Get Happy!

Here are some great tips to get you out of your funk before the holidays! Pick what sounds most practical for you :)

1. Eliminate caffeine -- if you are addicted, it can really have an effect on your mood.

2. Cut out packaged foods -- these cause inflammation, and new research indicates that inflammation and depression are closely linked.

3. Take fish oil, vitamin D, and a multivitamin. Omega-3 are building blocks for your brain, vitamin D deficiency causes depression and even psychosis, and a multivitamin is especially helpful in providing B-vitamins so key to neural health. (Update: of these, I would only recommend a USP-verified vitamin D supplement. Get your omega-3 from walnuts, flax, chia, and hemp. Get most of your B-vitamins from the Daily Dozen. With one exception: here are the details on B12.)

4. Turn off your cell phone and computer at 8pm each night. Our electronic world is decreasing our social interactions, those of actually touching and talking with people in person. Having strong relationships, with friends especially, is key to happiness.

5. EXERCISE IS AT LEAST AS EFFECTIVE AS ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS, without the side effects, well negative side effects anyway!

6. Gratitude (posting things that I am grateful for daily this month have been a great little part of my day!), forgiveness, and volunteering are also very effective in increasing the satisfaction in your life!
HERE is a link to 7 Benefits of Gratitude!

Dr Weil was a guest on the Dr Oz Show and explained a lot of this and he even has a new book, Spontaneous Happiness, which I've only just heard about, but seems like a wonderful resource!

How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky is another book that I did read which may be very similar, and since it is older, may be easier to check out from the library.

I also really enjoyed Stumbling on Happiness, in which Daniel Gilbert describes research about happiness, or rather life satisfaction.

I also really thought Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar was cool because it provided sort of a workbook format of steps for you to take toward a happier you! Tal's is a cool story -- he taught a class at Harvard (on which his book is based) for the first time with a handful of kids, and it pretty immediately became the most popular Harvard course of all time!

I find all of this pretty amazing. It's not that I have really battled depression through my life, rather I am luckily pretty satisfied with my life and it seems unfair that not everyone feels like I feel. These books make it clear that YOU can DO things to become HAPPIER!

I question whether a severely depressed person could take the time to get through a book and its steps, but it sure beats taking medications. It's fascinating that some of these techniques are in fact as, or more effective than drugs. I implore you to try just one thing and see what happens!

Be sure not to stop taking any medications without first speaking with your physician.

"Like" the fresh-you Facebook page here!

You might also enjoy another post which includes a video by Tal.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Tell me in a comment below: what do you do to get happier? Does it help? What works best for you?