depression – CuredByNature.net

Acupressure Points to Help Depression

Aug 172020

We’re confident that you’ve heard of acupuncture, but do you know where it comes from?

The study and practice of acupuncture and acupressure have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years and is an ancient healing technique. Acupressure and acupuncture apply the same principles, but acupressure uses pressure points instead of needles to achieve the desired results.

TCM & DEPRESSION

Today, we’re here to talk about different acupressure points that are used to reduce depression and anxiety through intentional point-placements and massage. Each of these points are ones that can be done on your own without the help of another person.

Acupressure can reduce anxiety and depression by massaging (or using an acupressure stick) the proper locations. Below, several commonly known acupressure points are listed and are known to treat depressive symptoms.

ACUPRESSURE POINTS TO REDUCE DEPRESSION

1. HEART 7 (HT-7) “SPIRIT GATE”

Location: On the crease of your inner wrist towards the ulnar (pinky finger) side. Feel for a hollow place at the base of the pisiform bone.

How does it help?: HT7 is often used to strengthen the heart and nourish qi and blood. This pressure point is also known to settle anxiety/worrisome emotions and also quiets the mind. It helps with sleep disturbances and emotional stress, releases tightness in the chest and even aids with heart palpitations.

2. NEIGUAN (PC6)

Location: Find the middle of your wrist, about two finger widths below the palm. Using your thumb and forefinger, press on this location for 2-3 minutes. Repeat on your other wrist.

How does it help?: Neiguan can be used to treat depression and anxiety.

3. CONCEPTION VESSEL 17 (REN 17) “CHEST CENTER”

Location: At the center of your chest, midway between the nipples/center of your sternum.

How does it help?: This acupressure point is also known as the ‘influential point of Qi’ (or energy) which this point helps regulate. Qi often gets stuck (or stagnant) with excess stress and imbalances in life. This point helps to relax your chest and release your diaphragm.

4. YIN TANG “HALL OF IMPRESSION”

Location: located between the eyebrows, in an area also known as the third eye.

How does it help?: This pressure point calms the spirit and takes the edge off emotional restlessness and anxiety. It’s also known to promote a deep relaxation and even helps with insomnia! It is also great at relieving headaches and helps to clear nasal congestion or a runny nose.

If you found these home-tips helpful and are ready to take the next step and try acupuncture, contact us to set up an appointment!

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Foods to Eat to Help Depression

Acupuncture

Aug 032020

Many have heard the question posed what came first, the chicken or the egg? But how does that concept apply to depression? It’s well-known that when we’re depressed, our motivation and interest in maintaining a healthy and balanced diet subsides in the same way our energy does. Harvard Medical Students positioned that same question in relation to depression; what came first, depression or a poor diet?

Thankfully, researchers have addressed this question and found that a healthy diet was indeed associated with a significantly decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, patients were treated for two years with antioxidants or placebos. After two years, those who were treated with antioxidants had a significantly lower depression score.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Eating healthy foods gives you a better chance to reduce your depressive symptoms than eating a diet of processed food that may be high in sugars and fats.

Additionally, it’s known that there are approximately 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the body. These bacteria serve many purposes including the curation of Vitamin K, digesting the food we consume and even regulating our immune system.

This implies that maintaining a healthy gut bacteria and overall diet can improve your mood.

SO, WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

Suggested foods to eat are lots of green leafy plants (including fruits and vegetables), whole unprocessed grains, seeds & nuts, and lean proteins such as yogurt or fish. To break them down even further, take note of the following foods and their purpose (all of which fight depression):

Inflammation: Spinach, Kale, Swiss Chard, Berries, Mushrooms and Onions.
Mood Boosting & Omega 3: Walnuts, chia seeds, Fish (salmon, tuna and sardines), and even certain brands of egg or yogurt.
Oleic Acid: Avocado, cheese, pasta and meats such as chicken, beef or pork
Antioxidants: Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are some of the highest antioxidant foods available to us. Other foods include sweet potato, oranges, and peppers.
Folic acid and alpha-lipoic acid: Tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and brussels sprouts.

WHICH FOODS SHOULD I AVOID?

Avoid foods made with added sugars or flours such as baked goods (donuts and pastries), breads, pastas and cereals. One should also minimize the consumption of animal fats, processed meats such as bacon, and even butter.

OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER

It’s important to remember that health starts from within. Maintaining a healthy balance of self-care, such as providing yourself with adequate sleep, hydration and physical activity is just as important as eating well.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that supports the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Having balanced health helps with everything from cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer and even mental health disorders including- you guessed it – depression!

If this article has inspired you to turn a new leaf and start becoming healthier, be sure to follow our social media pages. We post other content on health, acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine and so on that can help you keep your life on track.

