This lesson follows on from lesson 3(a). It delineates the eight practical steps the novice can take to achieve drug-free peace and slay the demons of depression
EXERCISE
Study after study has clearly shown that exercise promotes mental health and reduces symptoms of depression. It is probably the best immediate handling you can undertake.
Depending on your age, circumstances and fitness levels this can be as simple a taking a walk or gentle jog every day. Get yourself some space and some fresh air in your lungs. Notice the scenery.
Physical activity and exercise are powerful anti-depressants and numerous studies have shown that aerobic exercise, for instance, can improve your mood and is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety.
Physical exercise changes the level of serotonin in your brain and increases your levels of endorphins – the "feel good" hormones. Evidently you can actually change your brain for the better with exercise. That beats wrecking it with drugs.
A word of warning though: exercised can be addictive (so I am told).
MEDICAL
Get yourself a check-up and make sure all your bits are working. Handle anything that isn’t – preferably with diet and nutrition and NO drugs if this is feasible. Many physical illnesses (Lyme disease for example) have depression among their symptoms.
NUTRITION
Go see a nutritionist and get your whole diet checked out, locate any food allergies. You’ll be surprised how many cases of the screaming abdabs actually trace back to the fact that the person is ingesting poisons or has a serious dietary deficiency (or more than one). For example. B vitamins play a role in the production of certain neurotransmitters that are important in regulating mood and other brain functions and Folic acid deficiency has been noted among people with depression. Vitamin B6, deficiency can result in depression and people with depression can respond better to treatment if they have higher levels of vitamin B12.
The aforementioned poisons include but are not limited to: refined sugar, fructose, refined flour, processed foods, coffee, alcohol, street drugs, legal drugs, food preservatives, pesticides and other toxins.
It is becoming increasingly evident that omega-3 fats are a VERY important nutrient indeed for handling depression. I strongly recommend high-quality omega-3 supplements such as fish oil.
LIGHT THERAPY
I have not tried this but I hear very good things about it and its logic makes sense – although living in Dear Old Blighty (England) and looking out of my study window at a grey and dismal November afternoon, I am tempted to have a crack at it.
A lack of sunlight is responsible for the secretion of the hormone melatonin, which can trigger a dispirited mood and a lethargic condition. Light therapy apparently helps to regulate the body’s internal clock in the same way that sunlight does. Anyone living in a climate with bleak winters will be aware of how much the advent of spring and increased sunlight elevate mood.
Exposure to sunlight stimulates the production of Vitamin D and having healthy vitamin D levels is also a powerful tool with which to obviate depression. One study found that people with low levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to depression than those who had normal levels.
CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Sometimes your environment, loaded with subtle re-stimulators of buried memories and unwanted associations, can get you down. Changing it can mean taking a holiday, changing your job, moving to another town or emigrating to Australia and starting a new life.
STOP READING THE NEWSPAPERS
I kid you not. You’ll be surprised how much better you will feel after not reading the newspapers or watching the news for a while (or surfing the internet). The media bombard us morning, noon and night with bad news upon bad news, problem upon problem, usually dressed up to be as gruesome as possible. It’s hardly surprising then that people can get depressed.
The media might be doing its bit to bolster pharmaceutical sales but we CAN just skip it.
EDUCATION
Learn a new skill or subject. Become more proficient in or knowledgeable about something. Most people can think of at least one subject they always meant to take up but never did.
A practical skill involving physical doing is probably best but anything that boosts your competence and self esteem will do the trick. But if you are studying something, here is a priceless tip that all by itself turned my life around when it was given to me and now I am passing it on to you:
Never go past a word you do not fully understand. Thoroughly clear it up in a good dictionary until you really get it. You can actually raise your own IQ by doing so.
DIANETICS (Highly Recommended)
I will have a lot to tell you about the science of Dianetics in the near future. If you want to understand your own mind and what makes you and other people tick, if you want to know the source of the neuroses, fears and compulsions that beset us, the get a book on Dianetics and read it.
Just reading up on it and finally understanding the workings of my own mind (and the other guy’s) is the best remedy for depression I personally ever came across but Dianetics goes much further than that. It gives the average person like you and me the TOOLS with which to help ourselves and one another.
