PNW Blues…

You always hear, write what you know. Share about you. Well, every year when the season changes, I start to feel depression kicking in. Living in the PNW, I hear about this pretty often, the sunny months are not nearly long enough. I’m writing this post for you, but I’m really writing it for myself. I need reminding that there are tools to help me get past the funk I’m in. I’m not a doctor, I’m just sharing the things that I know have helped me with this every year. A lot of the tools I’ll be referencing came from doing Dr. Neil Nedley’s Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program. I became a facilitator for the program, and it really helped me to learn to watch out for my triggers.

Right now, I don’t want to work out. I don’t want to get out of bed, it’s not like me to stay in there until 10 am. I want to eat ALL the foods I don’t normally allow myself to eat. I’m sad, I cry at silly things. I know that this is me spiraling downward, and I need to do the things I don’t want to do to be able to get myself back to me.

In 2017, an estimate of 17.3 million adults in the United States experienced some type of depression. That’s 7.1% of all U.S. adults. Women have a higher risk for depression than men do. Depression is nothing to be ashamed of, it happens. Don’t let it take over your life, there are lots of affordable ways to help fight it without taking an antidepressant. (BTW, I am not shaming anyone who takes an antidepressant. I’m trying to fight my depression other ways.)

How do I know if I’m depressed?

One of the most obvious signs of depression is feeling sad or empty inside. Take a look at some of these other signs. If you are feeling at least five of these for more than two weeks, you could be suffering with major depression.

• Sadness
• Loss of interest
• Slowing down
• Sleep disturbances or over sleeping
• Weight or appetite change
• Inability to focus
• Excessive exhaustion
• Feeling worthless
• Thoughts of death

What can trigger depression?

Our habits can create depression. But also our past, genetics, addictions, nutrition, our thinking, so many factors can contribute to it. There are actually more contributing factors than I can list, but because this is a “health blog” I’m going to focus on three categories. I believe that every aspect of life affects our health, and if you can improve it all, you’ll be living your best life.

Nutrition

We’ve become focused on fast and now diets. What can I eat right now for a reasonable price, am I right? Who wants to come home and slave over a hot stove after a long day of work? With all that comes cheap and not so good nutrition. Our brains require different nutrients to help keep it functioning properly.

There are a few simple nutrients we can include in our diet to help boost our brain health.

• Tryptophan – Eating foods with tryptophan helps us produce serotonin. Serotonin isn’t produced in any food, but we need to eat the foods that help to make it in our body. The frontal lobe is the largest maker of serotonin, and if the frontal lobe is low, that wreaks havoc with depression. If you could change one thing about your diet, I would say start with tryptophan, it’s a small and easy change. Try the toast/cereal topping recipe I’ve shared at the bottom of the page. Other food sources that are high in tryptophan are tofu, roasted pumpkin seeds, gluten flour, sesame seeds, and almonds. There are more food sources, but these are all over 300 mg/100grams. I’m all about more bang for your buck.
• Omega-3 – No, fat isn’t the enemy. Our brain is mostly fat, it makes sense that if we are neglecting to feed it the right fats, it would struggle. There are two types, omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-6 is abundant in most foods in our diet while omega-3 is a little harder to find, but not impossible. I know the first food everyone is going to say to eat is fish, but in my opinion, and many others, fish has become compromised. Mercury levels, and nuclear pollution in our oceans, has made eating fish a risky business. Try topping that veggie stir-fry with sesame seeds. Have a handful of almonds, or pumpkin seeds, as a snack. There’s also my current favorite food, tofu, which has a great balance of tryptophan and omega-3. #twobirdswithonestone
• B12 – This is another nutrient needed for good brain function. B12 is a nutrient that used to be found in our soils. The best way to get B12 is through a supplement. You could take a pill, or eat fortified foods. Meat is another source of B12, but as a vegan, I prefer not to recommend it. I firmly believe that the benefits are outweighed by the side effects of eating meat: physically, environmentally, and morally.
• Folic Acid – Also known as folate, is something we’ve known to be important in our diet. When a woman gets pregnant they recommend taking prenatal vitamins with folate. Why? To help build our babies brains. Meat eaters might struggle with this, versus people who eat plant-based might not have a folate deficiency. Check out this example: one cup of lentils has 831 mcg (micrograms) of folate, where as 5 1/2 ounces of broiled sirloin steak only has 16 mcg. Isn’t that crazy? Also, one cup of chickpeas has 1114 mcg of folate, and I love chickpeas! This is one supplement I know I do pretty well with. The recommended daily allowance for folate is 400 mcg. Try adding in a cup of chickpeas, black-eyed peas, lentils, red kidney beans, okra pods, or navy beans to exceed that allowance.

Circadian Rhythm

Sleep is so important. This is a tricky subject though. Too much sleep and too little sleep can affect us. The trick is getting the best sleep. What habits are you keeping that could be affecting your sleeping pattern?

