vendredi 24 mai 2013

Treating Depression Without Anti-Depressants

By Chuck Anderson


Depression is a major issue for a lot of people, and could make life difficult for not only the person affected, but the people around them as well. I'm a big advocate of the idea that by taking good care of your body, you can eliminate a great deal of health problems, which includes depression. However, the current trend seems to be that antidepressants are increasingly being prescribed with no consideration as to whether or not they are the best thing for the person. Are you feeling down? Here take this so you don't have to feel bad. Never mind finding an explanation for your feelings of sadness. Antidepressant medications will often be used as a quick fix for unpleasant feelings, and are given out like candy. But these medications can come with some serious side effects, so before you get that prescription for Zoloft filled, which you were given after seeing a physician for 5 minutes, take a look at yourself, and see if you can tackle the issue without relying on a magic pill. There are a few natural methods you might want to try first that don't include the complication of increasing your thoughts of suicide.

The first thing you want to understand about your depression is whether it is situational or not. Are there certain details occurring in your life so that it is reasonable that you're feeling depressed? Have you been managing a lot of stressful events at this time? Divorce, health problems, financial worries, death of a loved one, or pretty much any stressful change in your life can bring about depression. There are a few researchers who are convinced that taking antidepressants prevents your mind from working through the difficulties that arise in life. The highs and lows of your emotional state are a part of life, so don't cheat yourself by masking them with a pill.

Have you heard of the secret treatment for depression that has been shown to be as effective as, if not superior to drugs like Zoloft? It's as simple as plain old aerobic exercise. A number of studies show the great results physical activity can have on a person who is experiencing depressive disorder. A basic rule is to perform roughly 2.5 hours of medium intensity aerobic exercise each week. Spread out over five weeks, that's only thirty minutes per day. You should do an exercise that increases your heartbeat, so taking an easy walk probably isn't going to cut it. Jog, swim, ride a bike, just find some sort of exercise you get pleasure from doing. The more you like it, the easier it's going to be to keep with a schedule.

Vitamin D quantities inside your body can have a huge influence on your emotional well-being. There's an illness called Seasonal Affective Disorder(SAD) which is really just a term for depression that only affects people at a specific time of the year, i.e. autumn and winter. Interestingly enough, the rise in SAD highly correlates to the seasons of the year when the majority of people aren't able to get enough sunlight, and therefore their vitamin D concentrations decrease. One study performed in 1999 concluded that improvement in serum vitamin D amounts was significantly related to improvement in depression scale scores. So if you're similar to 85% of Americans and are inadequate in Vitamin D, start taking a daily supplement. I recommend starting with 4,000 IU for females, and 5,000 IU for males. However it is recommended to get your serum levels checked out, and then alter your dose appropriately.

In addition to exercise and vitamin D, another thing that may impact depression is diet. A large number of dietary factors exist which may play a role in depression, but some of the principal ones are Omega 3 fatty acids, folic acid and Vitamin B12, and consuming inadequate fat in the diet. If you have been following a low-fat diet, you may be suffering from some unpleasant effects when it comes to your emotional well-being. When I hear somebody tell me they are following a low-fat diet, what this commonly suggests is that they are replacing the calories from fat with calories from carbohydrates. Fat is essential in regulating your hormones, and diets low in fat may cause a shift in serotonin's balance in the brain.

Most people most likely don't get sufficient Omega-3's in the foods they eat. Unless you're eating plenty of fish, or grass-fed beef, you could probably use an Omega-3 supplement. The ones you should be using are EPA and DHA, which are mainly derived from fish oils. Plant based supplements do exist which contain ALA, however most health advantages have been attributed to EPA and DHA. It is true that your body can change ALA into the other two, however for a lot of people, it's not very effective.

There is some data which suggests that boosting your consumption of vitamin B9 (folate) and B12 might help depression as well. Depending on what varieties of food you eat, you might not be ingesting an adequate amount of these vitamins. B12 can be tough to get, especially if you don't eat animal products. Supplementing with one of these can be a simple way to guarantee your body gets the quantity it demands. One recent study in 2005 advised using 800 micrograms of B9, and 1mg of B12 daily to help treat depression.

For a number of people, depression can be a very serious issue. But I recommend attempting some natural approaches to curing your depression before trying anything else. Anti-depressants may be helpful in certain cases, but when you consider each of the feasible side-effects they are able to bring about, maybe you should think about them being an possibility only if all else has proven unsuccessful, instead of the starting point for treating your depression.




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