Are You Depressed? Is sadness or unhappiness a symptom of depression? If you are feeling sad, unhappy, or having a depressed mood. This can be the first symptom of depression but it’s not necessary in all cases. Depression is a treatable disorder. If you identify your symptoms early, you can beat depression naturally without any medication. To identify the symptoms of depression, you need to understand the difference between stress, anxiety, and depression.
Depression symptoms can vary from person to person and can be mild to severe in nature. Your brain starts questioning these symptoms and links them to depression. Repeated negative thoughts and sadness bring bouts of anxiety which is not always depression.
What is Depression?
Depression is a major depressive illness that negatively affects your thought process and behavior too. It’s a common and serious illness that affects all age groups of populations. It also affects you negatively, how you think, feel and act. Depression causes mood changes, feeling of sadness, unhappiness, or loss of interest in the activities which used to love to do. It’s also linked with a variety of physical and emotional problems including hurting yourself or others, and other emotional acts like loneliness.
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Common Symptoms of Depression
Depression affects a large group of the population. It can occur at any age and at any time. But, on average it appears during early young age in 20s. Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men. The incident rate increases with fear of losing dear ones, peer pressure, and financial insecurities.
Following are the common symptoms of depression:
- Changes in moods or mood swings
- Loss of energy and losing interest in doing things
- Feeling sad and unhappy
- Weight loss or weight gain
- Loss of pleasure in doing activities of interest
- Sleep issues/Insomnia OR trouble sleeping
- Sleeping too much
- Negative thoughts
- Difficulty thinking and concentrating
- Increase in purposeless activities
- Loneliness, frequently headaches
- Feeling worthless or guilty
- Thoughts of suicide or death
Is Depression Different from Sadness or Grief?
Depression and sadness or grief are totally different. Sadness is a normal feeling but can be the first symptom of depression. Generally, people are sad after the death of a loved one, loss of job, financial insecurities, or ending of a relationship. In grief or during sadness, painful feelings come in waves and go back in a few days. But, depression lasts for weeks and leads to major depression.
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Natural Treatment for Depression
There are many ways to treat depression which may include medical treatment, counseling, and natural therapies. All the therapies are effective and very helpful in the treatment of depression. Being depressed can make you feel sad and helpless. But, you can beat depression naturally and may prefer natural therapies to boost your mood and improve the symptoms.
Regular Exercises and Workouts
Daily workouts and regular exercises are part of the treatment of your depression. Regular workouts or moderate aerobic exercises of a minimum of 30 minutes in a day are very effective to treat depression. Studies suggest that regular exercise can relieve the symptoms of depression in a very short period of time. The effect of regular exercise is the same as mild anti-depressant medication.
The chances of the relapse of depression are very less in people who do regular workouts and exercise. Exercise pumps you up and increases the blood flow to the brain and eliminates the toxins from the blood and your body. Moreover, regular exercises promote the secretion of good neurotransmitters which improve mood and happiness.
Mind-Body Therapies
Relaxing exercises and meditation can be effective in the treatment of depression. You need to focus on yourself, your mind, and your body. Medication gives you positive energy and it also motivates your brain to release the positive neurotransmitters. Mind-body therapies are more effective along with other natural treatments or medications.
Guided imagery is a form of meditation, which helps in positive thinking and happiness. Challenge negative thoughts, spend quality time with family and friends.
Yoga is a brilliant type of mind-body exercise. It improves balance, flexibility, strength, and focus. Yoga helps in aligning the spine, improving nervous system activity, improving mental clarity, and reducing stress.
Music Therapy
Listening to music helps in improving the mood, it promotes relaxation and positivity. Singing and listening to music could help decrease stress, anxiety, and depression.
Herbal remedies for the Treatment of Depression
Many herbal medicines are full of anti-depression properties. Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine have a treasure of anti-depressant herbal medicines. These medicines are being used for ages and are very helpful to treat depression.
St John’s Wort Plant
Its botanical name is Hypericum perforatum and contains many anti-depressants chemicals that regulate mood. St John’s Wort plant has several active constituents including hypericin, hyperforin, cyclopseudohypercin, and flavonoids. All these chemicals have anti-depressant activities, and you can beat depression naturally with the help of St John’s Wort Plant.
It can be used in the form of dry powder, Tablets, or Capsules, 3 times a day with a meal.
Kava Plant
Its botanical name is Piper Methysticum and has many active constituents named kavapyrones, kavalactones, cinnamic acid, and flavonoids. Kavapyrones have anxiolytic and antidepressant properties which are very effective to treat anxiety and depression.
Chamomile Plant
The botanical name of the Chamomile plant is Chamaemelum Nobile. It contains apigenin and quercetin chemicals as active constituents which may boost chemicals in the brain like serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline that can affect your mood.
Lavender Oil
Levander oil is an essential oil that is typically used for relaxation and for the treatment of anxiety and depression. It has linalool, linalyl acetate, and camphor as active constituents. Lavender oil has significant antidepressant effects and is used for the treatment of depression widely in Ayurveda.
Butterfly Pea
Its Botanical name is Clitoria Ternatea has antidepressant properties, has been used for ages in Ayurveda as a memory enhancer, antistress, antidepressant, and anxiolytic.
Note: Please do not take these medicines without consulting with your doctor.
