How to Overcome Depression Naturally Without Drugs [These 7 things helped me!]

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Dealing with depression is awful. (Thanks Captain State-The-Obvious)

No but really it is.

I suffered badly from it for around five years. I have been suicidal, had times where I just didn’t function and times where life was so overwhelming I couldn’t cope.

I still get bad days of course, but I would firmly say I have overcome depression.

So today I wanted to share the seven things that helped me overcome depression naturally without drugs because these things might help you too!

Disclaimer: If you think you have depression or know you have depression make sure you go see a medical professional.

And run anything by your Doctor that you’re trying out so they’re kept up to speed on your situation and can let you know if something is safe to try or not.

I’m not joking. Go see your Doctor. Even if you don’t want to take antidepressants (I didn’t) just make sure you’re checking in with your Doc.

Ready to find out what really helped my depression?

Then let’s get started!

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THE 7 THINGS THAT HELPED CURE MY DEPRESSION

1 – 5HTP

I found out about 5HTP when I was going through a particularly bad patch, in fact I said I would try one last thing and if that didn’t help I would go on antidepressants.

(There are lots of reasons why I didn’t want to take antidepressants mainly due to previous family medical history.

Please if they work for you then take them and never feel shame for taking medication for your medical condition.)

At the time my Mum was reading a book about Big Pharma. One of the stories in the book was that prior to the invention of Prozac, people would take a Tryptophan supplement and that worked really well with no side effects for depression.

However, Big Pharma lobbied to make Tryptophan super difficult to get hold of in the USA, saying it was dangerous and unregulated, so they could sell Prozac instead.

Now I have no idea if this is true or not, but I decided that I would do some research and it seems Tryptophan was something used to help with depression a few years back and it had a good track record.

So I went to my local, very knowledgeable, health food shop and asked them about it.

They said that Tryptophan was great, but 5HTP was better as it was what Tryptophan would become in the body. Tryptophan is an amino acid your body uses to make serotonin, so 5HTP is one step closer to serotonin for your body.

So I went away with my bottle of 5HTP 100mg capsules and started taking it once a day. I eventually upped my dose to three times per day and was taking it for around 6 weeks before I noticed a difference.

But wow what a freaking difference it was.

I can honestly say that 5HTP made the biggest difference to my depression out of everything.

It got me to a point where I functioning again which allowed me to make more lifestyle changes to further improve my mental health, so if your Doctor says you can take it I would definitely recommend giving it a go.

In case you were wondering I took this 5HTP which you can get from Amazon.

*Do make sure you check with your doctor before taking 5HTP because it can’t be taken if you’re also taking antidepressant medication.

2 – THE BIG SIX

Something I really noticed was how easily my depression could be triggered. Like I would be having an acceptable day maybe feeling a tiny bit rough and bam, a full-blown depressive episode would happen.

So not cool.

My boyfriend realized that these were most common when I was trying to deal with a situation (like a problem at work or cleaning the house) alongside when I had neglected to fully look after myself.

In other words, I had neglected The Big Six.

I could do a lot of stuff and get a lot done (hello high functioning depression), like dealing with work issues, just not when I had neglected The Big Six as well.

I bet you really want to know what those Big Six are right? Well, they’re pretty obvious…

– Eating enough actual food

Not junk food. No human being ever has felt well from eating a load of junk food. At one point my Mum helped me set up a super easy meal plan that I could just follow without having to think about it and this was amazing for my mental health.

– Drinking enough

This was a particularly big one for me as I get migraines as well and a migraine combined with a depressive episode is so not good.

Oh yeah and drink water. Not juice, squash, tea, coffee, soda, just drink loads of water. You can have the other stuff as well but you need to get your 2 liters of water in first.

– Sleep enough

THIS!!! Get enough sleep, it’s so so so so so so so important. My best night’s sleep length is between 8 and 10 hours!

Also, if you have trouble sleeping make sure you aren’t looking at any electronic screens (mobile, laptop, tablet, TV) two to three hours before bed. Trust me it makes a massive difference.

– Exercise every day

Don’t feel you have to go crazy. Just get moving for 30 minutes each day; a walk is great. Although if you love the gym or classes then do that.

– Get outside at some point

I know it sounds stupid but at the end of the day, we are animals. We come from a more natural world and just getting outside, even if it’s just to put the bins out is a big help.

You could always combine your exercise with your outside time by going for a walk outside…

(Captain State-The-Obvious speaks again…)

– Socialize with an actual person

Humans are social animals. I know us introverts find this very hard to believe but it’s true.

Just find a couple of minutes out of your day to have an actual conversation with someone, even if it’s just about the weather!

So that’s The Big Six. I know they sound crazy obvious, but when you’re feeling super down it’s easy to neglect one or all of them, and things always fall apart quicker when you do.

Interestingly, after realizing these basic but important things were so crucial to my happiness I read this book which talks about the importance of a few very similar things and is well worth a read if you have depression.

3 – I IMPLEMENT A DAILY SELF-CARE ROUTINE

After realizing the importance of the BIG SIX and seeing how necessary PROPER self-care was to my happiness I created a daily self-care routine and my goodness did it work wonders.

I actually wrote a full post just on this routine which you can read here, but if you just want a super quick insight into my daily self-care routine checklist.

GRAB YOUR FREE DAILY SELF-CARE CHECKLIST

1- Take medication

2- Drink plenty of water

3- East actual food

4- Go for a walk outside for 30 mins

5- Socialize with another human being

6- Spend 10 mins cleaning or tidying area

7- Plan the next day

8- Go to sleep at a reasonable time

A FREE, PRINTABLE GIFT TO HELP IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH!