Dianetics is currently taking the world by storm, with Dianetics groups springing up all over the place. There is a very good reason for that.
Get a Dianetics book. Read it. Find out for yourself.
Depending on your age, circumstances and fitness levels this can be as simple a taking a walk or gentle jog every day. Get yourself some space and some fresh air in your lungs. Notice the scenery.
Physical activity and exercise are powerful anti-depressants and numerous studies have shown that aerobic exercise, for instance, can improve your mood and is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety.
Physical exercise changes the level of serotonin in your brain and increases your levels of endorphins – the "feel good" hormones. Evidently you can actually change your brain for the better with exercise. That beats wrecking it with drugs.
A word of warning though: exercised can be addictive (so I am told).
MEDICAL
Get yourself a check-up and make sure all your bits are working. Handle anything that isn’t – preferably with diet and nutrition and NO drugs if this is feasible. Many physical illnesses (Lyme disease for example) have depression among their symptoms.
NUTRITION
Go see a nutritionist and get your whole diet checked out, locate any food allergies. You’ll be surprised how many cases of the screaming abdabs actually trace back to the fact that the person is ingesting poisons or has a serious dietary deficiency (or more than one). For example. B vitamins play a role in the production of certain neurotransmitters that are important in regulating mood and other brain functions and Folic acid deficiency has been noted among people with depression. Vitamin B6, deficiency can result in depression and people with depression can respond better to treatment if they have higher levels of vitamin B12.
The aforementioned poisons include but are not limited to: refined sugar, fructose, refined flour, processed foods, coffee, alcohol, street drugs, legal drugs, food preservatives, pesticides and other toxins.
It is becoming increasingly evident that omega-3 fats are a VERY important nutrient indeed for handling depression. I strongly recommend high-quality omega-3 supplements such as fish oil.
LIGHT THERAPY
I have not tried this but I hear very good things about it and its logic makes sense – although living in Dear Old Blighty (England) and looking out of my study window at a grey and dismal November afternoon, I am tempted to have a crack at it.
A lack of sunlight is responsible for the secretion of the hormone melatonin, which can trigger a dispirited mood and a lethargic condition. Light therapy apparently helps to regulate the body’s internal clock in the same way that sunlight does. Anyone living in a climate with bleak winters will be aware of how much the advent of spring and increased sunlight elevate mood.
Exposure to sunlight stimulates the production of Vitamin D and having healthy vitamin D levels is also a powerful tool with which to obviate depression. One study found that people with low levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to depression than those who had normal levels.
CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Sometimes your environment, loaded with subtle re-stimulators of buried memories and unwanted associations, can get you down. Changing it can mean taking a holiday, changing your job, moving to another town or emigrating to Australia and starting a new life.
STOP READING THE NEWSPAPERS
I kid you not. You’ll be surprised how much better you will feel after not reading the newspapers or watching the news for a while (or surfing the internet). The media bombard us morning, noon and night with bad news upon bad news, problem upon problem, usually dressed up to be as gruesome as possible. It’s hardly surprising then that people can get depressed.
The media might be doing its bit to bolster pharmaceutical sales but we CAN just skip it.
EDUCATION
Learn a new skill or subject. Become more proficient in or knowledgeable about something. Most people can think of at least one subject they always meant to take up but never did.
A practical skill involving physical doing is probably best but anything that boosts your competence and self esteem will do the trick. But if you are studying something, here is a priceless tip that all by itself turned my life around when it was given to me and now I am passing it on to you:
Never go past a word you do not fully understand. Thoroughly clear it up in a good dictionary until you really get it. You can actually raise your own IQ by doing so.
DIANETICS (Highly Recommended)
I will have a lot to tell you about the science of Dianetics in the near future. If you want to understand your own mind and what makes you and other people tick, if you want to know the source of the neuroses, fears and compulsions that beset us, the get a book on Dianetics and read it.
Just reading up on it and finally understanding the workings of my own mind (and the other guy’s) is the best remedy for depression I personally ever came across but Dianetics goes much further than that. It gives the average person like you and me the TOOLS with which to help ourselves and one another.
Dianetics is currently taking the world by storm, with Dianetics groups springing up all over the place. There is a very good reason for that.
Get a Dianetics book. Read it. Find out for yourself.
