Depression treatment

I always thought I wouldn’t have sleeping problems. Usually, I’ve slept for 7 - 8 hours every day, waking up and not feeling any lack of sleep. But that has changed in the last few weeks. It was midnight or past midnight and I couldn’t get to sleep, so I was thinking a lot in my bed or rewinding old memories. Anyway, when I finally could visit the sandman, it was like 1 am or something. All cool, but in the morning I was waking at 6.30 AM!!

Five and a half hours, that’s really not enough. Through the day I was being in a trance-like state, not beeing fully aware of myself. My mood was shitty too. So I’ve decided to do something about it. I’ve read that it’s good to sleep in a FULLY DARK room, so no light can come in and disturb your sleeping. This was a problem in my room, because the windows curtains are not fully covering the windows, so light can come in in the early morning and trigger my waking up center in the brain. That’s why I’ve bought a SLEEPING GLASSES (I’m not sure if that’s the correct word for it, but I guess you know what I mean). My sleeping improved and I could also fall a sleep in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Next thing I did was not drinking too much water (or other liquids) before getting to bed. Sometimes I just wake up in the middle of the night because I have to take a leak. So, no more water drinking after 9 PM! After some research, I’ve also found out that you shouldn’t exercise a lot before sleeping (because a high heart rate won’t let you sleep) and you shouldn’t watch horror flicks.

Ok, let’s recap what helps if you’re not getting enough sleep:

• make sure no light comes into your room
• get sleeping glasses for total darkness
• do not exercise a lot before getting to bed
• don’t do anything that upsets you before getting to bed (like watching a horror movie or playing an exciting video game)

These simple steps should improve your sleep. They did mine. I would like to hear from you about your sleeping problems and sollutons too. Just drop me a comment here. Thanks.

Three months ago, I was invited on a soccer game. I could run for 5 minutes or so, then I was totally out of breath. And we played for 2 hours! You can imagine the torture I’ve experienced that day. So, I’ve decided to start to do something for my stamina.

Two days after that, I’ve started to run. There’s a nice forest not far away from here and I ran there before but not regulary. This time it should be different. I tried to do jogging or running for 3 times per week. I remember the first two weeks I had some pain in my leg muscles, but that went away after 3 weeks or so. It’s perhaps because I didn’t warm up enough before every run.

Anyway, I tried to jogg three to four times per week on a regular basis. And that was 3 months ago and I’m still doing it! Not only am I in better physical shape (those lil’ fat bumps around the belly dissapeared), but I also feel better each time I run. And my soccer improved too. I can now run for 1.5 hours without beeing out of breath.

That’s why I highly recommend that you go out and start jogging, running or whatever. Could also be biking, swimming, walking. Just go out, don’t be in your room the whole day!

You always hear people (parents, friends…) talk that we should go out in the sun and have fun. And not to stay in our homes. Because sun is great for our mood. And it’s true. I always feel better when I’m outdoors for a couple of hours. But it doesn’t have to be so long.

20 minutes in the sun can be a real mood booster too. Just try it out. Don’t force yourself to stay indoors for too long. Yesterday, I was lying outdoors - enjoying the sunrays and I felt great afterwards. And today I’ll do the same thing (plus some bicycling!). Do yourself a favour and go out today! Next time I’ll talk about chocolate as a natural antidepressant.