How Drinking Tea Can Help You Feel Less Anxious

Anybody who knows me knows that I have a healthy obsession with tea. I love all kinds of tea and I can usually be seen drinking it at any time throughout the day. Not only do I love the flavour and aroma, but I'm also always cold so having a cup of tea does wonders to warm me up from the inside out - ultimately making me feel more alert and alive.

But I also love tea because of the sense of calmness it instills in me. I've always associated coffee as a beverage that people enjoy on the go, but having a good cup of tea requires you to slow down and have a break from your busy schedule. Because of this, I've always seen drinking tea as a way for me to relax, unwind, and calm down.

As it turns out, tea actually has properties within it, an amino acid called L-Theanine, that help you with this very process. So if you're interested in a bit of scientific research on how drinking tea can help you with your stress and anxiety, read the article below. (The original article is from Onomea Tea Company. 

Self Medicating Anxiety with Tea? by John Lee 

Reducing Anxiety with Theanine 

Making the case for a cup of tea…an amino acid in tea may be just what you need to feel less anxious. 

Whether taken as a supplement or in cups of tea, l-theanine is safe and helps many people reduce stress and anxiety. Research shows that l-theanine induces alert/relaxed thinking states, reduces your fight-or flight response to stressful events and helps protect the mind from stress-linked thinking and memory deficits. 

What Is L-Theanine? 

L-theanine, or theanine, is a water soluble amino acid that’s found in tea leaves; it’s also available at higher concentrations as a dietary supplement (one dose equaling roughly 10 cups of tea). When you drink tea, l-theanine passes through the blood-brain barrier and affects the brain directly. L-theanine shares a very similar chemical structure to the neurotransmitter glutamate – which is a transmitter involved in learning and memory. Consuming theanine increases the production of GABA and dopamine. 

How Does It Induce Relaxation? 

One way it promotes relaxation is by reducing sympathetic nervous system activation in stressful situations. When stressed, your body goes into fight or flight mode – heart rate and blood pressure spike, respiration grows shallower and more rapid, pupils dilate and perspiration increases; your body gets ready to fight a threat or flee the scene! Chronic sympathetic nervous system over-activation is unpleasant (you feel stressed out!) and can lead to serious health problems, like cardiovascular disease or dementia. 

But theanine can help: Studies show that people who take theanine prior to stressful situations have a decreased sympathetic nervous system response to that stress. 

What Other Benefits Does It Have? 

Theanine has neuroprotective effects – it protects the brain from excess glutamate toxicity. 

It is an antioxidant and it inhibits lipid peroxidation. Both black and green teas have strong antioxidant properties. It works as a cancer fighter and anti-tumor agent. Theanine can increase the effectiveness of some chemotherapy agents. 

Side Effects or Long-Term Health Concerns? 

L-theanine is very well tolerated. People have been drinking green and black tea for a very long time without experiencing health problems. In rare cases, drinking too much tea can lead to digestive upset or nausea. Animal model studies show that even at very high doses, sustained ingestion of theanine causes no significant adverse effects. 

*However, a typical cup of coffee contains between 2 and 3 times as much caffeine as an equivalent amount of black tea. If you’re already a coffee drinker, swapping out a cup or two per day for a few cups of brewed tea shouldn’t cause any noticeable differences. 

How Much L-Theanine in a Cup of Tea? 

Researchers at the University of Bristol experimented to find out how much l-theanine you’d find in a cup of normally brewed commercial tea. They found that longer brewing times led to higher quantities of the amino acid, but on average: 

A typical 200 ml cup of brewed black tea contained 24.2 mg of l-theanine (+ or – 5.7 mg). 

A typical cup of brewed green tea contained 7.9 mg (+ or – 3.8 mg)

L-theanine supplements are typically sold as 200 mg doses, so if you drink 8 cups of black tea per day – or many more cups of green tea – you’ll get the same quantity of the amino acid as you’d get by taking a supplement. 

If you want to get very serious about extracting the maximum quantity of l-theanine from each pot of tea, then follow the advice of researchers from The University of Newcastle in Australia, who tested various extraction methods to see which yielded the best results. They say, to get the highest possible amount of L-theanine: 

Steep tea at 80 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes

Use a water to tea ratio of 20 ml per 1 gram

Steep tea that is between 0.5 and 1 mm in particle size. (Crush the dry tea leaves if larger to get the most theanine out of the leaves). 

Research Supporting L-Theanine for Relaxation

Theanine vs. Xanax? 

