17 Ways to Lift Your Spirits

There comes a point in all of our lives when we come to a stark realization: Life sometimes isn’t very fun. The realities of day-to-day existence are challenging, and setbacks common. Life may have been an eye-opening adventure in our youth, our teens, even our 20s, but as time passes, the glee of living gets harder to sustain.
Most of us cope just fine with this fact. With age, exuberance and excitement get replaced by a more subtle but deeper joy. We have families we love, jobs that are meaningful, friends that care, hobbies and vacations that provide real pleasure, accumulated wisdom that gives us a sense of value and uniqueness.
But rare is the person who doesn’t encounter times of major loss or challenge along the way. And for millions of people, the path of life occasionally takes us through the dark regions of depression. Often it is a negative event, or a sequence of events, that triggers this condition. Sometimes it is a shift in our attitudes — from a life half-full to a life half-empty — that brings it on.
And sometimes it is body chemistry itself — an imbalance in the chemicals of the brain that deprives you of the feel-good hormones and casts a long shadow on your moods and emotions.
Depression is a serious condition, demanding a doctor’s treatment. Here we aren’t trying to give you a diagnosis or treatment — that’s for professionals to do. But even if you are taking medication for depression, the following lifestyle tactics may increase the drug’s effectiveness. If you’re simply feeling low, they may give you the boost you need to pull out of it and help you avoid adding another expensive prescription to your list.
1. Spend at least one hour each week with a close friend. In a British study, when 86 depressed women were paired with a volunteer friend, 65 percent of the women felt better. In fact, regular social contact worked as effectively as antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. Regular social contact with a close friend may boost self-confidence and encourage you to make other positive changes that will help lift depression, such as starting an exercise program. Speaking of which — start an exercise program!
2. Eat seafood twice a week or more. A Dutch study found that people who consume diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a type of fat found in cold-water fish such as salmon and mackerel, were less likely to suffer from depression than people whose diets were low in this important fat. Another study, this one conducted in England, found that pregnant women who didn’t eat fish had twice the rate of depression as women who ate 10 ounces of fish a day. In fact, one reason researchers think the rate of depression has skyrocketed in this country is that we get so few omega-3 fatty acids in our diets. Another good idea for getting your omega-3s: Keep a container of ground flaxseed in the fridge. Use it to sprinkle on everything from ice cream to yogurt to cheese omelets. Mix it into muffin mix, shakes, and salad dressings. Flaxseed is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.
3. Play with a dog a few minutes every day. When non-pet owners played with a dog for just a few minutes a day as part of a University of Missouri study, blood levels of the brain chemicals serotonin and oxytocin — both mood elevators — rose. You don’t need to own a dog to experience these feel-good effects (although dogs are great antidotes to the kind of chronic stress that can result in depression). Pet your neighbor’s dog for a few minutes a day, volunteer at an animal shelter, or stop by your local pet store for some furry one-on-one therapy.
4. Take 600 milligrams of chromium picolinate a day if you have depression and insulin resistance. This mineral may improve function of the hormone insulin, which, in turn, may help normalize levels of the mood-boosting brain chemical serotonin. In a study completed at Duke University, people with atypical depression — characterized by mood swings, carbohydrate cravings, weight gain, and lethargy — boosted their mood and reduced their carbohydrate cravings and other symptoms when they began supplementing their diet with chromium. Consult your doctor first, though.
Take a Time Out
5. Eat a bowl of fortified breakfast cereal or take a multivitamin every day. This will ensure you consume the recommended amount (400 micrograms) of folate, an important B vitamin that may help lift depression. Folate and other B vitamins help maintain nerve and blood cells, used in brain reactions and essential for the production and function of a number of mood-boosting brain chemicals. In a Finnish study published in the Journal of Nutrition, participants with the lowest folate consumption were at the highest risk for depression. Another study, published in the Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, found this vitamin helps enhance the effectiveness of antidepressant medication. Another good source? Avocados. They’re one of the richest plant sources of B vitamins.
6. Get a 12-minute massage three times a week. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. Whether you pay a professional or ask a spouse or friend to rub your back, the result is the same: a natural mood boost. In a study of depressed dialysis patients, participants who received a 12-minute massage three times a week were less depressed than those who didn’t get the soothing rub. Another study of 84 depressed pregnant women found those who received two 20-minute massages a week from their partners reduced their incidence of depression 70 percent. Researchers suspect massage boosts serotonin levels (which jumped 17 percent in the women who received twice-weekly massages) and reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
7. Pull an all-nighter. Staying up all night for one night — and therefore depriving yourself of sleep — has been shown to lift depression for as long as a month. Although researchers aren’t sure why it works, they speculate that one night of sleep deprivation may reset the sleep clock, enabling people who are depressed to sleep better.
8. Eat a whole wheat English muffin smothered with jam. When you consume high-carbohydrate foods — such as the muffin with jam — you encourage the amino acid tryptophan to flood your brain, boosting serotonin levels. A slice of whole wheat bread slathered with honey or a snack of air-popped popcorn will also produce the same effect. Why the emphasis on whole grain? White flour provides similar benefits, but the effects wear off quickly, taking you from peak to valley in an hour or so.
9. Just bang on something. Employees at a retirement community who took a drumming class felt more energetic and less depressed six weeks after the class than before they started it. Researchers speculate that drumming helps to relax your body. Whacking a few notes out on your desk may help, but joining a weekly drumming circle may help more, particularly since it provides camaraderie with others, which, as noted earlier, also helps with depression.
10. Take a 10-minute walk three times a day during the winter. Many people feel depressed during the winter months, when they travel to and from work in darkness and don’t get enough natural sunlight. Physical exercise, however, encourages the release of hormones and neurochemicals that boost mood, says Richard Brown, M.D., associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and coauthor of Stop Depression Now. Walking outside during the day will give you a few short doses of sunlight, also shown to boost mood, particularly in the winter.

