Depression is a serious condition, and can affect many aspects of a person's life. In the past three decades, medical research has focused on developing medications to treat depression. Many people choose pharmaceutical options, but others still want to seek alternative treatments for their depression. There are many alternative options available, including talk therapy, taking supplements, regular exercise, increasing sunlight exposure, and lifestyle changes such as diet and reducing stress.
Talk Therapy
Depression can be a result of a chemical imbalance within the brain, as well as situational factors occurring in a person's life. Many times these situational problems, such as stress, family problems, illness, or other problems, can be worked through in therapy with a counselor. By seeing a therapist on a regular basis, one can learn how to work through these problems, possibly solving what is causing the depression, as well as learn coping mechanisms to deal with their brain chemistry, including what serious depression warning signs to look for.
Vitamins and Supplements
Recent studies and research of the brain show that often depression is the result of certain chemical deficiencies, primarily serotonin, and norepinephrine. There are amino acids that can increase how the brain processes and absorbs these chemicals, and these often provide rapid and simple relief for depression. L-Tyrosine is the biological precursor to norepinephrine and is available in supplement form. Additionally, 5-HTP helps produce serotonin within the brain, and D,L-phenylalanine is a commonly used amino acid when the goal is to rapidly decrease depression symptoms.
Exercise
Exercise releases norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain, elevating your mood. This is an immediate reaction to exercise, and often why people compare the great feeling of exercise to a drug, such as "runner's high." It may seem counterintuitive to use up energy exercising when depressed, however, according to research conducted by Richard Merritt from Duke University, regular exercise can keep brain levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine higher, decreasing long-term depression symptoms.
Sunlight
For some people with depression, particularly those with a predisposition to Seasonal Affective Disorder, a lack of sunlight can be a contributing factor to depression. By increasing ones exposure to sunlight, either naturally or through an artificial source such as a tanning bed or a light box, symptoms of depression can decrease rapidly. Increased sunlight can reduce depression symptoms long term, as long as an alternative sunlight source is being used. This is particularly important during the winter months when there are less hours of sunlight, and year round for people that spend a lot of their day indoors.
Lifestyle Changes
For some people, making simple but very effective lifestyle changes may reduce their depression symptoms. Changes to diet, particularly by adding healthy proteins, replacing simple carbohydrates with whole grain complex carbohydrates, and eating the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables, are all effective methods for reducing symptoms. Diet cannot cure depression, however when combined with other alternative therapies, it may make a difference. Additionally, making other lifestyle changes to reduce stress, such as massage therapy, yoga and eliminating drug or alcohol use may help symptoms as well.
