Depression, Anxiety, and More: Finding a Way Out of Pharmatherapy

When we hear the term "mental health condition" we usually immediately think of some sort of medication. For many decades, treating any kind of anxiety and depression, let alone more severe conditions like psychosis, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, using medications has been very common if not even popular. Up till now, popping pills at any sign of distress is a norm in movies about relationships or life in general.

The humanity seems to have lost a way to cope with stress naturally after it saw the rise of psychopharmacology in the 1950s. It began with the introduction of chlorpromazine, the first antipsychotic medication, followed by imipramine, the first antidepressant. From then on, an easy (or at least a much easier) fix to negative

emotions, overwhelment, and grief completely outshadowed any other way of copying with life problems. As of 2023, antidepressants alone generate $14.8 billion a year. The revenue is projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2030. The state of the mental health worldwide, however, has not been worse in the history of time.

My intention here is not to have everyone off the meds - if what you do is helping, then, by all means, continue the treatment. However, there's more to keep in check whether or not you're medicating your stress, anxiety, and depression or are just considering doing it.

I've battled depression and anxiety since teenage years. I won't deny that some people are more prone to mental health conditions than others, but, looking back and analyzing my lifestyle, I'm not surprised that my mental health wasn't in its best state when I got more conscious about it. Some of my factors were traumatic childhood experiences (who didn't have those!), poor nutrition, and sleep deprivation (I suffered from sleep paralysis and used to forcefully keep myself awake all night sleeping only during early morning hours), just to name a few.

When I got into Health & Wellness, a fair share of research, my own experimentation, and feedback from helping others eventually helped me narrow it down to a few major factors that can naturally mess up with our mental health. Whenever I fall off track (cos I am human, like everyone else) and get back to this checklist, it always ALWAYS helps. Other articles in this category will provide more detailed information, but here is a list of factors that can critically affect mental health that you totally keep under control by yourself FOR FREE. We need to get these right whether we are taking medications or experiencing problems with mental health bad enough to consider taking anything for a relief:

• Nutrition

If you're not in charge of what you eat, what you eat will be in charge of you. More articles about food and mental health will be coming up, but for now, most of us already know that staying away from processed food and added sugar as much as possible, avoiding alcohol overconsumption, and keeping hydrated is the best way to love yourself. Making sure you are getting enough of Vitamin D and magnesium is another thing to keep in mind. Poor nutrition leads to brain inflammation, nutrients and minerals deficiency, and disrupted gut health that, together with stress and environmental toxins, takes you down the rabbit hole of compromised mental health.

• Sleep

Often ignored, sacrificed, and underestimated in the modern culture where we all are trying to do more, sleep is actually our way back into better mental health. If only we could sleep every time we wanted to have a drink, inhale a box of donuts, or decompress scrolling or binge-watching on Netflix, our mental health statistics would look much much better. Without a good night's sleep, our nutrition and workouts, no matter how dilligent we are, will not bring the benefits they could otherwise. Sleep is the last thing we should ever sacrifice. I always say: "If I have a choice between a meal and a nap, I'll always choose a nap." At times, life gets hectic, but we need to set our priorities right.

In case with depression, energy levels drop badly, and we may find ourselves sleeping more than usual (which is actually one of the signs of depression). It is worth noting that, while sleep is the body's way to repair itself and, out of all self-destructive things a depressed person may do, sleep is the least dangerous, too much of it is as bad for the body as too little of it. Roughly, by too much, we mean more than 10 hours and by too little we mean less than 6. Why? Because if we sleep longer than 10 hours and still don't feel rested, the quality of sleep is most probably very low.

• Movement and Exercising

Human body is designed to move, and modern life gives it fewer and fewer opportunities to do so. I often hear from my clients that they move around a lot - they have children, they clean their houses, they have physically active or demanding jobs, etc. I myself used to say this. As a former nursery teacher and a mom who used to do all the housework, I used to say that too. However, the truth is - if our movement doesn't improve the size and quality of our muscles, we are just spending energy and getting ourselves tired. The quality of our skeletal muscle determines our survivability when it comes to diseases, as well as our overall longevity. We need not only moving around - we need functional exercises to prevent injuries in older years combined with strength training to give us as much independence as possible when we are older.

When it comes to exercising for mental health, the major benefits are increased blood circulation to the brain and reduced reactivity to stress. Exercising, just like cold or heat exposure (e.g. cold shower, ice bath, sauna), is self-induced stress. While it stresses the body out in the moment, it makes it less stress-reactive in the long run. The moment our muscles get activated during exercising, magic starts happening (well, science, not magic!) and improvements in mood are bound to happen.

• Exposure to Nature

Nature is my #1 depression cure. And yes, I understand that living in a big city, a lot of us don't have an opportunity to walk barefoot or sit under a tree. But that's where lifestyle changes come into play - if we know we're prone to depression (you know your family history better), the goal of our entire life is to develop a lifestyle that keeps us as far away from triggers as possible. Stick with this goal and work your way around your home and office life. Maybe it's bringing as much nature to your apartment as possible in the form of plants, essential oils, nature sounds, waterfalls, etc or maybe it's organizing your life in a way that would prioritize your contact with nature (say, going to the park/beach/forest mid-week and/or on weekends). I moved away from the city and got a dog so that I had an excuse to leave the house twice a day. There is a huge difference between sitting on top of a dune or hiking alone and doing the same, but with your dog!

How does exposure to nature contribute into our mental health? It's activation of all our senses at the same time, which doesn't happen a lot in the city life. It's also interaction with different bacteria, exposure to animals and wildlife, different smells, colors, textures. Finally, nature is fractal - trees, leaves, bark, rocks, clouds, ocean waves - when we look at them, there are always smaller parts and patterns they break down into. It's like a meditation for our brain, and it helps us quiet our thoughts and stay in the present.

• Journalling and Gratitude Practices

If you know you tend to sink very low at times, consider making some kind of a mindfulness practice your daily routine - it's not what you do when depression hits you, it's what you do to prevent it.

When was the last time you held a pen in your hand and wrote a passage about anything? Writing is an active form of thinking, and us switching to keyboards took away this powerful tool that would help us focus before. No matter where you are in life, you've got things to be grateful for - and I know from my personal experience that, when you're depressed, it doesn't feel like this, but getting better starts with appreciating the basics (and yes, I've been where I didn't have even that or was about to lose even that!) Putting your thoughts on a paper IN WRITING, doodling, painting, or doing anything with your hands is known as effort-driven rewards that change chemical processes in the body related to our mood. We abandoned those activities, and we keep working on minimizing our input into any kind of creations (aka AI, don't get me started on this!), and we keep wondering why mental illnesses are on the rise.

Those 5 are my personal priorities and things that I'm ticking off when I feel that something is going on with my mood. Working on your mindset is critical at all times, but it's a topic for a totally different article. Stay tuned and connected - my social media stories offer daily wellness tips!

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