It’s such a quick little method and honestly it worked wonders for me both when my depression was really bad and even once I got over depression, and turning it into a checklist so I could just tick each item off each day was a real game changer.

And I’ve made my daily self-care checklist available as a free gift for you to download!

That way you can go over the daily self-care routine yourself and hopefully that will really help you implement those self-care practices that make the biggest difference in combating depression and improving your mental health.

Plus the checklist actually comes with some bonus planning your day printables and they’re just really fun to get your planning on and get your days organized!

You can grab the free checklist and printables below:

4 – I QUIT THE JOB I HATED TO DO SOMETHING I ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT

I get not everyone can do this, especially if you have kids or financial commitments. But quitting the job I hated gave me such a huge lift and improvement on my depression I couldn’t leave it out.

Assess your life and check whether your depression could be firmly rooted in your environment.

Are you in the wrong relationship?
A job you dislike?
Do you live somewhere that doesn’t bring you happiness?
Perhaps you’ve recently had a baby and are struggling to adjust (if that is you then this is a great resource that could help)

Or anything like that? I think we often underestimate how much our environment affects our mood. Even though it seems very obvious.

Just make sure you aren’t doing too much of something you hate, or even just doing too much of something you don’t really enjoy, because that could have a profoundly negative affect on your mental health.

5 – I DECLUTTERED MY HOUSE

My Mum and I had recently read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, which had made me considering just how much my “stuff” might be weighing me down, and that gave me the oopmft I needed to join the minimalism trend and declutter my home.

There is strong evidence that a tidy environment and a more minimalist approach to your possessions can have a positive effect on your mental state and I really can attest to that. Because for me it’s had a fantastically positive effect on my mood!

Plus that massive overwhelm I use to get when faced with having to tidy up (which when you have depression can get so so bad) is pretty much non-existent now.

I know it sounds a bit weird to suggest de-cluttering as a viable way of helping your depression but it really did work for me. In fact, it worked so well that I wrote an entire blog post on the ten ways minimalism can help you overcome anxiety and depression.

6 – I MASSIVELY REDUCED MY DECISION FATIGUE

Decision fatigue is a big thing. There is a reason why super successful people will often have the exact same morning routine every day or wear similar clothes (think Mark Zuckerberg wearing that same grey t-shirt each day).

It’s because they don’t want to spend their decision-making energy on thinking and making choices about things that just aren’t important.

You see we all have limited brain energy each day before we have to veg out and recharge. Some people can only do a couple of hours while others can do 12 plus…

But at some point we just run out of steam. This is when we start making bad decisions, like a takeaway or nothing for dinner, or deciding to watch Netflix until 4am. We just didn’t have the energy to make decisions anymore, or at least good decisions.

This is why routines and good habits are so important. They stop you from having to decide what you are going to do next.

I mean imagine how exhausted you would be if you consciously thought through every decision related to your morning shower.

What time should I get in the shower?
How warm should I have the water?
How much water should I have come out?
How long should I stay in the shower?
Shall I wash my body or not?
Which shower gel should I use?
How much shower gel should I use?
How long should I spend washing?
How long should I spend rinsing?
Should I wash my hair?
How much shampoo should I use?
How long should I spend washing?
How long should I spend rinsing?
Should I condition as well?
How much conditioner should I use?
How long should I leave the conditioner on?
How long should I spend rinsing?

Phew, and the showers not even finished yet.

Now imagine doing that for every task you complete each day. You would be completely exhausted!

Considering how hard it is to make decisions when you’re depressed, every choice just seems to be so difficult, you can understand why reducing decision fatigue can really help depression.

Three of the ways I reduced my own decision fatigue:

Having a meal plan so I didn’t have to decide what to eat, ever.
Decluttering and really reducing the number of clothes I owned making it much easier to pick something to wear each day.
Writing a to-do list for each day the night before, so I can just complete the tasks without having to decide what to do and when. This really increases productivity.

See where you seem to get stuck in your own life and then create an automation for that area.

For example, perhaps you find mornings and getting ready a massive struggle. If so, create a morning routine checklist so you literally just do the next task on your list until you’re done without having to think!

7 – I FOLLOWED A MEAL PLAN

I have touched on this a few times but it deserves its own spot because it did make such a massive difference to my depression when it was really bad.

Eating the right food is really important when you are unwell so having that process kind of automated for me was incredible.

Also, having had an eating disorder means that mealtimes can be fraught with panic and indecision, couple that with the depression and the meal plan was a lifesaver.

Now I’m feeling a lot better I enjoy not having a meal plan in place and being a little more creative and fun with my food.

Although saying that I do still plan all my dinners at the beginning of the week and have a few different breakfasts and lunches that I kind of rotate through. So really I am still meal planning, just in a slightly less regimented way.

But that strict meal plan was brilliant when I needed it and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again if my depression relapsed.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE TOP SEVEN THINGS THAT ACTUALLY HELPED ME OVERCOME DEPRESSION

1 – I took 5HTP.

2 – I did not neglect The Big Six

Eat enough good food
Drink enough water
Get enough sleep
Get 30 minutes of exercise each day
Go outside
Socialize with at least one person

3 – I implement a daily self-care routine checklist

Take medication
Drink plenty of water
East actual food
Go for a walk outside for 30 mins
Socialize with another human being
Spend 10 mins cleaning or tidying area
Plan the next day
Go to sleep at a reasonable time

4 – I quit a job I hated, so changed the negative in my environment

5 – I decluttered my house

6 – I reduced decision fatigue in my life

7 – I followed a meal plan

I know some of them seem a bit random but honestly, I credit these seven things to getting over depression. You may as well give them a try, I mean the worst that will happen is they won’t work for you.

But they could be the things that do!