According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, every year more than 40 million American adults struggle with anxiety disorders. Additionally, around 6.8 million adults suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder that co-occurs with major depression. Troubling statistics indeed.
Left untreated, depression and anxiety can degenerate into a psychiatric disability both legally and mentally. Eventually, they start to affect their relationships, dreams, and aspirations.
For many patients, however, access to anxiety and depression treatment is limited. Not everyone can afford the various medications and therapies prescribed in the treatment of these disorders. In other cases, the patient is not yet mentally prepared to accept that they need treatment. That’s ok, we all heal at our own pace.
There are Other Ways to Manage Your Anxiety and Depression
Whether you’re not just not up to getting professional treatment or it’s a financial capacity thing, you’ll be glad to know that there are other ways to control anxiety and depression episodes, even while at home.
Here are 10 ways to keep anxiety and depression at bay:
1) Perform Meditation
Meditation is a form of mental relaxation or a cooldown. Do you remember cooldown exercises after strenuous activities during physical education classes? The same thing applies to meditation. When you have anxiety and depression, negative thoughts are racing in your head. These thoughts can cripple you and make you feel worse.
Meditation helps you control your thoughts and prevent your mind from overthinking. This makes you feel more in control of your day, which is a powerful weapon against depression.
2) Try Mindfulness Exercises
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present physically, psychologically, and mentally. Sometimes, people tend to ignore that they have anxiety and depression. Through mindfulness, you will train your brain to acknowledge the presence of every emotion, whether good or bad. In this way, you’re not downplaying the presence of anxiety and depression.
Treating anxiety and depression often includes mindfulness exercises as part of the program. To aid your experience, you can try using mindfulness apps like Headspace or Calm.
3) Set a Daily Routine
A daily routine can help you have an organized day. Routines help plan your day while following a strict schedule. When you have anxiety and depression, you follow a never-ending cycle of entertaining negative emotions. The only way to break that is through a routine.
Instead of sulking the whole day, routines enable you to follow a series of planned activities to keep you moving in life. Though it’s not a total solution to the problem, it helps your overall recovery.
4) Get Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep worsens your depression. Whether or not you have mental illnesses, lack of sleep is always a precursor to diseases. However, many people with depression find it hard to sleep, or at least, sleep soundly.
Deep sleep is often a powerful form of depression treatment. It lets you shut your mind for a while, giving it time to heal. Your body also recovers faster when you’re getting adequate sleep.
5) Workout Daily or Every Other Day
Working out keeps us physically active. It keeps your joints and muscles strong and enhances your stamina. More importantly, it also releases happiness hormones. Dopamine, endorphins, and endorphins are the hormones contributing to your happiness, and they’re activated if you work out.
Dopamine is responsible for the “feel-good” vibe. Serotonin focuses more on mood stabilization which helps during anxiety attacks. And finally, endorphins are our body’s natural pain reliever in times of stress and discomfort.
6) Treat Yourself
Rewarding yourself is never a bad thing. Whenever you achieve something, don’t fail to reward or treat yourself. Watch a movie, travel alone, eat at a fancy restaurant, buy that PS5, or get those concert tickets or albums.
If you can, set a routine for treating yourself. Whenever you accomplish your routine or achieve a milestone, reward yourself with something small or big depending on the achievement.
7) Reach Out to Friends or Relatives
The common symptom of depression and anxiety is seclusion from others. Instead of staying away from the people who truly care, welcome them. Don’t be afraid to open up to people who care about you.
Anxiety and depression treatment is never a solo journey. The participation of your loved ones in the healing process is paramount to full, lasting recovery.
8) Keep Yourself Busy
A saying goes, “idleness is the enemy of the soul.” Well, true enough. As human beings, we are programmed to keep things moving. We’re not like plants that stay on a particular spot forever. Instead, humans are bound for greatness. Hence, you are bound for greatness too.
Start by picking up your responsibilities. Answer phone calls from loved ones. Be early at work. Pay bills on time. Clean your room or house. Water the plants. Once you get things done productively, you’ll realize that you’re too tired to entertain negative thoughts.
9) Find a New Hobby
Grab a book. Play a game. Learn an instrument. You can fixate yourself on anything that sparks interest as long as you’re committed and open-minded.
There are many ways to find a new hobby. It just boils down to your willingness to try new things and decide if it’s something worth your while.
10) Set Attainable Goals
Goals can be big or small, long-term and short-term. Your recovery from anxiety and depression depends on your goals. The important thing is to keep them realistic and attainable.
Start small and gradually challenge yourself. You’ll be surprised at how much more you can achieve once you start meeting your goals. Even better, each goal that you accomplish will increase your confidence and general outlook on life.
Take the Next Step with Roots TMS
Anxiety and depression treatment at home can help you get through life’s challenges. However, it’s also important to seek professional help when you can. Not only is it critical to complete recovery, but it can also teach you healthy, effective ways to cope and overcome your mental health issues.
If you’re ready to take that step, Roots TMS is here for you. We provide anxiety and depression therapy, while also helping patients get access to treatments that enable them to get back up in life. Who knows? This next step might be the beginning of your healing and acceptance journey.
Schedule an appointment with us today to discuss your journey to recovery.