Proactive Ways to Beat Depression and Anxiety

Why look for ways to beat depression and anxiety if you're feeling just fine? Good question! The truth is that everyone should be proactive about warding off negative emotions such as stress and unhappiness because they're bound to sneak up on you if you don't. Consider these three strategies for maintaining a peaceful and happy existence no matter what challenges life throws your way.

• Pay It Forward

It's easy to get caught up in our everyday lives and forget the needs of other people. We're all guilty of it. With our busy work schedules, demanding family and social lives, and the never-ending to-do list, we're lucky to have time to take care of ourselves, much less others, but did you know that doing unto others can have an equally positive effect on the giver as on the recipient? It's true! Lending a helping hand simply feels good. Plus, paying it forward means that you're due an act of kindness in the future-likely when you need it the most! Paying it forward doesn't have to be complicated or even time-consuming. Do what you can when you can, and the rewards will quickly add up.

• Schedule In Variety

Do you ever feel like you do the same things over and over again day after day? Many of us live by a schedule that can become painfully redundant if we're not careful. Humans need to be exposed to different sights, scenes, and experiences, though. After all, there's a reason they say variety is the spice of life! If you're feeling like you're in a rut, take the chance to change things up a bit. No matter how locked in your schedule appears, there are things you can do to introduce variety. Take a different route to work, for instance, or make a bigger change by picking up a new hobby or activity. When life becomes less boring, you'll find that attempting to beat depression isn't such an arduous feat after all.

• Plan Ahead

When researching how to treat anxiety, you may have been advised to live in the moment and enjoy the present. While it's true that being in the now can have a calming effect, it's important to also plan ahead for a peaceful life. If you're a chronic procrastinator or you find yourself always playing catch-up, then you can bet that stress will find its way to you, creating lots of unnecessary anxiety and mood swings. In order to beat depression and learn how to treat anxiety proactively, you need to get a handle on your schedule. This means applying good organization and time management skills to your everyday life. Ask yourself, "what can I do today to make tomorrow less stressful?"

It's easy to get lazy during the calmer stretches of life. Resist the temptation, though! If you're proactive about your personal development practice, then you'll have the tools to beat depression and you'll know how to treat anxiety when things get tough.

Check out http://www.clearyourstress.com/ for more tips and great information on how to overcome anxiety and beat depression.

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Powerful Thinking - How to Think Yourself Happy and Out of Worry, Anxiety and Stress

The thoughts we focus on affect our energy levels either empowering or draining us. Over time the impact of negative and fear-based thoughts leads to stress, anxiety, depression and general poor well-being.

Does this sound like you?

When we allow our negative thoughts through focusing on them to hook us into worrying and fearful ways of looking at our life, we lose the will, ability, energy to do the things that inspire us.

Does this sound like you?

Most people are focusing negatively on themselves and find it easy to argue for their limitations, talking about, what they can't do or can't have or can't be. It's a habit of thinking that most people have learnt. Like any bad habit it can be changed.

Does this sound like you?

Most people aren't aware of what quantum physics says about "thinking". It's a fact that there is evidence to suggest that just our focus on an atom changes it.

Imagine the difference between that focus being positive or negative and you have the essence of how you can change your life through thinking positively, and arguing for your unlimited potential.

We all know this as a truth because we know that positive people are happier. Some people find it more difficult to believe things that they haven't seen with their own eyes or something that undermines an old belief. Most people don't know that a belief is a thought that has grown with negative or positive focus into an absolute. Your belief may seem true to you but it doesn't mean it is.

The truth is we're using invisible forces all the time and not questioning it. I don't know anyone who questions the Law of Gravity anymore, do you? I don't know anyone who doesn't use electricity because they don't understand how it works, do you? We use lots of things that we don't understand.

So, try on this concept and free yourself of worry, anxiety and stress.

