Next page: Tips for Good Sleep, Previous page: General Lifestyle Advice, Top: Demystifying Depression I will now make a brief description of the typical daily routine. This advice assumes that the person is in a serious condition, but there are still a few good pointers to extract even for mildly depressed individuals. Also, as the condition improves, one does not need to be as rigorous as in the early stages. Take your time to do the morning activities You surely do not want to rev up your body immediately after waking up! Take your time to get up, to shower, to get dressed, and to breakfast. If it takes you less than one hour and a half to perform these activities, then you are doing them too quickly. Take a walk in the morning The idea is to have a qualitative walk. Pay attention to the colours around you, to the smells, the sounds, the shapes, the people, etc. This will help to diffuse your thoughts, and to avoid the obsessive thinking that accompanies depression. Also, since you must limit physical activity, walking every morning is important for your body to burn excess sugar. Walk for about half an hour, and do not forget: lie down for another half an hour afterwards! (Remember Figure 3: your body will take longer than usual to get back to normal). Find an activity that gives you pleasure Like gardening, painting, or bird-watching. Eat properly and avoid heavy meals Digestion is also quite demanding on your body, and therefore it is better to have more meals rather than bigger meals. Also, a depression is really a bad time to be thinking of diets. Eat well and make sure you get all your nutrients. Some people also swear by the importance of drinking water regularly during the day. The rationale is that dehydration is a stress event, thus triggering the physiological reaction we aim to avoid. Have a siesta Even if you cannot sleep, it is important that you lie down for a while until your body is (relatively) rested. We all have a natural dip after lunch, and it is a pity that some modern societies have lost the siesta habit. Next page: Tips for Good Sleep, Previous page: General Lifestyle Advice, Top: Demystifying Depression
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