We often hear how lifestyle can help you climb mountains if taken care of and can also make it difficult to even walk if neglected for the longest time. 

More than half of our activities determine our overall lifestyle including what we eat, how much we move our body, how often we consume toxic substances, our sleep quality, how much time we spend with our loved ones, etc. These activities then determine our physical and mental health conditions in the long run.

Studies suggest that people find improved mental health when they change their lifestyle. This is primarily because how we spend our time apart from work decides our overall mood.

This blog will help you identify some common symptoms of mood disorders, how lifestyle plays a crucial role in altering this, how you can make manageable tweaks in your daily life to improve your mental health, and how you can smartly combine these lifestyle changes with the appropriate treatment for mood disorders.

Understanding Mood Disorders

Mood disorders significantly impact a person’s thoughts, behaviors, actions, and overall health. These are a group of mental health conditions that point towards emotional disturbances.

Some of the common types of mood disorders are:

1. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): Persistent sadness, loss of interest in activities, fatigue, and sleep disturbances are some of the common symptoms used to identify major depressive disorder.
2. Bipolar Disorder (Type 1 & 2): Alternating episodes of extreme depression and mania/hypomania.
3. Cyclothymic Disorder: Frequent mood swings, but not severe enough to be classified as bipolar disorder.
4. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Depression that occurs in specific seasons, usually winter, due to reduced sunlight.
5. Dysthymia (Persistent Depressive Disorder): Chronic low-grade depression lasting for years.

In the next section, we will understand how lifestyle and mental health are linked and how they impact each other.

The Connection Between Lifestyle and Mental Health

On the macro level, lifestyle affects all our brain functions and hormonal levels and determines our neurotransmitter balance. They get altered once we adopt a lifestyle that regulates certain chemicals suitable for our cognitive health.

• Brain functions

A healthy lifestyle supports neuroplasticity, decision-making abilities, and improved memory ultimately regulating emotions. A chronic cognitive decline is observed when a bad lifestyle is followed for a long time and hence, it can change the neurochemicals in our brains.

• Hormonal levels

Hormones are chemical messengers responsible for regulating stress levels, emotions and motivation to do things. Cortisol, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins are some of the major hormones in our body that perform their functions well in an overall healthy body.

• Neurotransmitter balance

They carry signals between nerve cells in the brain and control our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. An imbalance in its functions can lead to depression, anxiety, and other major mental health issues. 

Altering your lifestyle can prove to be one of the effective treatment for mood disorders and would improve your mental health gradually.

Key Lifestyle Changes to Improve Mental Health

As we have seen previously key lifestyle changes can alter your brain chemistry, they can help you perform better at work, maintain good relationships and live an overall balanced life. Here are 6 audits you can do in your life and adapt to the lifestyle you are currently failing at.

• Regular exercise

Enough body movement and regular exercises enhance cognitive abilities which results in increasing endorphins, commonly known as feel-good hormones, BDNF (brain-derived neuro factor), serotonin (happiness hormone), and dopamine (pleasure hormone) in our body.

• Balanced diet

Eating protein-rich nutritious food helps maintain dopamine, and serotonin levels in our body. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to reduce inflammation and increase brain cell communication. Found in flax seeds, walnuts, and fish, it’s important to consume them daily. Curing your nutritional deficiencies doesn’t have to be dependent on supplements but should be aimed to fulfill via whole foods. 

• Quality sleep

We often undermine how good quality sleep can help our brain to shut down and recover for the next day. Sleep generally happens in a 90-minute cycle and 4-5 such cycles are required to fully recover from stress, brain fog and unstable mood.

• Mindfulness meditation

Observing your breath and sitting undisturbed may sound simple but it’s one of the most difficult things in today’s world where everything is moving at the speed of light. Meditation can help reduce cortisol levels, increase GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) levels and regulate Glutamate responsible for cognitive function & focus

• Build Genuine connections

Your mood automatically improves once you start spending time with people you care about, and feel heard, safe and comfortable. Isolating yourself can lead to an increase in depression, anxiety, and a decline in cognitive abilities. It’s found that spending quality time with people you love increases oxytocin.

• Cut off toxic substances

Depending on toxic substances like alcohol, weed, cigarettes, etc. to enhance your mood is the worst way to deal with mood disorders because they give you short-term satisfaction and long-term addiction.

Integrating Lifestyle Changes with Professional Treatment

While lifestyle changes can impact a person’s physical and mental health, it’s often a long-term strategy and requires patience, and sheer determination. Sometimes, it becomes difficult for a person to inculcate lifestyle changes and wait until his mental health is improved.

At Avisa Recovery, we understand how mood disorders can severely impact work, relationships, health, and finances, making it difficult for you to function daily. We start by understanding your symptoms, problems, and issues regarding various mood fluctuations in our mood disorder treatment centers. Our experts then craft a personalized treatment for mood disorders in the form of a recovery plan for you based on how much time you are willing to dedicate.

We have something for everyone. Whether you are a professional who can dedicate 4-5 hours a day or someone available for 24 hours in our centers, we take care of you as we do for thousands of others. Reach out to our team today and let’s fix all your mood problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. What drugs improve mood?
A. Antidepressants such as SSRIs and SNRIs, mood stabilizers like lithium and valproate, and stimulants can help improve mood.

Q. What is the safest mood stabilizer?
A. Lithium is the most effective mood stabilizer, while lamotrigine is often considered the safest due to its lower risk of side effects.

Q. What is the best therapy for mood?
A. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely regarded as the most effective therapy for mood disorders.

Q. How to test for a mood disorder?
A. Mood disorders are diagnosed through clinical evaluation, psychological questionnaires like PHQ-9 or MDQ, and assessments by a psychiatrist.

Q. What are the three pillars of CBT?
A. The three pillars of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.