Researchers in Australia compared 200 mg of theanine to 1 mg of Xanax. Subjects were given either theanine, Xanax or a placebo during either a resting task (baseline) or a task that provoked anxiety.

Theanine worked better than Xanax to induce relaxation during the resting task, though neither theanine nor Xanax had any significant effects during the anxiety task. 

L-theanine supplements are typically sold as 200 mg doses – or 8 to 10 times as much as you’d get from a typical cup of brewed black tea. So would you experience any relaxation effect after drinking just a couple of cups of tea? 

To find out, researchers in the Netherlands took EEG measurements of healthy study subjects from 45 minutes to 105 minutes after ingesting 50 mg of l-theanine (approximately 2 cups worth). 

They found that even at this moderate dose, compared to subjects given a placebo, those given l-theanine displayed significantly more alpha brain wave activity. 

Alpha waves signify an alert but relaxed brain. 

Theanine to Protect Against Stress-Linked Memory Problems 

Chronic elevated stress can harm your memory. The theanine in tea may protect your brain from this negative consequence. Some very recent animal model research (June 2013) shows that theanine protects the brain against stress-caused memory impairments – probably by defending against the toxic impact of stress hormones. 

A group of rats were divided into two experimental conditions. One group received three weeks of pre-treatment with theanine and the other group did not. After three weeks, all rats were put under severe stress. Control rats experienced stress-caused visual memory impairments but rats pretreated with theanine did not. Rats pretreated with theanine had a much smaller corticosterone level increase than control rats, which likely explains the differing results on the memory tests. 

Theanine to Block Stress-Related Blood Pressure Spikes 

Some people experience more significant blood pressure increases during periods of high stress.Researchers in Japan ran an experiment to see what effect theanine had on stress-related blood pressure increases. 

Study subjects were given a placebo or 200 mg of theanine and then tested on mental and physical performance under different conditions: at rest, under psychological stress and under physiological stress.

Compared to placebo, theanine lowered blood pressure increases associated with stress situations.This effect was greatest for subjects who experienced the greatest change from resting blood pressure to stress-situation blood pressure during placebo trials.

Outrunning Depression: Exploring the Link between Body and Mind

My uncle came across this article written by Alex Hutchinson in The Globe and Mail the other day and suggested I read it. It explores the link between mental health and exercise. I've been trying to increase my exercise routine to help defeat depression and although it's still going a little slow, I can say that on days when I go for a walk outside, do half an hour of yoga, or go for a bike ride I feel so much better than on the days I don't do these things. Being able to actually feel the improvement encourages me to keep at it. 

Exercise is known to release endorphins (chemicals) into your brain. When these endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain they boost positive feelings which enhances your mood while also reducing your perception of pain. This is crucial for those suffering from depression because by releasing these 'feel-good' endorphins, the chemical imbalance in your brain that is causing your depression will start to alter, training you to have more positive feelings. 

I will write more blog posts on the importance of exercise in overcoming depression, but for now I'll let you read the article below:

For the teens in Dan McGann’s twice-a-week running group, exercise is therapy. That’s not a metaphor: They’ve all been referred to the group by their doctors after being diagnosed with depression or other mental illness. McGann, a therapist, has been leading the program at Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga since 2006. 

“Running is one of the biggest reasons I’m still standing on this earth today,” says Josh Copperthwaite, a 17-year-old who first joined the group two years ago. “When you run you can leave all the bad things in your life behind you – it’s just you and the road. For a few minutes out of the day, you feel free from the weight of depression that clings to your shoulders.” 

There’s plenty of evidence that exercise really is a powerful tool for mental health – in some cases even “as effective as antidepressants,” as headlines often claim. But it’s not at all clear how it works. Is exercise just something that makes you feel good, like completing your to-do list or doing a good deed for a stranger, or does it have some deeper effect on the roots of depression? A recent study by Swedish researchers offers the strongest evidence yet for the latter, suggesting that – in mice, at least – physically fit muscles play a direct role in protecting the brain from stress-induced damage. 

The results are just one part of a larger puzzle: “In neurobiological terms, we actually still don’t know what depression is,” Dr. Mia Lindskog, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, noted in a statement when the study was published last month in the journal Cell. Understanding the link between muscle and brain – healthy body and healthy mind – not only gives us new insights on the nature of depression, it also enables researchers to zero in on exactly how much and what types of exercise will best fight depression – or prevent it from starting in the first place. 