Your thoughts are energy and become things and circumstances. Just pretend that it's true and give yourself the chance to experience the benefits of believing in it temporarily. You'll feel just like a skeptic who discovers the amazing ability to illuminate his living room by finding that a light switch has miraculously appeared on his wall, banishing the need for candles!

Give yourself a day and decide only to focus on the positive elements of every situation...so, for example, if you're driving in your car and someone pulls out in front of you, choose the positive view and see the best in the other driver. Find a positive reason that they had to pull in front of you, something like they were stressed because they had an argument with their son or daughter. Search for the positive aspect and decide to believe it instead of the negative.

Write down the results. What did you notice? How did you feel? What differences were there? What did other people notice about you? How did other people respond to you? What did you learn? What were the benefits of thinking positively?

To supercharge your life and learn how to achieve your goals quicker, visit http://www.fayhartwell.com. Fay can help you get clear on what you want and teach you the strategies you need to overcome your obstacles. Don't get in your own way, you deserve to achieve your goals and be happy!

Sign up for a FREE e-book called "7 Steps to Being Happy" and email Fay for a FREE 30 minute coaching session to work on your goals.

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How to Deal With Depression and Anxiety

Coping with depression or anxiety, in whatever form or degree, can be very crippling for the individual suffering as it affects their daily living as well as their ability to think and reason soundly.

Not being able to cope easily with everyday living will certainly affect their survival potential at home, at work, with family, friends and relationships. Not only will the depression sufferer be affected by the problem but also those related to, or in contact with them.

So it is in everyone's interest to help someone suffering from depression!

The Common "Treatment" for Depression

When dealing with depression the usual recourse in trying to overcome the signs and symptoms of feeling depressed is by visiting your doctor, health care practitioner or psychiatrist, whereby the chance of a psychotropic drug or two is prescribed to "help" you cope. But does this really handle the problem of overcoming depression? Or does it just mask the problem with a chemical overcoat?

There is much controversy over the "chemical imbalance in the brain" theory, due to the fact that there is no evidence to support this and no actual tests are ever carried out by a doctor or psychiatrist to establish if in fact the depressed person has a "chemical imbalance".

What a doctor can and should do in the first instance, if treating a patient who is depressed or suffering from depression, is to do a thorough physical check-up of the body to determine if there are any organ malfunctions or problems as well as any other physical problems that could be causing the depressed state. There should also be a check-up to see if the body is suffering from a vitamin or mineral deficiency, and if so, natural supplements should be prescribed to balance out that deficiency.

Take a Walk to Help with Depression

This may seem simplistic in view but taking a walk can help reduce the symptoms of depression or anxiety, and can have very therapeutic results.

Someone who is depressed or feeling anxious has, to some degree, their attention stuck or fixated inwardly on themselves or on a particular difficulty or loss, whether it is known or not, that is causing the depressed feeling. For example, if one had unexpectedly lost a loved one or a job then to some degree this causes shock and emotional pain. It can also be the case that someone you are connected with is constantly bullying or intimidating you, which causes you to introvert and feel bad about yourself and lose self-confidence.

These losses, shocks and difficulties cause one to fixate on the bad experiences which, over a period of time, can cause one to feel low or depressed. So, the purpose of taking a walk is to extrovert your attention by putting your attention onto the environment around you and taking it off of the shock, pain or bad experiences.

Now it's not just a case of going out and taking a ten minute stroll, you should go out and purposely look at things; you should look at and take note of the objects, houses, people, animals, the things around you. You should notice the pavement in front of your feet, you should look at the wall and the bricks and the weeds growing out of them, you should look at the person walking near you, etc, etc.

This is an actual practical exercise and if you continue to look, look, look, you will eventually find yourself paying more attention to the environment and less attention will be focused on your problems, or depression. It is difficult for someone to deal with their problems effectively if they are stuck in an abyss of a depressed state.