Welcome Change
11. First thing in the morning, lie on your back with your head hanging over the edge of your bed. Grip a 5- or 10-pound dumbbell with both hands and extend it behind your head, letting your arms hang down toward the floor. Take 10 deep breaths, trying to expand your rib cage as much as possible. Bring the weight back and place it on the bed beside you. Scoot onto the bed so your head is supported, and take another 10 deep breaths. Repeat three times. The stretch will open your rib cage and chest, making it easier to take a deep breath. “The most common unrecognized source of mild depression is restricted trunk flexibility that interferes with full respiration,” says Bob Prichard, a biomechanist and director of Somax Sports in Tiburon, California. “Most people with mild depression are shallow breathers because their chest and stomach are too tight to allow full, easy breathing,” he says.
12. Drink one to two cups of coffee or tea each morning. Regular, modest caffeine intake decreases the risk of depression by more than 50 percent, says Edward J. Cumella, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and director of research and education for the Remuda Ranch Treatment Centers in Wickenburg, Arizona.
13. Look in the mirror and force your lips into a smile. “Research shows that the physiology of smiling actually makes you feel happy,” Dr. Cumella says. If you need a little extra help in the smile department, watch a funny movie, read the comics, buy a Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes collection, or ask a friend to tell you one joke every day.
14. Sleep in a different bedroom. Many people with depression also have insomnia. Switching your sleep location can help, says Dr. Cumella. You can also reduce insomnia by getting up at the same time every day, never napping for more than 20 minutes, shunning caffeine after 3 p.m., and relaxing for an hour before bed.
15. Go easy on yourself. When something goes wrong, resist the urge to mentally beat up on yourself. “Give yourself permission to be a human being and not a human doing,” says Karl D. La Rowe, a licensed clinical social worker and mental health investigator in Oregon. When you catch yourself mentally berating yourself for some supposed failing, replace your negative thoughts with the phrase “I am doing the best I know how to do. When I know a better way and can do it, I will.”
16. Break out of your routine today. Sometimes being stuck in a rut is just that. Get out of it and your mood may come along with you. Take a day off from work and go explore a town nearby. Go out to a restaurant for dinner — even though it’s a Tuesday night. Take a different route as you drive to work, wear something that is totally “not you,” or take your camera and go on a photography hike. For a major blue mood, consider that it might be time for you to take a vacation.
17. Get a day of vigorous outdoor recreation, like hiking, canoeing, or biking. Let the combination of nature and physical activity work their magic on your mood.

Source: http://www.rd.com/health/17-ways-to-lift-your-spirits/