Researchers have proposed many different theories for how it works. One obvious candidate is the mood-boosting brain chemicals that are produced during and after exercise: Even if you don’t experience the elusive “runner’s high,” there’s little doubt that endorphins, endocannabinoids and perhaps other brain chemicals produce immediate feelings of well-being. 

Another possibility is the effect of exercise-triggered growth factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which are associated with the growth of new neurons – a key point, since depression is thought to be associated with neuron loss in certain brain areas. 

“Psychosocial” factors likely also play a key role: “Exercise allows me to set goals and encourages me to live a healthier, active life,” explains Sean Burdette, a 17-year-old who took part in McGann’s run program last spring to help cope with severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sticking to the routine and setting and achieving goals “has raised my confidence and allowed me to view life positively instead of thinking negatively,” he says.That’s precisely what McGann was hoping for when he started the group after discovering that running helped him through a major depressive episode of his own. Exercise enables teens to take an active role in fighting for their own health, he says, rather than seeing themselves as the passive recipient of treatment.

“Each week the teen experientially, through running, learns that they do have the power and the ability to change their state by taking action,” he says. “I have them complete a runners’ log sheet every time they come in that records their mood before the run and then after so they can see the difference.” 

The Swedish study offers yet another perspective. The researchers induced depression-like behaviour in mice by subjecting them to mild stress such as loud noises and flashing lights for five weeks. The stress caused increased production of a molecule called kynurenine in the liver, which then travelled through the bloodstream to the brain. Previous studies have found that kynurenine is associated with brain inflammation and neuron death, and patients with a variety of mental illnesses tend to have elevated levels.But when the same experiments were repeated with mice that were specially bred to be physically fit, less kynurenine made it to the brain. The reason? Exercise causes muscles to produce more of a protein called PGC-1alpha1, which in turn produces an enzyme that transforms kynurenine into a related molecule called kynurenic acid. 

The two molecules sound similar, but there’s a crucial difference: Kynurenic acid can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, so it’s unable to get into the brain and wreak havoc. As a result, the fit mice were less likely to develop depression despite exposure to the lights and noises. 

In other words, explains senior co-author Dr. Jorge Ruas, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute, it’s not that well-trained muscles produce a substance that helps the brain; instead, they produce a substance that purges the body of something that would otherwise harm the brain. 

Ruas and his co-workers are now planning follow-up studies in human volunteers who are using exercise to treat their depression. Attacking kynurenine may also offer a new target for drug development, although it’s unlikely that any pill will be able to fully replicate the effects of real-life exercise. “Physical exercise has many components which may contribute to the anti-depressant effect,” Ruas says. 

Dr. Guy Faulkner, head of the exercise psychology group at the University of Toronto and founding editor of the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, agrees – and points to studies in which even mild walking, which is unlikely to be vigorous enough to send a surge of chemicals through the brain, helps alleviate depression. Whatever different mechanisms are at work during exercise, the precise combination that makes any given patient feel better is likely to be “highly individual-specific,” he says. 

For McGann’s teens, the details of the mechanism matter less than the results. About 400 kids (and some of their parents) have gone through the program so far, with several going on to run marathons and half-marathons. Other groups have now set up similar programs across the province, many with support from a charity called Team Unbreakable. 

“We have a slogan in the run group: ‘Hills are our friends,’” McGann says. “In other words, the challenges in our lives become easier the more we face them. Hills become easier the more that you run them.” 

5 Ways To Boost Your Serotonin Naturally

My sister came across this article from Natural Cures Not Medicine the other day and I thought it was important that I share it with you. Medicine alone will not cure depression, you have to be willing to make changes in your lifestyle in order to truly beat this illness. 

Serotonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter which is biochemically derived from tryptophan (an essential amino acid in the human diet). Serotonin is known to regulate things such as our mood, appetite, and sleep and so it is therefore a crucial player in mental health illnesses. The following lists 5 things that you can do to boost the serotonin levels in your body naturally - i.e. without taking medication. For some people, doing these things alone may make all the difference, for others, you may need to try these alongside your medication regime. Do what works best for you. 

"In the world of Western medicine, many doctors have become overly dependent on synthetic medications. This is particularly true in the case of mental illness; often, doctors will prescribe medications without even getting to know the patient and underlying causes of symptoms.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in a variety of mental disorders, and many medications target the serotonin in your brain. Many antidepressants, for example, are SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Essentially, they inhibit serotonin transport, ultimately boosting the extracellular concentrations of the neurotransmitter in your brain. If you would like to try to boost your serotonin naturally before resorting to medication, there are a few things you can try.

