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Learning to Depression-Proof Your Environment

Apr 22, 2015
  • Practical Solution
  • Self Care
Woman opening up curtains

Adjust Foods

At times, the best addition to your diet is the subtraction of sugary beverages. These drinks offer very little nutrition while their sugar can serve as a source of self-medication that conceals your depression for a short time.

Long-term, they add to weight gain and decreased self-esteem. Track the long-term effects of caffeine and alcohol. When shopping, seek out the foods that you should eat rather than the ones you want to eat.

Adjust Temperature

Until now, you may not have considered the temperature in your house as something associated with your depression.

Think about it, though. If it is a hot summer day, and your home feels like an oven, you will feel more lethargic and demotivated. This will make depression worse.

On the other hand, if it is a winter day, and your home is cold, under a blanket on the couch may be on the only comfortable spot.

When it comes to temperature, the goal is to find a balance that motivates you. If you are not sure where to start, look at your current settings. If your depression is high, make a drastic change to your thermostat to study the results. Remember, this is only experimentation, but experimentation can lead to great outcomes.

Adjust TV/ Media

People with depression tend to spend too much time staring at screens to escape and avoid their own depressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

All of the media that you consume impacts your wellbeing. Just like with food, you must be careful what you absorb. Clearly, going online to read information about new ways to manage your depression is more worthwhile than flinging birds at green pigs or endlessly scrolling through pictures of food that someone else ate.

Take an honest look at your TV, movie and internet habits. Do you watch too manymurder mysteries? Does the evening news bring tears to your eyes?

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Refuse to engage in activities that increase your symptoms. Break the cycle by bringing more comedies or thoughtful dramas into your life. Along the way, work to unitask so that when you are watching TV, you are only watching TV. Doing too many things minimizes the experience.

The same is true for music. Music can be a fantastic form of therapeutic release, or it can be a depressant. If music is not a part of your life, take steps to make it one.

If music seems to make your symptoms worse, change the artist, genre or decade. With nearly endless musical options, there is likely a song that can take you to a better place.

Conclusion

You spend too much time in your home for it to be a depression-inducing environment. Pay more attention to your surroundings and their effect on you.

Test your senses of sight, smell, sound and touch to understand how you can make things better while you stock your fridge full of healthy food options.

Creating a depression-proof home is possible.

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Eric Patterson
Eric Patterson, LPC is a professional counselor in western Pennsylvania working for the last 10 years to help children, teens and adults achieve their goals and live happier lives. Read more about Eric and his writing at www.ericlpattersonwriting.com. See all of Eric's articles
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