What can you do to help prevent illness?

You can stay healthy, live longer, and delay or prevent many diseases by:

#1.  Exercising -Do any physical activity you enjoy for 20-30 minutes five or six days a week. Talk to your doctor about the right exercise program for you.

#2.  Eating well-Eat a healthy diet of different foods like fruits, vegetables, protein (like meat, fish, or beans), and grains (like rice). You should also limit the amount of saturated fat you eat.

#3.  Keeping a healthy weight - Watch your portions, and try to balance the number of calories you eat with the number you burn by exercising.

#4.  Not smoking -Talk with your doctor about getting help to quit smoking.

#5.  Getting preventive services - Delay or lessen the effects of diseases by getting preventive services like screening tests to find disease early, and shots to keep you from getting dangerous infections.

Exercise or other forms of physical activity are known to reduce debt anxiety and stress and reduce the effects of depression. Whether you join a gym or take classes or simply walk around the block a couple times a week it is not only good for your body and your physical health which are mental well-being as well.

What can you do to help prevent Depression?

• Keeping yourself connected to your family, friends and loved ones
  

Another problem often encountered by those suffering from depression is a desire to cut themselves off from the other people around them. Withdrawing from others is a common symptom of depression but is counterproductive. Keeping yourself connected to your friends and loved ones gives you someone to talk to will understand your problems and sincerely want to help you. It also keeps you active in your social life and keeps your mind busy and not focused on the problems that cause you stress.

Keeping up with your old friends and your family as well as meeting new people helps to alleviate feelings of depression and loneliness. Another common symptom of depression is the feeling of overwhelming uselessness end helplessness. Keeping connected with others helped to defeat these feelings.

• Doing activity

As above one of the biggest keys to preventing the effects of depression is activity. As opposed to the way you feel when you are depressed wanting to hide under the covers of not do anything activity is the most important thing you can do to help yourself. Get involved in a new hobby or escalate an old one. It doesn’t matter what it is you can go bowling or build model airplanes as long as you keep your mind active busy and concentrating on tasks that you enjoy and can accomplish easily.

• Enjoying your hobbies and simple things that are fun to do

Another major symptom of depression is feeling overwhelmed. By enjoying your hobbies and simple things that are fun to do you help to alleviate that problem. Being frustrated with over exalted goals can compound the anxiety and stress of depression. If you have big projects at work or home break them up into smaller easily accomplished goals. This will give you the status faction of completion at each step and make the bigger goal less daunting.

• Pay attention to your own physical needs

Pay attention to your own physical needs. People dealing with depression often become so overwhelmed but they ignore their body’s everyday needs. Getting plenty of sleep, eating well, getting regular checkups are important aspects of your overall health and combat the effects of depression.

• Keep away from alcohol and nicotine

Moderate your consumption of alcohol and nicotine. Alcohol is a depressant that can severely affect those suffering from depression. Even small amounts can escalate the feelings of inadequacy and guilt and overall dissatisfaction and depression. People who are depressed are prone to alcoholic addictions. There’s a tendency to want to drown away their problems when in reality the problems still exist and will still be there when the alcohol wears off.
One of the best thing is you can do to help prevent depression is to conquer the feeling of being overwhelmed by your problems. Plan out your days and plan out your goals and tasks to help alleviate the stress and anxiety that trigger depression.

Exercise is a good remedy for depression. walking, running or any form of exercise that a patient enjoys doing can really help them release all the tensions that make them feel so down. A depressed person has to stabilize the chemical activity in there brain, and with at least thirty minutes of exercise, endorphin can be released which can slow down such activity. Though it may not sound too appealing to get started, once you have established a pattern of exercising, it often becomes easier and easier as your depression lifts.

Here are 5 strategies for attacking the depression with natural methods:

#1. Eat a healthy diet. Eat lots of fresh produce, proteins that are lean, and whole grains. The body and mind are connected and improving your physical health will help support your emotional well being. Often, appetite is impacted by feelings of depression. If you don’t feel like eating much, try carrying around snacks and eating them throughout the day in small portions. If you eat more than you really need to maintain a healthy weight and good energy, try setting a cutoff time past which you won’t eat. Also, turn off the TV while you eat. The distraction can keep you from being in touch with your body and sensing when you are truly full.

#2. Try supplementation if needed. A food based multivitamin can be a good place to start, adding calcium if you don’t eat a lot of calcium rich foods. Fish oil is a good supplement that supports the body in various ways, including supporting brain health. L-theanine is an anti-anxiety supplement that can be beneficial, and os often taken with 5 HTP (hydroytryptophan), a natural antidepressant that converts to serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation. It is best to consult with your health care provider before trying new supplements.