Read on to learn about five 100% natural ways to boost your serotonin levels.

1. Manage your carbohydrate intake.

Though carbohydrates trigger an instant release of serotonin, it can be counterproductive to consume them in excessive amounts. In addition, they do not help with the ongoing release of serotonin; they just give you a little bit of instant gratification.

When you eat an excessive amount of carbohydrates, you can actually feel sluggish, which can worsen mood disorders such as depression. However, this does not mean that you should avoid carbs completely. When your diet is composed largely of protein, with very little carbohydrates, serotonin production can actually be hindered.

Though it is unclear why this is the case, it is thought that it has something to do with the imbalance that this high protein-to-carb ratio creates in the brain.

2. Eat tryptophan-rich foods.

Tryptophan is actually directly converted to serotonin in your brain. As such, it makes sense that you should try to eat foods that are rich in this amino acid. There are many foods that contain generous amounts of tryptophan. You may already know that turkey is one of them, but it can also be found in chicken, fish, nuts, cottage cheese, beans, and eggs.

Tryptophan is most effective for this purpose when you eat it with a small amount of complex carbohydrates, such as nuts, legumes, or brown rice. These healthy carbs will assist your brain in processing the tryptophan and boosting your serotonin levels.

3. Eat the right fats.

Though a lot of people think that fat is unequivocally bad, this is not the case at all. Fat is actually necessary for the continuing functioning of your internal systems. You need essential fatty acids for your hormones and neurotransmitters (including serotonin) to be in balance. Make sure that you are consuming plenty of omega-3 fatty acids; these can be found in fish, DHA-enhanced eggs, flaxseed products, nuts, seeds, and avocados.

You may already know that these good fats are good for your cholesterol, but they are good for your serotonin levels as well. Fish oil supplements are great for anyone who doesn’t have time to prepare some of the other tryptophan-rich foods.

4. Exercise on a regular basis.

You probably already know that regular exercise comes with many benefits. These benefits extend to your mental health as well; exercise stimulates the release of not only serotonin, but dopamine and various endorphins as well.

Serotonin and dopamine actually work together to boost your mood. Even if you do not need to lose weight, it is a good idea to exercise every day or every other day, even if you only do so for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Doing this over a long period of time will make you feel better mentally, not to mention physically.

5. Optimize your sleep.

If you have ever been depressed, you probably know that it can be tempting to lie in bed all day. However, this will not help your mood, and the sleep that you get during this extra time in bed will likely not be quality sleep. In order to boost your serotonin levels as much as possible, get up early every day.

Light exposure has been shown to be correlated with higher serotonin levels, and when you sleep during the daytime, you miss out on this booster. Make sure that you are getting the right amount of sleep as well. It’s all about balance; you shouldn’t deprive yourself of sleep, but don’t sleep too much either.

Your body needs sleep in order for all of your systems to refresh and rejuvenate, and this includes your nervous system (which, of course, manages serotonin). Conversely, too much sleep can cause you to feel sluggish even when you are awake, and the overall lack of body movement will cause low amounts of serotonin release as well.

For most people, getting enough sleep equates to getting 8 hours of sleep every night, though this can vary. If you are not able to get adequate sleep at night, you can take one short nap during the day; just make sure that it does not go longer than 30 to 45 minutes.

As you can see, there are plenty of things that you can do to boost your serotonin levels (and thus your mood) without taking medication. In the more severe cases of serotonin deficiency, you will want to talk to your doctor about what is best, but observing the above five guidelines can definitely play a role in raising your serotonin levels, as well as improving your quality of life."

World Mental Health Day

 "Real depression isn't being sad when something in your life goes wrong, real depression is being sad when everything in your life is going right." - Kevin Breel 

Today is World Mental Health Day. What does that mean exactly? Well, it's a day dedicated to talking openly and honestly about mental health issues in an effort to raise awareness and educate people around the globe which in turn will help decrease (and eventually eliminate) the stigma associated with mental illnesses so people will feel more comfortable asking for and receiving the help they desperately need and deserve. 