So with this task of taking a walk and looking, it needs to be continued until YOU notice some change for the better. It will be noticed after some time doing this exercise, a difference in attitude, or outlook of the environment, or just some degree of relief. This is a good point to stop. Do not go beyond this good point and do not stop the exercise until YOU notice a positive change.

There is no set length of time in doing this exercise as each person responds differently. It should be done as long as necessary for each individual and should be done on a daily basis.

Important Note: As this exercise is done it will usually occur that things will happen that may be discomforting in some way; you could feel some unwanted emotion or have irrational thoughts come to mind, or some such thing. This is just part of the exercise and you should continue to take a walk and look, look, look. If by doing the exercise some upset occurs then by continuing the exercise the upset will eventually desist. Just persevere and push through it.

Health Article: Dealing with Depression and Anxiety

Please share this article and help others deal with depression.

Theta Health http://www.thetahealth.co.za is a health and wellness website supplying vitamin supplements and health products in South Africa and is dedicated to helping people improve their health and wellbeing.

Our goal is "Making People Healthy and Happy!"

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5 Tips to That Help Depression, Anxiety and Stress

Here are 5 tips that help with stress, depression and anxiety. These are all natural things that you can do without seeing a doctor. They could help you beat your problems naturally.

1. Exercise Regularly

Exercise causes the release of endorphins that are helpful for both depression and anxiety. Exercising regularly will also reduce allow you to de-stress. When you need to blow off some steam, go for a walk, drive to the gym or do some yoga stretches. You can do yoga stretches in just a few minutes to relieve work-related stress and you won't even work up a sweat.

2. Do Deep Breathing Exercises

Many people are naturally shallow breathers. Training yourself to totally fill your lungs will help with anxious feelings and nervousness. Deep breathing exercises can be used to stop an anxiety attack. Simply breathe in for a count of 4. Hold the breath for a count of 4 and exhale slowly for a count of 4. This exercise stops the production of adrenalin and naturally relaxes your body.

3. Watch What You Eat

Some foods contain small amounts of nutrients that have some anti-depressant and anti-anxiety activity. Small amounts of tryptophan for example are found in turkey and cheese. Salt on the other hand can make you feel more anxious by raising your blood pressure. Processed foods and simple carbohydrates may make you feel sluggish and depressed because of their effects on your blood sugar levels.

4. Watch What You Drink

While a little alcohol might help you relax, it can also cause you to feel depressed. Excessive alcohol intake contributes to anxiety and depression. It also puts stress on your liver and other bodily organs.

Caffeine is a drug. Some doctors believe that many people are being treated with drugs for anxiety when they are actually suffering from caffeinism.

A small amount of caffeine can give you a boost. But many people are consuming a lot more than they should. Caffeine is a stimulant that causes your body to release adrenalin. Adrenalin is the main cause of panic attacks.

5. Increase Your Nutrient Intake

Depression and anxiety are symptoms of many different kinds of nutritional deficiencies. While you might think that your diet is giving you enough nutrients, you are probably missing out on some of the more important ones.

Omega-3 fatty acids for example are lacking in the typical American diet. The essential healthy fats are found primarily in fatty fish like tuna and salmon. Unless you are eating at least two servings of salmon, tuna or another fatty fish every week, you are not getting enough of a specific omega-3 called DHA.

Low blood levels of DHA are associated with an increased risk of depression. Fish oil supplements have proven to be beneficial for people with depression, anxiety and attention deficit disorders. The brain needs DHA to function properly.

5-HTP is another beneficial nutrient. It is not found in large enough quantities in foods to work as an anti-depressant. Supplements containing 5-HTP and other beneficial nutrients are available. Those supplements can help you fight depression, stress and anxiety naturally.

Please click the How to Treat Depression, Stress and Anxiety Naturally link below in the resource author box.

Thanks for reading the article. There is a lot more health information tips on my website - all free. I would like to invite you to visit http://www.HealthyBodySupplements.com - Treat Depression, Stress and Anxiety Naturally

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