One of the things people most often mention in practice is a feeling of depression. Often they are not interesting in seeking a diagnosis (which is good because I don’t provide one, being a counsellor and not a pychologist), but are looking for ways to manage and improve what they’re feeling.

So while I neither diagnose nor prescribe, I do recommend a few lifestyle changes over a few weeks, which include:

1. Sit outside, on the ground, for five minutes a day. Get your hands onto the ground, and your bare feet if possible. This has the effect of grounding and de-stressing you. Medical research tells us this simple act balances the often over-active positive electron charge in the body (which will be even greater if you use any kind of modern electrical appliance like a phone or computer), by boosting the negative electron charge we get from the earth. People who meditate often consciously ground themselves, and if you’d like to meditate of course you can to do that. But simply sitting on the ground with at least some part of your skin in contact with the earth, is a great start.
2. Take fish or flax oil, for its Omega 3 content. Most people are deficient in this essential nutrient, and our brains absolutely need it to function. I recommend you work up to about 6000mg per day. Personally I have 3000mg in the morning and 3000mg in the evening.
3. Pay attention to your sleep patterns, and aim to develop a regular pattern of about eight hours of good sleep per night. Seep researcher and psychologist Ivan Tyrrell says we need to be asleep for about four hours before our brain enters a delta state – a long slow brainwave where our brain basically defrags itself, stores away all the day’s input, and reboots itself, fresh and clean for the next day. You need to be in the delta state (also called REM sleep) for 60 – 90 minutes to get the full impact of the reboot. If you find it difficult to sleep, read this article on improving your sleep.
4. Walk at a moderate pace, where ever you want to, for about half an hour about five times a week. If you want to do it daily, that’s great too. If you prefer to swim, even better! Moving your body gets all the fluids in your body moving as well, and triggers feel-good brain chemicals. You might not feel better immediately, but it will only take a couple of days to start getting a change.
5. Reduce the amount of sugar in your diet. If you think you don’t eat much sugar, consider how much white food you eat. White foods like bread and pasta are very refined, which means they digest very quickly and end up as glucose in your bloodstream very quickly. Glucose spikes can play havoc with your mood. I’m not saying stop eating refined foods immediately, I am saying eat them as part of a balanced diet, balanced with good leafy greens, some fruit, potatoes, brown rice, and so on. Some depression researchers say that removing the sugar from your diet is the cure; and it’s pretty drastic for most people. Moderation in all things was granny’s rule, and it’s just as applicable today.
6. Eat a cooked potato half an hour before bedtime. This will give your brain a tryptophan boost just before you wake in the morning, and help get your mood into a good place for the day. For more on managing depression with food, read Kathleen Des Maison’s Potatoes Not Prozac – a truly excellent book!

Now, a big part of this change is actually giving yourself permission to take care of yourself. In our often-crazily busy world, self-care is the last thing on our minds. It’s the one thing we must do though, that guarantees we will be effective in the other areas of our lives. If the idea of putting yourself first makes you feel uncomfortable, perhaps you’d benefit by working your way through my Personal Peace Journal. It’s free, written by me, tried and testing by hundreds of people, no strings attached – click here to access it.

Remember also that these suggestions are not a whole solution, they are though a good starting place to help you get the energy you need to examine your life, and see what it is you want and need to be doing differently. And then you can choose to allow yourself to make those changes.