It is important to realize that everyone experiences mental health issues differently. Just because I deal with depression doesn't mean I can relate to everything that another depressed person is dealing with. You can't make generalizations about mental illnesses because how one person suffers is individual to them. We all have unique brain chemistry which causes us each to act and react to things in our own way. There are certainly common traits among individuals which makes it easier for those of us suffering to understand each other, but you are the only person who truly knows what it feels like to be you. Because of this, talking about mental health is very complex, there is no simple explanation and no 'one size fits all' solution. But only by engaging in a dialogue on the subject can we come to understand mental health illnesses better. The only way to learn is through people's experiences and the only way to get people to tell their stories is by making sure they feel comfortable enough to do so. 

When you're depressed, one of the hardest things to do is to admit it. That's why it's so important for us to talk openly and honestly about depression and eliminate the stigma attached to it because when someone is brave enough to come forward and talk about their suffering, when they reach out for help, there needs to be a community who is willing to stand by them and support them, not one that will silence them and look the other way. 

Like Kevin Breel said:

"...unfortunately, we live in a world where if you break your arm, everyone runs over to sign your cast, but if you tell people you're depressed, everyone runs the other way. That's the stigma. We are so, so, so accepting of any body part breaking down other than our brains. And that's ignorance. That's pure ignorance, and that ignorance has created a world that doesn't understand depression, that doesn't understand mental health."

Kevin Breel is an absolutely beautiful soul. Like many of us dealing with a mental health issue, you wouldn't know it to look at him. On the outside he appears to be a strong, confident and intelligent individual. But on the inside he is suffering. I urge you to please, please, please watch his TEDtalk! It's short, only 11 minutes, yet it is so profound, so powerful and he really hits the nail right on the head. I promise you that watching this talk will give you incredible insight, it'll change your view of depression and it may even change your life. 

Be One With Nature

I'm starting to get restless from sitting inside watching TV and wasting away my time on the internet day after day. I know for most people, having this down time feels like such a luxury, but when that's what you do literally all day, every day, it can get extremely boring. That's the problem with depression though, no matter how bored I am of doing absolutely nothing, sometimes I just don't have it within me to change that situation, so I just continue being bored. 

That being said, the other day was a perfect autumn day and I managed to convince myself that there was no way I was going to miss out on such a gorgeous day. Autumn is my favourite season, so I wanted to get outside and enjoy it. The hard part is always working up the courage to get dressed and step outside. I didn't want to overwhelm myself and cause a panic attack, as I had one the night before, so I took things slowly. I told myself that I could lounge around in the morning while eating breakfast but I had to be outside by 12pm so as to not waste the entire day.

The hardest part is always getting up off the couch to go get dressed but that's also the most important step! When I'm in my pjs my mind is set on lazy mode, it's easy to get too comfy and then I end up not wanting to do anything because it seems like such a huge chore to have to go and get ready for the day before I can step outside the house. But once I'm dressed, everything else comes much easier because I'm already set to go about my day and if something unexpected comes up, I'm ready. In order to make my morning routine easier for me I've stopped wearing make-up and worrying about my hair. Sometimes spending the time to do these things makes me feel good because it's nice to feel dolled up now and again, but on a regular basis my goal is just to get out of the house as fast as possible, so I just throw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, brush my teeth and I'm ready to go. Cutting my routine down to the bare necessities makes it more likely that I'll get outside as I don't have time to change my mind or make excuses. 

Once I got outside the other day, I honestly felt like my normal self again. I went for a long walk by myself and just took my time exploring. The path I took I've walked time and time again since I was a child, but it was like I was seeing it for the very first time. I allowed myself to notice everything, I stopped and admired the beauty of the changing leaves, I felt the crisp autumn air enter into my soul. It was wonderful! 

There's no words to describe the healing powers of nature, it's just a feeling but it's a feeling I truly believe in. I've always been an outdoorsy/active person and it wasn't until I took the time to connect with nature again that I realized how much I had been missing that in my life. The day of my walk was gorgeous, perfect sweater weather, however yesterday and today have been nothing but gloom and rain, but instead of finding myself running from the rain, I've been embracing it. It's like mother nature has woken up my soul and made me feel alive again.

I know I'm not the only one to experience this sensation. In fact, I got a text from my boyfriend about a week ago telling me the same thing. He was having a bad day, just felt a little down and didn't want to be stuck at work. He was working on a roof and all of a sudden it started to storm. While everyone else was running for cover, he lifted his face to the sky and allowed the rain to wash over him. He smiled because for the first time all day, he felt alive. 

