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12 Effective Tips for Depression – The Most Practical Strategies

Updated by Rich

Depression Tips – Introduction

This post gives you 12 effective tips for depression that you can begin to implement today.

At first glance, this site might not look like one that can help depression.

Instead, it might look like one that is only devoted to:

However, another important benefit is to help you discover the simple and effective strategies that you can implement to get out of depression.

Many years ago I struggled with suicidal ideation from depression due to family estrangement, career loss, home loss, divorce, and several other events.

Back then, I wish I had a mentor who could have walked me through some of the tips for depression relief that I am going to suggest for you.

Maybe I would not have listened, but I would have liked the opportunity to think about alternative ways for dealing with depression with or without medications.

I want to be that mentor today that I wish I had so many years ago.

The strategies I am going to suggest have all been guinea tested on me.

If these depression tips can help even one person learn how to move towards a better life, that alone will have made all the time and effort worthwhile.

Please consult with your doctor before implementing any suggestions as I am not a doctor, just another person among millions who struggle with depression and anxiety.

How common is depression?

More than you think.

Believe it or not, the National Institute of Health has estimated the number of Americans with Depression at close to 7% of the US population age 18 and older.¹

Regarding depression, the NIH states the following about Major Depressive Disorder: ¹

  • Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44.
  • Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
  • While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32.
  • Major depressive disorder is more prevalent in women than in men.

Self-injury

Of course, the risks in depression are obvious, and they all have one thing in common, injury to the self.

In the most destructive case, someone might contemplate extreme measures to get relief from the pain in their mind.

Is it not ironic, that the great scourge of depression is essentially within your mind?

Playing disabling scenes of the past, mulling over disappointments, wallowing in the troubles which are facing you in the present.

Coping methods for dealing with depression usually take the form of some type of self-medication, food being a favorite as anyone can attest seeing countless movies where the victim of a romantic heartbreak is seen gorging on ice cream in the wee hours of the evening trying to dull the emotional pain.

Besides food, drugs can also become a crutch, as well as other behaviors that do not serve you well.

The pain is real, there is no doubt about that.

Suicide Statistics

If the pain was not real, we would not have more than 30,000 Americans opting out of life by suicide every year as is elaborated on in this list from https://save.org :

  • Many who attempt suicide never seek professional care.
  • There are twice as many deaths due to suicide than HIV/AIDS.
  • Between 1952 and 1995, suicide in young adults nearly tripled.
  • Over half of all suicides occur in adult men, ages 25-65.
  • In the month prior to their suicide, 75% of elderly persons had visited a physician.
  • Suicide rates in the United States are highest in the spring.
  • For young people 15-24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death.
  • Suicide rates among the elderly are highest for those who are divorced or widowed.
  • There are an estimated 8 to 25 attempted suicides to 1 completion.
  • The highest suicide rate is among men over 85 years old: 65 per 100,000 persons.
  • 1 in 65,000 children ages 10 to 14 commit suicide each year.
  • Substance abuse is a risk factor for suicide.
  • The strongest risk factor for suicide is not dealing with depression.
  • By 2020, depression will be the #1 disability in the world. (World Health Organization)
  • In 2004, 32,439 people died by suicide. (CDC)
  • Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. (homicide is 15th). (CDC)
  • Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-old Americans. (CDC)
  • It is estimated that there are at least 4.5 million survivors in this country. (AAS)
  • An average of one person dies by suicide every 16.2 minutes. (CDC, AAS)
  • There are four male suicides for every female suicide. (CDC, AAS)
  • Research has shown medications and therapy to be effective suicide prevention.
  • Suicide can be prevented through education and public awareness.
  • Last year SAVE received 810 requests for information from 72 countries.
  • In 2004 it is estimated there were 811,000 suicide attempts in the US. (AAS)
  • There are three female suicide attempts for each male attempt. (CDC, AAS)
  • According to the Violent Death Reporting System, in 2004 73% of suicides also tested positive for at least one substance (alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or marijuana).

So, you see that the strongest risk factor is depression.

That is because the pain of depression is a real pain.

