As you might already know, stress can build up to a lot of complications in the human body, including illness and emotional trauma, which in turn can lead to even greater complications. Stress can also be the precursor to depression.
In dealing with stress, medication can sometimes help to ease depression and other symptoms of stress, but then again, the risks of troubling side effects like numbness, loss of sexual interest and weight gain are high. You might want to try some other means of dealing with stress other than medication, and we have compiled a listed of alternative treatment options that will help you deal with stress and its effects (depression in particular), safely and effectively:
1. Exercise
Exercise, particularly aerobics, will go a long way to improving your health in general so you should get as much exercise as possible. Apart from the well-documented health and fitness benefits of exercise though, effective exercise will also help improve your mood for a few hours, by boosting the release of the body’s feel-good chemicals called endorphins.
Research has shown that exercise may also have long-term benefits for people with depression, as regular exercise seems to encourage the brain to rewire itself in positive ways. The best part is, you don’t need to run marathons to get these benefits, and simply going for a brisk walk a few times a week would be very helpful.
2. Eat Healthy
To be frank, there’s no magic diet that instantly fixes stress, but there are foods that may actually mitigate or exacerbate whatever symptoms of stress you might be feeling, and you will need to be careful what you eat or drink. Alcohol, for instance, shouldn’t be the first thing to go after when you’re feeling stressed out. On the other hand, foods which contain Omega-3 fatty acids such as fatty fish, and foods which contain folic acids such as spinach and avocados, could help relieve the symptoms of stress and depression.
3. Get Enough Sleep
You might be surprised to find out that it is quite possible that the only reason why you’re stressed out is because you’re not having enough sleep. 7-8 hours of sleep each night is the recommended amount of sleep adults should have regularly.
4. Try Having More Fun
The simple fact is, having fun will help improve your mood and also distract you from whatever it is that might be bothering you and contributing to raising your stress levels. Most people spend most of their time at work or working in some way or the other, and work related issues are often the reason for elevated stress levels. If possible, the best thing you could do is get a job that you actually love doing and in that way, you’ll be having fun throughout the day, and won’t feel so stressed out when challenges do arise.
There you have it! 5 tried and proven tips that will help you get respite from stress without you having to face the possible side effects that many stress-relieving medications come with. Try to fix your daily schedule to adapt to these ideas.