In our busy, progressive society, it's easy to get caught up working too hard, trying to be the best, rushing from place to place or spending all of our time stuck in a concrete jungle. But I urge you to escape from all that, even if just for a few hours, and get out and become one with nature. We evolved from nature, we weren't always surrounded by tall buildings, loud noises and lots of light, life used to be a lot more simple and a lot more peaceful and as humans we're hardwired to still crave that because that's how life was meant to be before we took control and focused on making everything 'bigger / better / faster / stronger'. We have evolved as a species but it's important to remember where we came from. We are just as much a part of nature as are the animals, the trees or the ocean. We need to take the time to embrace nature, to take it all in, and to allow our minds, bodies and souls to recharge. 

Here are a few photos from my walk. I hope they inspire you to get outside. 

    

Educate Yourself

I came across this quote on Tumblr  the other day and it spoke volumes to me. It's really hard to describe to people the obstacles I face on a daily basis; the constant struggle I endure with myself. I've tried to explain my feelings on this blog before, but I think this quote says it best. Please take the time to educate yourself on how depression affects those individuals suffering from it so you can better understand them.

"Depression is humiliating. It turns intelligent, kind people into zombies who can’t wash a dish or change their socks. It affects the ability to think clearly, to feel anything, to ascribe value to your children, your lifelong passions, your relative good fortune. It scoops out your normal healthy ability to cope with bad days and bad news, and replaces it with an unrecognizable sludge that finds no pleasure, no delight, no point in anything outside of bed. You alienate your friends because you can’t comport yourself socially, you risk your job because you can’t concentrate, you live in moderate squalor because you have no energy to stand up, let alone take out the garbage. You become pathetic and you know it. And you have no capacity to stop the downward plunge. You have no perspective, no emotional reserves, no faith that it will get better. So you feel guilty and ashamed of your inability to deal with life like a regular human, which exacerbates the depression and the isolation. Depression is humiliating.

If you’ve never been depressed, thank your lucky stars and back off the folks who take a pill so they can make eye contact with the grocery store cashier. No one on earth would choose the nightmare of depression over an averagely turbulent normal life.

It’s not an incapacity to cope with day to day living in the modern world. It’s an incapacity to function. At all. If you and your loved ones have been spared, every blessing to you. If depression has taken root in you or your loved ones, every blessing to you, too. Depression is humiliating.

No one chooses it. No one deserves it. It runs in families, it ruins families. You cannot imagine what it takes to feign normalcy, to show up to work, to make a dentist appointment, to pay bills, to walk your dog, to return library books on time, to keep enough toilet paper on hand, when you are exerting most of your capacity on trying not to kill yourself. Depression is real. Just because you’ve never had it doesn’t make it imaginary. Compassion is also real. And a depressed person may cling desperately to it until they are out of the woods and they may remember your compassion for the rest of their lives as a force greater than their depression. Have a heart. Judge not lest ye be judged."

Telecare Peterborough - Defeat Depression Campaign

Well hello there! It's been a while. I'd like to apologize to all my avid readers for the lack of posts over the past month or so. But I guess that's expected when the girl behind the blog suffers from depression herself. I love to share my stories with you all and help you out in whatever way I can, but sometimes life gets a little rough for me as well and the motivation to sit here and write just disappears and I need to take a break for a little while. But that being said, I'm back now and ready to continue this journey with you. 

Just a little update: While I was unplugged from this blog over the past month, life has changed for me a little bit. Since I haven't been working I could no longer finance my living situation in Toronto and so I have moved back home to my parents' house in the Kawartha Lakes. I'm not a city person, and I don't think I was cut out for the Toronto life, but I do miss my independence. But for now, this is the right choice. It's nice to live at home with my family around for support and to be rent free so I can start to build up my finances again. 

Anyways, on to the point of this blog post... 

Tomorrow, Saturday October 4, 2014, Telecare Distress Centre of Peterborough is holding a run / walk-athon to help raise awareness and erase the stigma associated with depression. 

The event takes place at Jackson Park (610 Parkhill Rd. Peterborough). The site is open at 9am with the walk scheduled to start at 10am. 

"Telecare Peterborough is a free, anonymous and strictly confidential 24-hour call line for people in need of a friendly person who will listen. Our phones are answered by volunteers who are good listeners, enjoy talking to people and are trained to handle crisis situations. It is our vision that every person who calls will have access to a caring, empathetic and non-judgmental listener. Our mission is to support and strengthen Telecare services to our clients and volunteers by developing and maintaining effective crisis intervention and support."

To register for the walk or to donate please click on the link to visit the Defeat Depression Campaign website. 

