Tuesday 25 February 2014

Walking away from Demons


Depressed? Do your bad days last too long and thoughts of your past haunt you for too long and your mind feel like a prison of misery? If so you’re not alone, 1 in 5 us of suffer from demons in our mind they don’t go away by themselves.  More of us are going to the doctor and getting a
So when the dark days affect our work, family and friends and us we need to do something. Depression is disabling, even mild depression can make you feel like life is not worthwhile, now we’re here for a good time, not a long time, and why should anyone put up with being down and wander through life in a grungy haze?

Even children and teenagers are suffering, we think of kids and teens being happy hedonists enjoying the best years of their lives but they are unhappy, 1 in 12 are so unhappy they self-harm, these are shocking figures that need to change.

You could go to your doctor, they may well prescribe pills but these aren’t in cases of mild depression because of side effects, these are nasty, they range from going off sex to not being able to stay still and ironically the can make you commit suicide.  Talking therapy is available but even the NHS website admits services need improving, many could be in for a long wait for short term therapy.
One form of self-help is walking, this is my happy pill of choice. When you’re feeling down and the gym is a luxury you can’t afford it’s really great therapy. Walking doesn’t solve your problems but it does help you solve them yourself. If life is a puzzle walk and by the end the pieces may well fit a little better. There are great side effects to nature’s anti-depressant, a better body is just the start, walking can help you avoid cancer, type 2 diabetes and  Alzheimer’s.

Anti-depressants may seem like an easy option, there has been a trend to look at all of our ills as a chemical problem, but we are designed to make our won happy chemicals and they work better than the ones made in a lab and the affects last longer.

So when the Black Dog comes, walk away from it, helping yourself, not taking pills and getting a better body have to be better than popping a pill of chemical happiness.


5 comments:

  1. SSRI's sometimes do help chemical imbalances in brain; even if they're placebos, some of us are such believers in Western medicine, they work. I see those dogs as emotional weather, know it will pass, do something productive or waste my time in a way that's pleasurable to me

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  2. I do believe in some modern medicine but I hated anti depressants and found walking was better. This is how I get around so I don't see it as a waste of time, unlike prancing around doing classes being shouted at! In England doctors often give out pills like sweets in deprived areas when I think this would be a better option as it has so many other health benefits too

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  3. Yes, medicating the unhappy public has been a science fiction dystopia ever since . . . shoot; name of book where everyone was medicated with a happy drug called Soma except a couple of HungerGame-type heroes. Brain just too full of info and can't google it.

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  4. The amount of happy pills given out where I used to live was ridiculous, it's cheaper than therapy, that's not a conspiracy it's cost effective. Funny how there were lots of betting shops and pubs too. I lived in one of the poorest least educated places in the country and this is what I experienced first hand.

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  5. If people we're happy they wouldn't ask for pills, gamble the little money they had or spend too much of it on booze.

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