How Can You Treat Depression without Any Medication?

Overview of Depression
Depression is a common problem. The statistics show that 18% of the US populations are diagnosed with anxiety disorder and 6.7% of the US populations are diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Depression can be defined as a serious mood disorder. Some of the causes of depression are genetic factors, life events such as divorce, poverty, childhood trauma, and more. The people suffering from depression experience symptoms like fatigue, feeling of worthlessness, loss of sexual desire, insomnia, suicidal thoughts, and others.

There are many methods for treating your depression, but the real question is whether your depression can be treated without medication or not. The answer to this question is, “Yes.” You can treat your depression without medications. How? We will be discussing about it in the next part of the article.

Ways to treat your depression without any medication
First of all, it is very important to manage your stress as it can lead to depression. You can check out the top 5 ways to manage stress. Now let’s get back to the main topic of discussion. The statistics show that the use of antidepressants among American adults has increased by nearly 400% between 1984-1994 and 2005-2008. The statistics may make you think like medication is the only way to treat your depression, but it is not the case.

There are plenty of depression treatment methods, which do not include medications. Let’s take a look at those methods of treatment.

1. Find out the root cause behind depression
There is a chance that you might be feeling depressed because of certain circumstances. There are many reasons behind depression like financial crisis, dissatisfaction with your job, divorce, and more. You should find out the root cause behind your depression, and you should try to avoid that situation or try to fix that situation.

2. Physical workouts
What! You are suggesting me physical workouts to treat my depression? Yes, that’s right. Physical workouts can help the people who are suffering from depression. Physical workouts release endorphins, which behaves like natural anti-depressants. Moreover, physical workouts have plenty of other health benefits as well.

3. Don’t suppress your emotions
It is not good to suppress your sad feelings. You should share your feelings with a therapist or psychiatrist. Sometimes you just need to share your feelings with a trusted person to release all your sadness.

4. Hormone balance
The mood swings can be caused due to thyroid, adrenal, or sex hormone imbalance. You should consult your doctor, and ask them to conduct a variety of tests to check whether your hormones are balanced or not.

5. Enough sleep
It is very important to get enough sleep because less sleep can make your depression worse. You should try your best to get enough sleep. You should change your lifestyle by developing time table to sleep, take out distractions from your room like TV and computer, as it may result in improving your sleep.

6. Mood-enhancing supplements
There are plenty of supplements available in the market, but it is always better to consult your doctor before having them because many supplements may have side effects. 50-300 mg of 5-HTP can help you in improving your condition of anxiety; 300 mg of St. John’s wort can decrease the impact of birth control pills; 200 mg of SAMe can work as an anti-depressant; green tea can reduce your stress; and fish oil can increase the level of serotonin (a chemical that plays a role in happiness).

7. Stay away from coffee
There are people who make claims that coffee can make your mood better, but it is not true. In fact, the consumption of caffeine can lead to the decrement of serotonin levels, which contributes to happiness.

8. Expose yourself to the sun
It is not good to stay inside your home all day. You should get out, enjoy the surroundings, and expose yourself to the sun. The sunlight provides you vitamin-D, which can help in improving your condition. The study shows that the exposure to sunlight may increase the level of serotonin, which can help the depressed patients.
These are the ways to treat your depression without medication.

Conclusion
You should try your best to avoid medications. There are many side effects of antidepressants. The study shows that antidepressants can lead the patients to many other physical and sexual problems. The tips mentioned in this article are backed up by various studies, which prove that the tips that are listed in this article can really help you out with your problem.

What should be your next step? It is simple. You should try to implement all the tips mentioned in this article in your life. After implementing these simple tips, you will definitely experience improvement in your condition.

References

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/kc/depression-causes-symptoms-treatments-8933