10 Depression-Fighting Mood-Boosters

Here are 10 Depression-Fighting Mood Boosters:

1. Cardio Exercise: Fitness inherently makes you feel good thanks to the release of endorphins in your brain. It is naturally a feel-good method that chemically alleviates stress, think more clearly (thanks to fresh oxygen pumping through your brain) and gives you new uplifted perspective. Yes, it’s proven. At least 30 minutes of moderate to high-intensity cardio exercise is optimal to get those endorphins pumping.


2. Tai Chi: The Eastern practice forces you to focus on your breath, refreshing your blood and brain with fresh oxygen so you can think more clearly, getting out of your racing head and focusing on the moment, and taking time to focus on yourself.

3. Eat Protein: Protein helps boost dopamine (the happy chemical) production in the brain. Foods like chicken, turkey, tuna, lean meats, and beans are great sources.



4. Eat Carbs: Thanks to their ability to trigger the release of serotonin (another happy-making chemical), carbs are natural mood lifters.


5. Take A Walk: Considered to be a “happy pill” by many and “man’s best medicine” by Hippocrates, a simple walk can have seriously profound effects. Up the helping power by doing a walking color meditation by simply imagining with every step that your sadness is oozing form your body like puddles you are leaving behind. Assign that sadness a color. Then refill your body with another color- the color that represents happiness. It sounds hokey, but it works.



6. Play: Play with your dog or your child and suddenly things will be put into perspective. Watch them take such joy in rolling on the ground, throwing the ball, playing hide and seek! You won’t be able to help buy laugh.

7. Window Shopping: If you want to take plunge (and it won’t stress you out even more)- buy something. But you don’t have to in order to benefit from the natural shopping high you can get just by looking at all of the pretty things, bright colors, and smiling salespeople.


8. Pamper Yourself: Just stop stressing for a seconds and do something just for you like taking a bath, painting your nails, applying a homemade mask made of honey or whole fat yogurt (both are natural exfoliators and the easiest 1-Ingredeint Facial)



9. Play Video Games or Watch a Movie: Get out of your head for a little while by watching a movie that really envelops your mind or playing your favorite video game.

10. Yogic Valium: “Meditation on the White Swan” is a Kundalini Yoga move said to have mind-easing effects similar to taking a valium.
-Sit up straight in easy pose (legs crossed “Indian style”).
-Make fists with your hands and hold them up, palms facing out, 6 inches away from    
your eyes.
-Extend your thumbs and press the tips firmly together until they become white.
-Let the last joint of the thumb relax and bend down, pointing towards the floor.
-Stare at the white tips of your thumbs.
-Close your eyes and mentally see your thumb tips.
-Breathe deeply.
-On the inhale say to yourself, “Sat,” (truth) and on the exhale say to yourself, “Nam”
(identity). Combined, Sat Nam means “truth is my identity.”
-Repeat for 5 to 11 minutes

(Note: This is not a remedy for depression. If you suffer from serious depression, you should contact a doctor. This is meant to make you feel better and lift your spirits.)

<<Adopted from http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/10-depression-fighting-mood-boosters-2470707/;_ylt=AmwYH.6E2jg8JGkknsf7vr1abqU5>>