#3. Exercise as a form of depression treatment. Check with your doctor to find out the best level of activity for your body and fitness level, then choose a cardiovascular regime that will elevate your heart rate for a period of time. This is important because endorphins are released with sustained cardio activity. Build up your routine, frequency, and length of time of your workouts as you increase your fitness level. Strive for about 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise 5 times per week for a good benefit. Don’t be discouraged if you miss a workout or can’t always be at the gym that long. Any exercise is helpful.

#4. Talk things out if needed. A professional counselor can be an excellent sounding board, and offer a trained and unbiased perspective to help you sort out your issues. Supportive friends and family are also a great emotional support, and can keep you connected and prevent isolation.

#5. Take a moment in each day to do something that honors you. Make a list of little things you enjoy, then choose one each day to do. Make this a habit – when the first list is finished, start another.

Depression can affect anyone, of any culture, age or background. About twice as many women as men seek help for depression, though this may reflect the greater readiness of women to discuss their problems.

Depression is usually related to upsetting life events, such as bereavement, relationship difficulties, physical illness, or job or money worries.

There are several diffrent types of depression :

#1.  Mild Depression ( Minor Depression).

Mild/Minor Depression is the least severe form of depression. Usually the symptoms aren’t so severe that they have a major impact in the life of the sufferer, although the depression can still cause distress and disruption. Many people who are suffering from mild depression never seek treatment – they don’t believe the symptoms are severe enough.

#2.  Dysthymic Disorder

Dysthymic Disorder is a long-term form of mild depression (lasting two or more years). Like mild depression, most sufferers never seek help as they don’t believe their symptoms are severe enough. Also like mild depression, the symptoms of dysthymic depression don’t usually have a huge impact on the sufferers day-to-day life. But when the long-term results from the depression are considered, the impact can be huge. People who suffer from dysthymic depression often can’t remember a time when they weren’t depressed.

#3.  Moderate Depression

Moderate Depression fits somewhere between mild depression and major depression. The symptoms of moderate depression are more severe and numerous than mild depression, and they begin to have an impact on the work, home and social life of the sufferer. While mild depression and dysthymic depression can go unnoticed by others, the symptoms of moderate depression are usually noticeable. If left untreated, people suffering from moderate depression can slip into major depression.

#4.  Major Depression ( Clinical or Unipolar Depression )

Major Depression (also known as clinical or unipolar depression) is what most people think of when they think of depression – the individual seems to have totally given up on life, and has a large number of obvious symptoms. It is unlikely that someone suffering from major depression could function normally in a work, social or home setting – their symptoms are too pronounced. Suicide can be a huge risk with major depression, and professional help needs to be sought to treat the depression.

#5. Bi-polar disorder (manic depression)

Bipolar Depression (BPD) is sometimes known as manic-depression, and is characterized by the sufferer having large mood swings from very upbeat and energetic to extreme lows. Both periods normally last for several weeks at a time. Bipolar depression is usually categorized into a number of sub-categories. While there is no firm consensus on how many sub-categories there are, the four most common are Bipolar I Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder, Cyclothymic Disorder and Bipolar NOS.

People with bipolar I disorder have the most extreme mood swings. Their low moods can be classified as major depression, while in their positive moods they can engage in crazy, outrageous and even dangerous activities. During this ‘mania’ state they may even suffer from paranoia or hallucinations.

People with bipolar II disorder have much less extreme mania periods. Indeed, many bipolar II sufferers go untreated because people mistake their ‘mania’ phase for simply getting over their depression. People with bipolar II don’t suffer from paranoia or hallucinations.

Cyclothymic disorder is a milder but much more long-term version of bipolar disorder (usually lasting for two or more years). Like bipolar II the mania phases are relatively minor, but in addition their depressive phases aren’t so severe that they classify as major depression. If left untreated, cyclothymic depression can develop into bipolar II depression.

Bipolar NOS (Not Otherwise Specified) is a catch-all category for people who have some of the symptoms of bipolar, but those symptoms don’t allow the person to be neatly categorized in one of the three other categories. For example, the sufferer may have fast cycling between the manic and depressive states, or manic states without depressive states.

#6.  Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a severe form of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) that affects between 3% and 8% of women. Symptoms of depression appear around a week prior to menstruation, and disappear within a few days of menstruation beginning.

#7.  Postnatal depression (PND)

Postnatal (Postpartum) Depression can occur any time in the first 12 months after a baby is born. Some form of postnatal depression affects over 80% of new mothers, although most who are affected only have a very mild form of depression that usually passes naturally with rest and the support of family and friends. However around 15% of mothers get a more severe form of postnatal depression, and like major depression the sufferer needs treatment and support to overcome the illness.

#8.  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression caused by the changing light levels throughout the year. The most common for of SAD is caused by the low-light levels of winter, but a much rarer form of the disorder is triggered by the high-light levels of summer.

As you can see, depression comes in many different forms – each type of depression has different triggers and symptoms associated with it, and each type of depression also responds better to different treatments. By being aware of the different forms depression can take, you can be much more prepared to help a friend of family member.