The Relationship Between Diet and Depression

We know that our diet plays an important role in maintaining overall health. However, not much people understand the relationship between depression and diet. In fact, diet has direct link to depression, and we may make use of correct diet and some supplements instead of antidepressant to ease the depression and depression symptoms.

Essential fatty acid
Studies have revealed that there is a strong relationship between the lack of essential fatty acid ie. omega-3 fatty acid consumption and many behavioral conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's disease. In fact, lack of omega-3 fatty acid can weaken the cellular function and brain metabolism. Besides stay physically active and make effort to reduce stress, we can actually reduce the symptoms that come with depression by consuming more omega-3 fatty acid.


The good sources of omega-3 fatty acid in your diet include deep water fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies, nuts and olive oil. Anyway, you can take fish oil supplementation if you want as it is also a good source to get enough omega-3 fatty acids.

Carbohydrates
There is a research that indicates that carbohydrates are one of the anti-depression diet. It can lessen the premenstrual syndrome. By eating a high density of carbohydrates can aid in diminishing the effect of depression as carbohydrates can repair the imbalance ration of the specific fatty acid, and thus help in reducing the risk of depression. Of course, it is recommended you consume complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits and whole wheat products rather than simple carbohydrates like sweet, doughnut and white bread for overall health purpose.

Caffeine drinks
There is also a study reveals that moderate consumption of caffeine drinks can lower the symptoms of depression. Of course any excess can heighten the risk, and is not good for health. Although the doctors have formulated that you can reduce the effect of depression by drinking coffee or tea from this study, further researches are needed to support this recommendation.

Vitamin and minerals
Vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B, Iodine, vitamin C, calcium, and amino acid have been associated with some protection against depression. Niacin is also a very important in the production of tryptophan that helps promotes Vitamin B3 and it has been found out that it regulates blood flow in order to avoid mental depression. In addition, Vitamin B12 and calcium ingredients may help in reducing depression symptoms that take place especially during the monthly menstrual period. There was a study conducted in the year 2001, showing that this vitamin and mineral can prevent postpartum depression.

In fact, choosing the right diet for depression is one of the most effective weapons to vanish the blues. You can see some improvement by only changing your diet and have some supplements. Of course, you need to aware that there are also certain habits that contain harmful substances that may trigger the symptoms of depression, such as drink alcoholic beverages, too much cigarette smoking, and drug overdose. So, choose your food wisely and have a proper diet in order to get rid of depression.
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Flowers do Minimize the Feeling of Depressed?

We know that flowers are the most popular gifts for variety occasions such as birthday, wedding, graduation, valentine's day, and mother's day etc. Have you ever wondered why flowers play such as important role in any function? Why do people spend so much time planting and caring for flowers although they do not provide us with food, clothing fibers or any other item that considered a need for survival?

The answer is simple but very important. Flowers do provide us happiness, and thus help in depression in certain extent. Study conducted at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey offers scientific proof that flowers do provide happiness, and play an important role in our emotional well being. The study was lasted for 10 months and conducted under the direction of Jeannette M. Haviland-Jones, Ph.D., who is a psychologist and internationally known expert in emotional development in human behavior. The most interesting about this study is that it challenges established scientific beliefs about how people can manage their day-to-day moods in a healthy and natural way. Study shows 3 main results: 1) Flowers immediately affect happiness; 2) the impact of flowers is positive and long-term; 3) flowers do help in building connections between people.
With the stress of modern life nowadays, isn't it nice to know that by taking the simple step of purchasing flowers, you can quickly improve your own mood or someone else's? And the best part is, the flowers you buy for yourself will make those who see them happy as well. You can place them in a high-traffic area like the entry way to your living hall, on your kitchen table, or in the family's sitting room. Dr. Haviland-Jones agrees and says: "Flowers create positive motional feelings in those who enter a room. They make the space more welcoming and create a sharing atmosphere."

If you feel depressed, just use some flowers decorating your house. You will feel much better. You can also buy flowers for someone who is ill or being depressed and this is one of the kindest things that you can do. It is an easy task that you can accomplish very quickly with just a few clicks of your mouse, or you may even plant your own flowers and add some simple decoration before send them out. When you find out that someone is not feeling well or having medical problems, just send them something that will show them how much they mean to you. And flowers are always a good choice.