It might not be physical pain, but it has a tremendous impact on the person who is living with it.

I speak about it because I know what it feels like.

I also know what I have done to address that specific pain and hope that it might be useful to anyone else who is dealing with depression and struggling with trying to get out of the hole.

Here are the main tips for depression that I would give today to my younger self.

For me, it has been an ongoing process, but I am thankful that I have stumbled upon a number of strategies which are most effective in fighting depression.

Tips To Deal With Depression

1. Leave the ROD, the ‘Room of Depression’

2. Lock the Door on the Room of Depression

3. Build new rooms in your metaphorical home which I will explain

4. Focus on those rooms

5. Strengthen those rooms as much as possible and do your best to not reenter the ROD

6. Eat real food

7. Get stronger with core strength exercises like;

8. Accept gradual improvement, progress, not perfection

9. Pick 10 – 15 healthy foods or meals that you enjoy and eat them consistently

10. Pick 3 – 5 core free weight exercises like pushups, deadlifts, squats, shoulder presses, pullups, and do them consistently

11. Eat healthy meals every 2 to 3 hours and stop eating by 7 or 8 pm

The Room Of Depression (ROD)

Room of depression might sound a bit unusual, but it is merely a metaphor that does have real-life applications and can work.

The metaphor is that the house, the home, the castle, this is your life, this is you.

The ROD, the room of depression is that space where you have been spending an inordinate amount of time, so much, that you might even cause distance between yourself, friends, and family.

However, the distance that the ROD causes between you and yourself are the most severe.

By living in that room, whatever the scenes are that you are replaying, whatever the conversations are, whatever your thoughts are, that room, that space is causing you an enormous amount of pain.

And you are still sitting there?

For how long?

For how many years can you do that?

Of course, over time, if you do not leave that room, you will be saturated, marinated in depressive thoughts which could have egregious consequences.

How do you deal with that room of depression?

Tips to Deal With The Room of Depression

Step 1. Leave the ROD

How do you do that?

In two ways, the first is to visually leave it, leave that room, close the door, let all the memories, videos, and conversations, remain there.

For years, you have had no other room but that place.

You have to move out.

The other way is physical.

Stop sitting, moping, and sulking.

Physically, start walking, moving, and taking action.

Step 2. Lock the Door

It is tempting, especially after years of living there, to want to go back, to be accustomed to going back, that is natural.

But you must lock the door.

When you do lock it in your mind, you will have some space to create anew, which will enable you to do step 3.

Step 3. Build new Rooms

What type of room?

Any room that will make you more productive.

Any room that will let you focus on yourself and what you can do to improve yourself.

For me, it was to focus on learning how to do a deadlift and how to squat correctly.

For you, it might be a language, music, losing 20 pounds, building strength, all are productive and valuable ‘home improvement projects’.

Step 4. Focus on those rooms

Now that you have left and locked the door of the ROD, now you can focus on building your new home.

Make it a palace, make it a mansion, make it spectacular, make it a paradise.

I know that at some point in this process, you will feel excited by whatever you are creating.

You want to be productive, by nature.

Just as the earth produces, you also want to produce, you also want to contribute to yourself, your family, and the world.

Once you get out of that ROD, you are going to be able to focus on your new home and love living in it.

Step 5. Strengthen those rooms

Do not go back to the ROD.

The more you strengthen your new rooms, the less likely it will be that you will ever reenter the ROD.

Step 6. Eat real food

Eat real food – you know, the good stuff, nutrient-dense real food that grows, as unprocessed as possible, vegetables, berries, nuts, and protein.

Step 7. Build strength

Get stronger with core strength exercises –

Step 8. Progress Not Perfection

Accept gradual improvement, progress not perfection.

Little by little, day by day, make gradual improvements, and over the long course of time, you will adapt and become a master of whatever you set your mind to accomplish

Step 9. Create a meal plan

Pick 10 – 15 healthy foods or meals that you enjoy and eat them consistently.

Step 10. Strength training program

Pick 3 – 5 core free weight exercises like pushups, deadlifts, squats, shoulder presses, pullups, and do them consistently.

