If
you’re struggling with depression there’s a slim chance that cutting
out only three things will make an appreciable difference in your
long-term mental health.
Sure, it might
help, but you’ll need to take a more holistic approach to fix your brain
if you want to solve this problem over the long haul.
When
I was depressed, I had to change almost everything about my life from
the people I spent time with to the foods I ate to the shows I watched
to the very way I structured and lived my days.
In this response, I’ll share the FIVE things that I eliminated from my life that made the BIGGEST impact on my mental health.
In and of itself, this might not be enough to eliminate your depression. But I promise it will improve it.
1. Social Media
Social media is literally the worst activity in which you can partake if you’re depressed.
It’s
been proven through thousands of peer-reviewed studies that there is an
inextricable link between social media usage and anxiety/depression.
The more time you spend surfing the ‘gram, ‘book, or ‘tube, the more depressed you become.
Not all social media is bad. In fact, I think that social media can be a healthy and edifying part of life.
But
when you’re depressed, it’s simply too tempting to slide into the
comparison trap and ‘illneverbelikethatitis’ so it’s best to cut out
social media entirely.
It’s far too easy to
look at the filter-perfect lives portrayed on social media and slump
into a depression because you’re not ‘that perfect’. But guess what?
90% of social media is bullshit.
I’ve
had friends post selfies exclaiming how excited they were about their
lives and the projects they were working on… Only a few days before they
committed suicide.
You never know what’s
going on in someone’s head. You can’t see the pain behind their eyes.
You don’t know what’s REALLY happening in someones’ life when you only
see the highlights.
Take a break from social media for a few months, I promise it will help reset your brain and get you out of the comparison trap.
2. Sugar, Processed Foods, and Other Unhealthy Crap
Bad food makes depression worse.
It decreases your body’s ability to produce feel-good hormones and pleasure chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and epinephrine.
These foods hijack your brain, increase inflammation throughout your body, and basically make you feel and look like shit.
Which isn’t exactly conducive to a happy and healthy life.
If you want to beat depression, start by changing up your diet.
Eat
only foods that grew in the ground or had a face (aka real food) and
eliminate ALL sodas and sugary crap from your diet immediately.
The
healthier your diet, the healthier your brain and body will become,
allowing you to attack depression from a position of strength.
3. Toxic People
Plain and simple, if you spend time with people who worsen your depression, you need to get the hell away from them and FAST.
Misery
loves company and nothing worsens depression than a bunch of depressed
people getting together and wallowing in how bad they feel.
I know that you probably have “close” friends who’ve been with you for decades who likely share your depression.
That’s
fine, I’m not asking you to eliminate them from your life entirely,
simply to limit your exposure to them until you’re mentally stable and
healthy enough that you are no longer dragged down by their depressive
tendencies.
Spend time with healthy, happy, fun, and positive people who uplift you and encourage you to be better.
Get around people that make you laugh and lift your spirits.
The more time you spend around happy people, the happier you’ll become.
4. Sitting Still
If you want to beat depression once and for all, then you must become obsessed with MOVING.
Although the brunt of my depression is in the past, recent circumstances have caused it to rear its ugly head.
But today, I’m prepared.
When I feel the onset of a depressive episode, I IMMEDIATELY walk outside and work up the biggest nastiest sweat possible.
Whether
it’s a 10 mile bike ride, lifting weights for 90 minutes, or going for a
long swim, I do SOMETHING that breaks me out of my depressed state and
helps me “sweat out” the negativity.
If you’re sitting still all day long, you’re going to get depressed.
Period.
I
don’t care if you have no history of depression, stagnation breeds
depression like still water breeds bacteria. (which is funny considering
we’re like 70% water).
So get up and MOVE.
Lift, run, bike, swim, dance, jump. Do SOMETHING that boosts your mood
and stops you from feeling so damn depressed.
5. Emotional Banality
Ok,
so maybe I just wanted to show off a new vocabulary word, but what I
mean here is that you need to STOP living life in the same old boring
way that got you depressed in the first place.
If you can, move to a new city, start a new job, begin living a life that is exciting.
If you’re limited in your options right now, then find a way to inject excitement and adventure into each day.
Try
something new, sign up for improv classes or dance lessons, go for a
hike, get lost in the countryside, do SOMETHING that excites and scares
you daily.
It’ll kick you out of depression and into life.
I promise.
Hope this helps.