Besides that, you can always boost the mood of your employees and customers by placing flowers in your lobby and in areas used by your employees, such as the break room, cafeteria, or meeting rooms. You will be benefited by having a more beautiful workplace and you'll see more smiles around the office.

In fact, some flowers are used to come up with remedies that are said to be a good cure for many emotional disorders such as stress and anxiety caused by a variety of reasons. In some cases, the flower essences worked better than other forms of treatment that used to treat the negative emotions in humans. So, do not underestimate the positive power of flowers offer us. Make use of these natural blessings if you or your friends feel depressed.

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How Do You Know If You Are Diagnosed with Depression?

Depression is a mental disorder that affects your life because it affects your behavior towards yourself, the people around you, your work, your hobbies and almost every thing you see. Although everyone has experienced sadness, down in their lives and feelings of being depressed, people that are suffering from true depression have many frequent and recurring long-term symptoms, causing them view life as something not worth living. In fact, depression happens to at least 20 million American adults every year.

How would you know if you are diagnosed with depression issue? Below are common depression symptoms that you need to aware. These symptoms might vary in different people, and if these happen to you, it might be wise for you to get medical advice.

• Lack of interest in activities that you previously enjoyed, very low levels of energy
• Sadness that is prolonged
• Crying spells that are unexplained
• Significant and abrupt changes in sleep patterns,whether sleep too little or too much, always falling asleep, wake up several times during the night
• Unexplained changes in weight or appetite
• Constant anger, irritability, anxiety, worry, agitation
• Pessimistic approach to life, feeling of hopelessness
• Recurring and frequent thoughts of death or suicide
• Feeling of ezcessive guilt and unexplained sense of worthlessness
• Lower concentration level and indecisiveness
• Social withdrawal
• Unexplained pains and aches
• Extreme fatigue when you have not done much
• Easily annoyed or irritable without reason
  

If you experience at least 5 of the above depression symptoms and have begun interfering with family activities or work for more than a week, you may be depressed. That is, however, not necessarily true. Never diagnose yourself. Likewise, you cannot rely to a friend or a member of your family for diagnosis. The best course of action is to consult a psychologist or ask your doctor for a thorough checkup. This will most probably include having a comprehensive physical examination, as some symptoms might be caused by other health problems that you have. Just be honest and open on what and how you feel.

If you want, you can try having self-evaluation tests available on the internet that could help you gauge the symptoms you have, or at least, can prepare you when you visit your doctor. Think of these tests as a way of communicating your symptoms better to a healthcare professional when you go in for a visit. Of course, online tests prove no match to an actual consultation. Just treat it as an additional reference.

Some people might experience recurring depression, which means that they experience depression episodes often, maybe once or twice in a month, at least once a year, or many times throughout their lifetimes. The important thing is do not feel embarrassed, shy, or ashamed of your depression problem. People of various ages, ethnic groups, races, and social classes get this problem. Although depression can happen at any given age, it is commonly developed in people whose ages lie between 25 and 44 year old.

So, if you have depression problem, you are not the only one. As mentioned earlier, there are more than 20 million American adults that are experiencing depression problems every day. Be persistent and patient and you will find the method or treatment that suits you best for beating the depression. You can alos get more overcome depression tips and read useful overcome depression articles as you are no risk reading them.

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4 Useful Techniques in Managing Depression

Depression can come on us at any time of the year. In fact, managing depression is not an easy job, and sometimes depression and fears can conquer us. As a result, here is a short list of techniques that a person can use to help managing their depression besides getting their depression treatment.

1) Challenge Your Thinking
One of the overcome depression tips is to challenge and replace your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. Whenever encountering thoughts that make you down or depressed, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that maintain objectivity and let you think out of the nutshell. For example, your afraid that if you do not get that job promotion then you will be stuck at your job forever. This sounds depressed for you, right? Now you can think the other way round. In fact, there are all kinds of jobs available in the market, if you do not get this job promotion it does not mean that you will never get one. In addition, people change jobs all the time espcially when there are better job opportunities. You always have that option of going elsewhere with better job opportunities if you are not happy at your present career.