Some excellent strength training programs that incorporate these exercises are:

Step 11. Schedule your meals

Eat healthy meals every 2 to 3 hours and stop eating by 7 or 8 pm.

Step 12. Get to sleep on time

Go to Sleep on Time – staying up late, churning over your problems, will not solve them.

Instead, get a good night’s sleep so you can be refreshed for a new day.

Tips For Depression – Final Thoughts

Depression is said to afflict close to 30 million people in the United States.

Of that number, approximately 40% is believed to be genetic and 60% environmental.

As reported in Healthline.com “in 2011, a British team isolated a gene that appears to be prevalent in multiple family members suffering from depression.

The chromosome, 3p25-26, was found in more than 800 families with recurrent depression in the study.

Scientists have said as many as 40 percent of those suffering from depression can be traced back to a genetic link, with environmental and other factors comprising the remaining 60 percent.”

No matter the cause of your depression, it is critical to find a path forward.

These tips for depression can help you rebuild and create a new life.

What’s Next

Learn the 10 Reasons Deadlifts are the Best Natural Alternative To Prozac.

And please check out the New SIGECAPS Mnemonic: A Guide to Help Major Depressive Disorder, because it can change your life!

Related Posts:

Footnotes:

¹ Mental Disorders in America – NIH – National Institute of Health

² Mental Health Tips for Women Over 40

In Summary:

How to deal with depression without meds

Exercise is better than antidepressants.

  • 1 in 10 Americans now takes antidepressant medication

But there are other ways to fight depression:
Regular exercise can improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression
Exercise can also help treat severe depression

Exercise vs antidepressants:

3 groups:
Aerobic exercise
Antidepressant medication
Aerobic Exercise + Antidepressant medication

Results:
After 16 weeks 65% of people in all 3 groups no longer had major depression
Exercise and antidepressant results were essentially the same

Follow up:
Exercise’s effects lasted longer than those of antidepressants.

How does exercise relieve depression?

Exercise enhances the action of endorphins
Endorphins improve natural immunity
Reduce the perception of pain.
They may also serve to improve mood

Another theory is that exercise stimulates the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which may directly improve mood.

Besides lifting your mood exercise:
Lowers blood pressure
Protects against heart disease and cancer
Boosts self-esteem

What exercises are the best?

Get runners high
When it comes to fighting depression, aerobic exercises have the edge
20-30 minutes most days a week
(Intensity level doesn’t matter, just get moving!)
When you cross a threshold while running, you get “runners high”
A release of endorphins

Endorphins are the body’s natural morphine
Produce joy and decrease pain levels
Boost strength to boost your mood
A study of 45 stroke survivors with depression found that a 10-week strength training program helped reduced symptoms of depression

Benefits of strength training:

Mastery and control
Visible results
Focus
Inhale, Exhale

Yoga

Improves flexibility
Involves mindfulness
(Which breaks up repetitive negative thoughts)
Improves balance
Is meditative

Study of 65 women with depression
34 women who took a yoga class twice a week for two months showed a significant decrease in depression
Compared to the 31 women who were not in the class

Take a hike

Simply walking his numerous benefits
In one study, walking fast for about 35 minutes a day five times has a significant influence on mild to moderate depression symptoms
Just getting outside can boost mood
Sunshine stimulates our serotonin levels
Many researchers believe that an imbalance in serotonin levels may influence mood in a way that leads to depression.

Benefits of walking include:

Lowers disease risk
Strengthening heart
Gives you energy

Credit and Thanks to the Following Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/serotonin
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/a-glut-of-antidepressants/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Exercise-and-Depression-report-excerpt.htm
https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-pictures/great-exercises-to-fight-depression.aspx#/slide-7
https://www.tescoliving.com/health-and-wellbeing/fitness/2013/october/top-10-health-benefits-of-walking-everyday

About The Author

Rich Hashimashi AuthorRich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer), an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and the author of Crossing the Bridge From Depression to Life. At the age of 55, he lost 75 pounds in 6 months, and discovered if you transform your body, you can change your life. You can read about his story here and send Rich a message here.

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