Woman's health tips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Women's Health Tip of the Day

Behavioral Strategies: Find Other Ways to Respond to Stress

In addition to changing your diet and incorporating exercise into your lifestyle, behavioral strategies are essential to successful weight loss. The National Women's Health Resource Center recommends the following:

Find ways other than food to respond to stress and other situations in your life. Certain cues, from stress to watching television, may stimulate you to eat in an unhealthy way. In some cases, you can avoid those cues; don't go to that Mexican restaurant where you always eat too many chips, for example. But for situations that can't be avoided, from the business lunch to the argument with your spouse, relearn new ways to respond. If you track the situations surrounding your overeating in your food diary, you can more easily determine the cues you need to be aware of.

More behavioral strategies coming up....

The information in this tip is intended only to help you better understand women's health issues. It is not intended to replace the advice of a health care professional. If you read something in a tip that contradicts what your health care professional recommends, take your health care professional's advice.

Behavioral Strategies: Join a Support Group

In addition to changing your diet and incorporating exercise into your lifestyle, behavioral strategies are essential to successful weight loss. The National Women's Health Resource Center recommends the following:

Join a support group. Weekly meetings at a nearby support group -- or even over the Internet -- can help in a variety of ways. They provide accountability, helpful ideas, emotional support, an outlet for sharing frustrations, and a variety of other psychological benefits.

More behavioral strategies coming up....

The information in this tip is intended only to help you better understand women's health issues. It is not intended to replace the advice of a health care professional. If you read something in a tip that contradicts what your health care professional recommends, take your health care professional's advice.

Fighting Depression: Limit Sleep

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Do not remain in bed or sleep for more than 8-hours a day. Over-sleeping has been shown to increase depressed feelings.

More ways to feel better in our next tip...

Visit Dr. Ivan's Depression Central Web Site. www.psycom.net/depression.central.html

The information in this tip is intended only to help you better understand women's health issues. It is not intended to replace the advice of a health care professional. If you read something in a tip that contradicts what your health care professional recommends, take your health care professional's advice.

Fighting Depression: Get Outside

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Get outside for at least 1/2-hour between 11 AM and 2 PM. Bright light has been shown to have an antidepressant effect. Getting out of doors even on a moderately overcast day gives you the light your require.

Fighting Depression: Exercise

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Walk briskly, or get some other exercise, for at least 30-minutes every day. Taking a walk out of doors between 11 AM and 2 PM takes care of both your need for bright light and your need for exercise.

Fighting Depression: Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Increase the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. There is highly suggestive evidence that increasing one's intake of EPA, one of the Omega-3 fatty acids, helps recovery from depression. This can be done most easily by taking a supplement that contains 600 mg. or 1,000 mg. of EPA in each capsule. The total daily intake of EPA should be about 5,000 mg., and it should be divided into three or four doses each day. Capsules containing EPA can be purchased in any "health food" store.

More Ways to Help Treat Depression

In the previous series of tips, we mentioned some things you can do to help treat depression (ideally, in addition to therapy and/or medication). Internet Mental Health adds these suggestions:

-Pace yourself. Do not expect to do all of the things you were able to do in the past. Set a schedule that is realistic for you. -Remember that negative thinking (blaming yourself, feeling hopeless, expecting failure, and other such thoughts) is part of a depression. As the depression lifts, the negative thinking will go away, too.

-Avoid making major life decisions during a depression. If you must make a major decision about your life, ask your health care provider or someone you trust to help you.

The information in this tip is intended only to help you better understand women's health issues. It is not intended to replace the advice of a health care professional. If you read something in a tip that contradicts what your health care professional recommends, take your health care professional's advice.

Fighting Depression: Limit Sleep

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Avoid the use of products that contain aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet). It has been shown that many people with depression become more depressed when they use these products.

Visit Dr. Ivan's Depression Central Web Site. www.psycom.net/depression.central.html

Keeping Depression Away: Limit Sugar

If you've just recovered from a depression, you may worry that it will come back again. While preventing a recurrence may not be totally in your control, there are a number of things you can do to help keep depression away.

The Wing of Madness web site recommends:

Eliminate as much sugar as possible from your diet. The rush of energy you get from consuming sugar inevitably leads to a crash a short time later, leaving you feeling tired and possibly crabby and looking for your next sugar "fix."

Do you think you may be depressed? Or are you currently receiving treatment (medication and/or therapy) for depression? There are a number of things you can do to help yourself feel better.

As suggested by Ivan K. Goldman, M.D. (from Dr. Ivan's Depression Central web site), these include:

Totally abstain from the use of alcohol and recreational drugs. Alcohol and street drugs both induce depression and prevent antidepressants from working effectively. If you must drink, limit your intake of alcohol to not more than three units of alcohol PER WEEK. (A unit of alcohol is a 12 oz. bottle of beer, a 4-oz. glass of wine, or a 1-1/2 oz. shot of whisky.) Totally avoid the use of street drugs.

Keeping Depression Away: Cut Down on Alcohol Consumption

If you've just recovered from a depression, you may worry that it will come back again. While preventing a recurrence may not be totally in your control, there are a number of things you can do to help keep depression away.

The Wing of Madness web site recommends:

Cut down drastically on the amount of liquor you consume. Remember, alcohol is a depressant. Also, if you are taking antidepressants, alcohol may hinder its performance. Alcohol can also interfere with your sleep patterns, and lack of sleep can lead to depression-like symptoms, such as fuzzy thinking and irritability.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2002