when you talk to someone
• love and appreciate your family and friends. When you show love and kindness to others they show it back in abundance.
• negative thinking can be contagious, if you are down others around you can become down also. Fortunately it is the same in reverse, being happy and positive can rub off on those around you.
• every good thought you think is contributing its share to the ultimate result of your life

 You’ll really be amazed at how much less stress you will have in your life and I’m sure you will feel less depressed.