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Benefits of Fitness
Health Manifesto
Hourglass Fitness Program
Joint and Muscle Pain
Adult Onset Diabetes
Blood Pressure
Cholesterol
Depression
Meditation
High Fibre Supplement
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Causes
Let
me say at the outset that I do not wish to make light of the black dog
of depression. Being
clinically depressed is a major body system dysfunction in our society. It's effects are
widespread and cause great distress to the individuals who have it and
their families.
However,
the fact that it is rapidly increasing suggests that as a society we're
doing something wrong; there are some things we used to do that we don't
do now.
Like
all dysfunctions depression has a cause. And as Lao Tzu said, every big
problem starts off as a small problem which wasn't fixed.
This
fact sheet focuses on the small problems and not on clinical depression.
I
grew up in Whyalla on the north western shores of Spencer Gulf in South
Australia. Whyalla was an industrial town, stuck far enough away from
the centre of the world for it to be a self sufficient community. With
a population of less than 10,000 it was a vibrant community.
In
Whyalla, if you didn't feel too good you said you felt 'shithouse'. This
fact sheet is for people who can identify with how the sad and miserable
felt in Whyalla.
I
see lots of people on anti-depression tablets who I believe are not all
that depressed. When questioned as to the reason they started taking tablets
they often say they had a recent bereavement in the family, or a particularly
stressful time at work ... They've gone to the doctor feeling miserable,
cried and been diagnosed a depressed, without a blood chemistry analysis
or psychological analysis to confirm whether that is true or not.
I
often find that they have been on tablets for a long time and have no
goals for getting off them.
The
treatment is not effecting a cure. It is rarely accompanied by regular
counseling, or a personal development program, vigorous exercise or a
change of diet, or a total body tune-up.
There is a continuum which goes from feeling absolutely fantastic through
to feeling absolutely miserable.
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Clinically
depressed
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Absolutely
miserable
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Not
bad
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Absolutely
fantastic
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If
you go past the miserable stage you can become clinically depressed, but
you'd want to have a serious confirmation that it was clinical depression
and not just a bad mood swing before you took a medically inspired prescription.
The
Causes are Legion
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Lack
of certain chemicals in the brain.
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| 2. |
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Lack
of personal development.
This country is backward when it comes to personal development.
People haven't read the books, haven't been to the courses.
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| 3. |
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Lack
of physical activity.
If you are not regularly vigorously active, if you're not getting
enough oxygen into your body you're setting yourself up to feel
miserable.
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4. |
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Lack of essential vitamins,
minerals and fats
This includes B group
vitamins and omega 3 fats. |
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5. |
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Sugar
induced hypoglycemia.
Most people have a high sugar, high refined starch diet (which amounts
to the same thing as a high sugar diet.) After each time they eat,
blood glucose level is quickly elevated drawing a response from
the pancreas to produce insulin and drop the glucose level down.
However, the blood glucose level drops too far and that is when
people feel tired, depressed and hungry.
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6. |
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Stress
of life
— whether at home or at work. If you're not living the life
you'd like to live, if life is sucking life out of you rather than
giving you life then you're on the way to feeling miserable.
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7. |
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A
meaningless and purposeless life.
Viktor Frankl called it the existential vacuum. Just as we've got
to satisfy the inner hunger with more than food, so we need to
satisfy the emptiness of life with meaningful and purposeful thoughts
and activities. Each of us has to decide what is meaningful and
purposeful.
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8. |
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Stress
at home and at work
If we have no home or work goals and/or if we are not achieving
our home and work goals we can become frustrated, angry, anxious
and miserable. In the end it all gets too much. The crying and anger
are symptoms of our anxiety, telling us to do something, something
more than trot off to the doctor and take a tablet!
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Treatment
The
usual treatment is to take a tablet to redress chemical imbalance, and
in many cases this is the correct initial treatment. However it doesn't
treat the causes of your misery or clean them up.
What
You Can Do For Yourself
If
you do what unstressed people do there is a good chance you'll end up
being unstressed yourself.
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Take
stock. Establish the direction you'd like your life to take. Set
goals in the major areas of your life and develop a plan to achieve
them. Include in the things you set goals for:
-
health and fitness
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career
and work
-
family
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other
people
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hobbies,
distractions, holidays
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meaning
and purpose-type considerations
-
things
and possessions
-
finances
...
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Engage a life coach or counselor, someone who is as committed to
the achievement of your personal well being as you are. Be prepared
to pay them a fair and reasonable fee. You want the best advice
and support. Be prepared to be challenged. (Maybe you feel miserable
because you need a bigger challenge!)
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Hang
around inspired and motivated people. Some of it will rub off. If
you want more energy mix with energetic people. Learn what their
secrets of a high energy lifestyle are.
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Enrol
in some high powered personal development programs to kick start
you back into life.
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Read some of the great personal
development books.
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Adopt
a high density exercise routine. You'll burn off stress chemicals.
You'll experience the exercise-led recovery where the exercise stimulated
the brains natural endorphins to give you a lift. The mind I just
another body system. Exercise is an excellent way to give it a tune
up.
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Eat
well. Stop eating the high sugar and highly refined starch
diet. Eat the low density, high fibre carbohydrates (fruit and vegetables)
with lean protein and your blood sugar won't drop to the point where
you feet tired and depressed.
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Stop
drinking alcohol and caffeine.
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| 9. |
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Set
aside a day each week when you'll go out and enjoy yourself in the
great outdoors.
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Go
out mid week once a week. Go to the pictures or the theatre.
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Stop
working so many hours. maximum, 50 hours a week.
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Get
away from your office at lunch time. Get some physical activity and
some fresh air. |
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If
you have accrued annual leave take it immediately. Go away for at
least 21 days. If you can't afford to go away, stay at home but go
out and do something interesting every day. Catch up with friends.
Do things you've been putting off doing because you 'didn't have the
time'. |
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Stop
watching television. Television is a drug robbing you of your time
and your vitality. If you've nothing better to do at night crawl into
bed and read a book. |
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Invite
friends over for cards. |
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Have
a party. A week later have another one, twice as big. |
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Do some gardening. Gurdjieff said that the best thing you can do when
you feel depressed is get out into the garden. |
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Pay
attention to the completion of small things. Clean up. Clean up your
house. Clean up your office at work. Make you bed every day before
going to work ... |
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Books
Find
these useful books at our Health
and Fitness Bookstore:
Man's
Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankel
Psycho
Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
Think
and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
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