You can also learn more about Telecare Distress Centre of Peterbotough by visiting their website - www.telecarepeterborough.org

For those of you closer to the Lindsay area, there is also Telecare Lindsay - http://www.telecarelindsay.org/

10 Ways to Feel Less Lonely

We’ve all experienced feelings of loneliness at one time or another, whether it be from boredom, moving to a new school and not knowing anyone or due to a variety of other changes within your life. Unfortunately, those of us dealing with depression feel alone on a regular basis. We could be in a room surrounded by all of our closest friends, laughing and having a good time or we could be having a quiet evening at home with our family, but despite being surrounded by people we love and people who love us, inside we feel empty, like we’re the only one in the room.

Despite these feelings, it is important to try and not let your loneliness define you, to not let it take over your life or keep you from having a good time. Instead of wallowing in your loneliness, allow yourself to appreciate your alone time. This is a good time to discover who you truly are, to find new passions, to work on a project that you keep putting off. Alone time doesn’t have to be lonely if you look at it in a positive way. Below are 10 tips of things you can do when you feel alone to help you centre yourself and calm your mind so you can appreciate the time you have to yourself.

1. Go for a walk in the woods. This allows you to escape the busyness and stress of daily life and to experience the world as it was truly meant to be before us humans destroyed most of its beauty. The fresh air and the sounds of nature are peaceful and refreshing. Reconnecting with the earth can ground you and make you feel a part of something special.

2. Spend some time in the sun. Sunlight is a natural treatment for depression. It lifts our spirits and helps us enjoy our day

3. Meditate. Meditation has been proven to relieve stress and help with depression. Set aside some time each day to sit in a comfortable spot, erase the thoughts from your mind, enjoy the pure silence and concentrate on your breathing. It takes some practice to do this successfully, but with time you will be calm, you will feel all your anxieties drift away and you will feel connected to yourself in a way that you have never experienced before.

4. Practice Yoga. Like meditation, yoga helps you to calm your mind, to be in control of your body and allows good energy to flow through your body while flushing out all the negative thoughts that are weighing you down. Exercise keeps you healthy, triggers your feel good hormones, and if you take yoga at a public class, you can meet lots of like minded people and hopefully develop some new friendships.

5. Write a journal. This is my go-to when I’m feeling lonely. I find that getting all my thoughts and emotions out of my head and onto paper really reduces my anxiety and allows me to process how I’m feeling in a more logical way.

6. Play with your pet. Being around animals has been proven to reduce stress and make us happier. Playing with a furry companion who will love you unconditionally will really give you a purpose and make you feel less lonely. If you don’t have a pet of your own, check out your local animal shelter and if you can, consider adopting one of the animals (they need our love and companionship just as much as we need theirs).

7. Watch TED Talks. There are literally hundreds of talks all filled with inspiration and creativity. There is truly something for everyone and I promise you you’ll feel more in touch with yourself and the rest of humanity after watching. Sometimes watching TED Talks is just what I need to inspire me to be the best me I can be and to give me the motivation to get off the couch and enjoy my day.

8. Read a book. If you enjoy reading then you don’t need me to explain how amazing it feels to get lost in a fictional world for a little while. More often than not I get so immersed in a book that I completely forget about the real world. The characters become my friends, the plot becomes my life, and for however long it takes me to finish the book, I’m truly not alone.

9. Pamper yourself. Appreciate your alone time and indulge in an at home spa day. Light a candle. Put on some relaxing music. Enjoy a soothing bath. Give yourself a hair treatment. Exfoliate your skin. Give yourself a facial. Paint your nails. Just love yourself.

10. Call your friends or family. Sometimes we just need to hear the voice of someone we love to calm us down and reminds us that we’re not alone in this world, that even though we may feel lonely, there’s people out there who truly care about us. Instead of picking up the phone, why not use Skype or Face Time? Seeing the person you’re talking to will give you a boost of happiness because instead of feeling like you’re just talking to a distant voice, you’ll feel like that person is really with you. 

RIP Robin Williams

"You look at the world and see how scary it can be sometimes and still try to deal with the fear. Comedy can deal with the fear and still not paralyze you or tell you that it's going away. You say, okay, you got certain choices here, you can laugh at them and then once you've laughed at them and you have expunged the demon, now you can deal with them. That's what I do when I do my act."

Since this is a blog on depression and mental health, I see it fit to post a tribute to a man that many of us grew up with; an amazingly talented actor and comedian, a highly energetic and good humored man, someone who we could all count on to make us laugh - Robin Williams. 

