Depression Part 1 - How Having a Routine Can Help

I have struggled with depression for a long time; I don't know for sure how long, but as I look back over my married years (almost 9 now) and my college and high school years, it's been a while. Now in high school it wasn't all that bad and I think partly due to the stricter schedule I had to keep and that schedule continued (self imposed) in my college years; I liked my schedule. Then I got married and had to work in to my schedule someone else's schedule; I got pregnant right away then too and that threw my hormones for a loop. Three babies in before our 4th wedding anniversary, including a neo-natal death. WOW! A lot of stress and hormones in those first 4 years. So I think that's when my depression exploded. Now life has kind of settled down for us; a little anyway. This year has been one where I can finally surface enough to say, "hey, you know what, I think I'm depressed" or "I think I'm better this winter than I was last winter." I've had friends ask me about PPD, and I have always said, "yeah, a little maybe, but we are watching it; treating it with diet and sleep and such." We have been, and I'm glad.

Amber and Christi and I have been talking about it the most. Amber did a little research for me. (Probably just typed natural treatment of depression into a search engine or something like that; soemthing easy that I could have done for myself.) She came up with this article from WebMD called Recognizing the Symptoms of Depression; Natural Depression Treatments: 15 Wyas to help treat depression naturally.

One of the big things this article talks about is ROUTINE. Our life is not very routine; well, not a very good routine. We are working on fixing that by trying to get to bed earlier (as I write this at 11:40PM), getting up a a better hour, eating better, getting outside, and other such things. Routine is very tough when DH is not working and we are all just at home; we tend to do those things that are depressing - watching tv, sitting at the computer, eating too much of the wrong foods, not going anywhere. We have gotten stuck in a rut; when we were meeting with our Financial Peace University every Tuesday we were doing a bit better, but that's been over for a while now; I can't wait to start it again in the fall (this time as leaders).

If you’re depressed, or have been depressed, you need a routine. Depression can strip away the structure from your life, letting one day bleed into the next. That absence of order can also make your depression worse.

“It’s extremely stressful to wake up in the morning and have no idea what you’re going to do with the day,” says MacKinnon.

So, I am getting back to my FLYing routines and checklists; we've started school for about an hour each day again. We set the alarm clock to get us out of bed in the morning instead of getting up when the phone rings mid-morning. We are aiming for bedtime between 10 and 12 and get up time between 7 and 9. We do not have distractions in our bedroom, except for each other and two children. We both need more sleep, so do the kids. We seem to sleep more (and better) in the winter; we are kind of like bears, I guess. Plus it's cold here, and who wants to be out in the cold; not me! My realistic goals for each day are listed in my checklists; these checklists are no more than about 10 things that need to be done each day on top of our regularly routine stuff (eating, grooming, clean up). They would easily be met each day with a little thought and focus. Both thought and focus are missing right now.

We are getting excercise into our day. For our birthdays earlier this year we bought an Ab King Pro and haven't used it as much as we had planned. Well, now a couple times a day I'll see J over there doing some ab work while he watches tv or talks about what else we plan to do in the day. Our plan for the day includes us getting up together, me getting breakfast and coffee going and J getting on the machine first thing and planning his / our day. It works well for us, when we do it. I've started using the machine too, sometimes with a babe in arms, sometimes alone. And we walk - to get the mail, to get groceries, to go to the park. It may not be much but sometimes, "just getting out and walking can be enough" to change my state of mind and the tone of the house.

Our diet has seen some pretty big changes in the last three weeks and I am enjoying the changes. We are just eating healthier - more vegetables, more fruit, more whole grains, less white bread, less sweets, less chips. J's state of mind has changed the most dramatically, I think, although this is probably not due solely to our diet change.

Two other items listed under ROUTINES in this article are responsibilities and relaxation. At this point in our life we have too much relaxation and too few responsibilities. We are taking this as a big break, a holiday, a time of rejuvenation, but I think we are almost done; we are craving the routine and the life that steady employment and a school activities bring.



Stay tuned for Depression Part 2 - Fighting Depression Cognitively

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

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