2) Start a Day with the Thing You Like
Some people get depressed and have a difficult time getting out of bed in the mornings. When this happens, a person should take a deep breathe and try to find something to do to get their mind off of the problem. Always start a day with the thing you like such as a beautiful song or music, your favorite breakfast, or being waken up by alarm clock with your favorite happy song. Do something you like will get your mind off of the negative thinking and give you confidence to do other things in the rest of the day.

3) Practise Self-Visualization
Sometimes, we can get depressed over a task that we will have to perform in the near future. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your mind perfectly. Visualization is a powerful tool and it has been helped over millions of people get their duties done. In fact, a lot of success people, top sales people and even athletes perform visualization before things getting happen. For example, you and your team have to play in the championship volleyball game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before the big day comes, visualize yourself playing the game in your mind. Visualize that you are playing in front of a large audience. By practicing the game in your mind once, you are better prepared to perform for real game when the time comes. Self Visualization is indeed a great way to reduce the fear and stress for a coming situation.

4) Always Standby a Notebook with Positive Statements
Another overcome depression technique that is very helpful is to have a small notebook of positive statements that make you feel good. Whenever you come across an affirmation that makes you feel good or happy, write it down in a small notebook that you can carry around with you in your pocket. In fact, you can write down whatever success experiences in your life that make you feel good, including how you learn a new dish, make a new friend, climb over a mountain, do some charity job etc in your notebook. Whenever you feel depressed, open up your small notebook and read those statements. Your down feeling will be lesson or swept away immediately by those positive statements.

The above 4 techniques are some basic ways to manage your depression. However, your best depression treatment is always getting some help from professional medical advice.

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Understand Different Type of Antidepressant Medications

There are different types of antidepressant medications available in the market for depression treatment. These medications include monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), novel antidepressants, and tetracyclic antidepressants.

MAOIs function by inhibiting monoamine oxidase, a complex enzyme system that metabolizes excess serotonin and epinephrine. It holds the negativity of inducing potential life-threatening problems and therefore cannot be used in patients with congestive cardiac failure or in those with a history of liver disease. It is unsafe for those who are hypersensitive to its ingredients. Apart from that, it should be used only after other available antidepressant medications options to treat depression.

TCAs work mainly by inhibiting the reuptake of both norepinephrine and serotonin. In fact, patient experiences quite similar side effects from MAOIs and TCAs. However, the frequency of TCAs side effects is much lesser than MAOIs and thus TCAs enjoy a higher acceptance rate by the patients. The potential side effects of TCAs include allergic reactions, blood cell problems, blurred vision, dry mouth, weakness, fatigue, weight gain, constipation, difficulty with urination, sexual dysfunction, sweating, muscle twitches, rash, dizziness, tremors etc.

SSRIs serve by inhibiting the serotonin reuptake and are considered the most popular, effective and safe prescription medications. Prozac, a drug of this class, has shown significant success in the treatment of depression and prevention of suicide. It exhibits less potential side effects as compared to TCAs and MAOIs, and is well tolerated.

SNRIs (desipramine, duloxetine, nefazodone, and venlafaxine) serve a depression patient by aiming to keep both serotonin and norepinephrine at the right level. Nefazodone alleviates anxiety, causes some sedation and positively affects sleep. Venlafaxine (Effexor) has significant anticholinergic effects such as dry mouth, blurred vision, urinary hesitancy, and constipation, induces sedation and has potential withdrawal effects.

The drug bupropion (Wellbutrin, Wellbutrin SR) is the most commonly used member of the novel antidepressant class. It is unique in its efficiency to inhibit the reuptake of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.

The most common adverse effects of mirtazapine, a tetracyclic antidepressant include increased appetite, weight gain, lethargy and dizziness. Mirtazapine acts by increasing the amount of noradrenaline and serotonin, and is of benefit in particular for the treatment of depression accompanied with anxiety, agitation and /or sleep disturbances.

We need to aware that these therapeutic groups noramlly share the similarity of relieving depressive symptoms in the same period of time, about 1 to 4 weeks. Always go for medical advice before have them. Apart from that, you can always improve your depression status by adopting some overcome depression tips in your daily lives.

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