Dealing with Depression So Your Memory Improvement Program Doesn't Suffer

Dealing with Depression is important because your state of mind has a tremendous impact on your memory improvement program.

Research by the World Health Organization shows that depression is the leading cause of disability (as measured by Years Living with the Disease) throughout the world. At some point everyone feels blue or down in the dumps - but generally these feelings are short-lived. However, many individuals go undiagnosed with depression or a form of it throughout their lives.

Symptoms of Depression

Symptoms of depression vary according to how mild or severe your case is, but generally include:

• extreme sadness that prolongs for a couple months or more,
• irritability and frustration,
• a general loss of interest in activities which you may have engaged in before,
• low self-esteem or feelings of disgust with oneself,
• suicidal thoughts,
• restlessness and/or irritability
• difficulty sleeping (or excessive sleeping),
• concentration problems, and
• fatigue.

If you have several of these symptoms, for at least two weeks, then you should seek medical advice as you could be facing what is known as major depression.

Reasons for Depression

As you age, many people experience feeling upset or sad when they realize their memory is slipping or they find out that glasses are needed or hearing aids are required. Even though these things improve our abilities, we somehow feel inferior that we need them to begin with or sad that it is a physical reminder that we are marching rapidly toward the end of our life span.

In these cases, (and through many other situations as you get older), depression results because of the thoughts and feelings you may be having about your mental and physical capabilities which are not as strong as they once were.

Tips for Dealing with Depression

Fortunately, dealing with depression (specifically, we are discussing a mild case - as mentioned earlier if you regularly have the symptoms listed above then do seek medical advice) and improving your mood is not as difficult as it may seem ... even though a solution to the sad or upset feelings you're having may seem very far off in the distance.

Research shows that having close friends and family, especially during retirement and the older stages of our lives, improve how we feel about ourselves as well as other people. So do make sure that you continue to maintain close relationships (or build new friendships) with people you care about.

Keep focusing on the positive aspects of your life. Continuing to let negative thoughts and feelings fill your mind is counter-productive to beating depression.

Set aside time to do things that you enjoy - or once enjoyed - in particular those types of activities that absorb your concentration. When you are focused on a task or activity it is difficult to also keep active in your consciousness a pity party running.

Make lists of the positive attributes in your life. In the book Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl, (psychologist and World War II concentration camp survivor ) said that the people who survived the concentration camps were those who continued to believe that they had something to live for and there was some meaning or purpose to what they were experiencing.

When you sit and write down all that you have to be thankful for you can shift the negative spiral that is happening in your mind. It might only be that you have a blue sky, or that you live in a free country or that you are breathing, or that you have the power of thought - or it could be other more tangible aspects of your life that you focus upon. Whichever, very quickly you will find that there is much to feel grateful for.

Give focus to a healthy lifestyle by ensuring you are getting adequate rest, eating healthily and exercising regularly. Activities such as yoga, meditation, swimming, and walking are all good ways of dealing with depression and improving your mindset.

When to Seek Medical Assistance

Whilst the above tips are useful no matter the level of your depression, if you are faced with major depression (as described above) then counseling, therapy, and prescription medications that help remove depression symptoms are also important treatments.

Speaking with a counselor or therapist may, in fact, give you clarity about the situations in your life which you're depressed about. It's vital, however, that you seek out these resources in addition to emergency crisis centers if you're feeling extremely suicidal, as these places have experts on staff to help.

Dealing with depression is something most of us will have to face at some point in our lives. However, using these tips will certainly help you avoid or circumvent the challenges that come with dealing with depression on a major scale, but more importantly help your memory improvement program to stay on track.

Ready to leave dealing with depression and discover more about the power of positive thinking?

Go to Memory Improvement Tools home page.