On August 11, 2014 Robin Williams passed away due to apparent suicide following his struggle with severe depression. 

Williams has been open about his mental health issues, however his battle with depression came as a shock to many - how could someone whose purpose in life was to make others laugh, feel so sad inside? This just goes to show that we should respect each other and try to bring a little bit of happiness to other people's lives each day because we're all dealing with our own demons. Everyone has struggles that no one else knows about and we should be mindful of that in our interactions with others. 

I've read some criticisms online saying that Robin Williams was "too successful" to be depressed. This angers me. Depression is an illness and it can happen to anyone. Of course some people may be faced with a greater number of risk factors for depression depending on the quality of the life they live, but depression doesn't single out these people. Depression does not care about class, wealth, race, talent, etc. Nobody is immune from depression. One article I read mentioned a very good comparison - "Smoking may be a major cause of lung cancer, but non-smokers can end up with it." Likewise, poverty, homelessness, abuse, drug dependency, etc. may be a factor in depression, but people who are not faced with these issues can end up with it as well. Take myself for instance, I'm not a wealthy, successful celebrity, but I'm also not living on the side of the road scouring the garbage cans for food. I'm just your average, every day girl, and yet I have depression. Depression just is. Some people get it, some people don't and there's no way around it. As the same article pointed out - "a person’s lifestyle doesn’t automatically reduce their suffering. Depression doesn’t work like that. And even if it did, where’s the cut-off point? Who would we consider “too successful” to be ill?"

We should all remember Robin for the joy he brought to our lives, for his ability to make us laugh, for his talent in Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, Jumanji, What Dreams May Come, Hook and many more films, but hopefully his death will also help send a message; hopefully it'll help change people's attitudes towards depression and mental health, make people more aware of the power of this illness, and ultimately, help end the stigma that surrounds the world of mental health. 

FROZEN

When I first started seeing my acupuncturist he suggested I watch the Disney movie Frozen. I had heard of the movie, but originally just wrote it off as a silly children's movie. But my acupuncturist convinced me that the movie was a good portrayal of a young girl dealing with depression and how she overcame it, so I decided to give it a watch. 

Be strong and brave like Elsa. Be positive like Anna. And be happy and kind-hearted like Olaf. 

Here are a few tips that I took from the movie and my discussion with my acupuncturist.

// Being cold all the time can lead to depression. When your body is a regular temperature, you feel better and happier and you're more likely to do things and have an easier time doing them because your body is alert and energetic. However, when you're cold for long periods of time your body starts to shut down and and all your energy is focused on trying to keep you warm instead of helping you be productive. When we're cold, we tend to have worse posture as we shrug our shoulders and fold our bodies up to try and keep the heat in. The problem is that when we're bent over like that, we have bad circulation so our blood does not flow through our body properly, thus reinforcing the feeling of coldness. Staying warm and, as a result, having better posture will improve your circulation and help you maintain a normal body temperature. This will give you more energy and will also help you breathe better since your airways aren't constricted from being bent over which will help you feel more relaxed. 

>>> Side Note: For those of you who know me, you know that I am constantly freezing cold. It's been a problem for years. It can be the middle of the summer and you'll still see me wearing sweaters and wrapped in blankets. This could be a potential cause of my depression because my body has simply depleted all it's energy resources by trying to warm me up and the lack of energy may be a contributor to my feelings of pure exhaustion. 

// Isolating yourself is a recipe for depression. Human's are hardwired to crave companionship, friendship and love. We need these social bonds in our life to form deep connections, to give us a sense of purpose and to make us happy and experience positive emotions. People may prefer different levels of interactions with others, but we all need positive relationships in our lives to help us grow. I know for some people it's harder than for others, but letting people in and forming some strong bonds will really help to alleviate your depression by having people you can count on and who you can talk to and who will help you get off the couch or out of bed and go outside and start doing things again. 

// Opening up and being truthful both with yourself and with those around you is a big step to overcoming your depression. It's not easy by any means. But allowing yourself to accept the situation you're in and talking to others about what you're going through is really a huge weight off your chest. This was so hard for me to do, but once I started opening up to others I realized how much support I had and people understood me better so it strengthened my relationship with friends, family, employers and co-workers. The hardest thing to do is to ask for help, but I promise you it's also the best decision you can make for yourself. 

If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you check it out. I was skeptical at first, but now I'm in love! It's an adorable story and as this post confirms, there's lost of lessons to be learned from it.