• Blue light – We love our devices. The blue light in our screens actually affect our sleep pattern. The later we are on our phones, the longer it takes our system to settle down at night. Try setting your phone on night mode to help reduce the blue in the screen, also try putting the phone down an hour before bed. Try reading a book, maybe one that focuses on developing your brain. Blue light isn’t a total enemy. If you are struggling to wake up in the morning, try using a blue light to help signal your body to wake up. I set mine to turn on between 5:30-6:00am, and it’s way more pleasant than an alarm clock.
• Irregular schedule – Our bodies naturally want to sleep at night, having a graveyard schedule or late night job can disrupt your bodies natural rhythm. Even just working two nights a week and going to sleep later than normal those two nights messes with me.
• Physical exertion – Start your day with exercise, train your body to know that morning is the time to be up and moving. Pounding it late at night can make sleep more difficult because you get feel good hormones or a runners high, which actually gives you energy. Being active helps your mind and body to be exhausted, which should help with catching those z’s.
• Caffeine – Yes, I know the chase, you’re tired and want a pick me up. I recently learned that a cup of coffee shuts down blood flow to the brain by 40%, what?!? Crazy right? That’s not what I came here to share about. Drinking caffeine later in the day, even if you aren’t feeling a caffeine high can affect your sleep pattern. Try not to drink any after lunch time.

Lifestyle

Could I sit here on my couch and get sucked into the endless social media feed or animal videos, yes. Does that do me any good, no. Exercise, fresh air, focusing on the positive, helping my neighbor, being creative, those things help with brain health. Try adding those things into your daily lifestyle to help battle your depression. But also….

• Classical Music – Aristotle said,”If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person; conversely, if one listens to the right kind of music, he will tend to become the right kind of person.” I must agree with this, I know personally when I’m listening to the music I love listening to, #notgood, I feel more down than I do when I try to listen to only classical music. I set up a pandora playlist, classical for studying, and have been listening to it for almost a week now. I feel more motivated to get things done, more focused too.
• Brain Challenges – Try brain puzzles like sudoku, crossword puzzles, read the Proverbs, anything that makes your brain think or problem solve. Ever hear the saying, “if you don’t use it, ya lose it”?
• Learn an Instrument – Learning a new instrument, or language, helps create new synapses in the brain. This also helps to battle later down the road brain issues like dementia, or Alzheimer’s.
• Get Massages – 💆 Seriously, who doesn’t feel good during, and after, getting a massage? Get those positive endorphins going, if you can’t afford to go get one, have your spouse do it. Take turns with your friends. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but look up some techniques online to help make the experience better. Even self massage is helpful.
• Practice Gratitude – Every morning and every night, write down or think about, three to five things you are thankful for. I got a 5 Minute Journal that I absolutely love. It’s simple, but helps me to focus on the good stuff every day.

Things to Avoid…

There are lots of good things to help benefit our brains, but there are also a lot of things we do that undo the good we are doing. I’d recommend trying to add in these good habits right out the gate. It’s hard to be perfect, but eight weeks is a great period of time to try out some of these changes to see if they help you. Maybe track your feelings each day, how your body feels, anything that has gotten better or worse. A good scientist tracks all the data.

• Alcohol – Is a natural depressant. I know, going out having drinks with friends is the social norm. It’s how we have fun now. Try being abnormal, be okay with being you, and do something different. This would be a great time to try snowboarding, or doing something adventurous!
• Television – Hollywood has us in a trance. Did you know that they set up the scene changes to suck us in and keep us there? The music, the drama, it all keeps us in a place of doing nothing. Try skipping the TV at night, read a book, take a soak in the tub, take the pups for a walk. If you can’t skip the TV, try cutting back your time. Use it as a reward for doing other positive behaviors.
• Caffeine – I know I touched base on this before, BUT I feel it’s an important thing to go back over in our Starbucks society. Just cut it out. Reduce it. Don’t drink it after lunch. You can do it, I believe in you!
• Nicotine – Reduces the quality of sleep. Increases the possibility of stroke. Just like caffeine, its connected to depression. The studies are hard to read through, but we all know smoking is bad for us in general. Why not save the funds for, oh, I don’t know, another adventure??? 🤔
• Negative Thinking – Thoughts have power. If all you are thinking about is negative, it’s hard to get away from only seeing the negative. I challenge you to go seven days in a row without thinking negative. Let me know if you do it, and I’ll ship you something to celebrate. I’m not sure what, but it’s quite a feat to do and deserves a reward!

It’s go time!

There’s no better time to start than now. I know it’s hard, and you, like I, probably don’t wanna. It’s time to quit making excuses and just do the thing. I wish you the best with this battle, and want you to know you’re not alone. I’m in the trenches with you.

Is there something I shared here that you never knew before? Or something you know about fighting depression, that you could share with me? I’d love to hear it, leave me a comment below.

Toast or Cereal Topping Recipe For Brain Health

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup walnuts, ground
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1 tbsp of date sugar (you can substitute monk fruit sweetener or coconut sugar)
• 1/8 tsp salt

Mix up all the ingredients. Use one tablespoon per day on top of toast or on top of your morning oats.

This recipe makes 9 servings. Store in an airtight container, in the freezer.

Note: You can omit the sweetener, and use the topping on a salad. Which makes this recipe only 8 servings.