Don’t forget! Schedule an acupuncture appointment with us if you have any questions about depression and how traditional chinese medicine can help.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/therese-borchard-sanity-break/foods-eat-every-day-beat-depression/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/diet-and-depression-2018022213309

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Yoga is effective for chronic, treatment-resistant depression

Ayurvedic

Sep 062017

Yoga can complement traditional therapies and help in reducing symptoms of depression, claims researchers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in the United States.

According to Lindsey Hopkins from the San Francisco Medical Centre, yoga is highly popular in the West, and majority of the new yoga practitioners have confirmed stress-reduction and other mental health concerns as the primary reason for practicing yoga.

In the study, presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Washington DC, the team of researchers explored the antidepressant effects of ‘Hatha Yoga’ and ‘Bikram Yoga’, in a series of experiments.

For this, 23 males participated in the ‘Hatha Yoga’ classes twice a week for eight weeks, while 52 women participated in ‘Bikram Yoga’ classes for eight weeks. Both the methods led to considerable reduction in depression symptoms and improved quality of life, optimism, cognitive and physical functioning.

With increased participation in yoga classes, the more the participants noticed the lowering of their depressive symptoms, the study showed, said Maren Nyer, PhD from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Further, the researchers also considered the potential of yoga to address chronic and/or treatment-resistant depression in two separate studies. The first study involved 12 patients, who had experienced depression for at least 11 years, who participated in nine weekly yoga sessions of nearly 2.5 hours each.

The second study comprised of 74 mildly depressed patients (university students), involving comparison of yoga with a relaxation technique. Results showed that yoga significantly lowered depression, anxiety and stress, the researchers said.

According to Nina Vollbehr, Centre for Integrative Psychiatry in Netherlands, studies suggest that yoga-based interventions have a promise for depressed mood and that they are feasible for patients with chronic, treatment-resistant depression.

However, Hopkins says that research on yoga as a treatment for depression is still in preliminary stages. Therefore, currently, yoga can be recommended as a complementary approach, which could be very effective in conjunction with standard approaches by a licensed therapist.

Although yoga cannot be a ‘cure-all’, it does have a lot of potential, Hopkins concluded.

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Teenager Stress, Anxiety and Depression

Homeopathic

Aug 042016

Anxiety, Stress and Depression can be Experienced by Our Teenagers.

It’s true to say that many of us experience life as busy and sometimes stressful. Teenagers are no exception. They have their own stressors whether from family, or school. To add to their load, they also have significant peer group stressors and this can sometimes be experienced as overwhelming. How I treat Teenager Stress, Anxiety and Depression is detailed in this Blog.

Problems Manifest Differently in Teenage Girls and Boys

In my counselling clinic I see children as young as 9 or 10 developing emotional or psychological difficulties that I used to see more often in teenagers. With these children it’s very important that they gain some insight into their struggle. So I work with them to give them tools and strategies to assist them as they enter their teenage years. Social pressures amongst girls can escalate as hormones kick in during puberty, so the children who already have a toolkit of strategies to draw on can often cope very well.

With boys I tend to see those who are well into puberty and are not coping at all well with those disruptive hormones; and who become sullen and withdrawn as well as sometimes angry. Often this is mostly contained at home which means the parents take the brunt of it all; but sometimes it spills over into school life and you can find your son getting into trouble and under performing in class.

Pressure Can Translate Into Anxiety

When teenagers find there is too much pressure they can sometimes become either depressed or anxious. I treated a teenage boy a few years back who was suffering from anxiety and finding simple things like getting public transport to school difficult, or attending assembly due to the crowd. I treated this client with a combination of Counselling and Homeopathy and after a few sessions he was back on track. He went on to have a happy, successful school life and achieve his goals.

Counselling is a Tune-Up For our Emotional Selves

Counselling no longer has the stigma it did. Many of us need it, and I like to think of it as a tune up for our emotional selves. After all we take care of our physical body but tend to leave out mind and emotions to just sort themselves out. During puberty we know the brain gets almost completely re-wired. This is why we as parents, often feel like we no longer know our distant teenager. Well I can tell you a secret…they often feel they no longer know themselves!

Teenagers are sometimes resistant to visiting a counsellor. When you talk to them about it, it helps to find out their reasons why and then address them one by one. Sometimes teenagers find it embarrassing to talk to another adult about their difficulties. Sometimes they do not understand the process of counselling and think they will have to divulge their inner most secrets. I would like to dispel that myth right away and describe how counselling can help your teenager when they are in need.

Teenagers Respond Well When They are Really Listened to.

I work with teenagers by normalising their problems. This does not mean I dismiss them, far from it. I hear and acknowledge their difficulties, within the context of them not being alone in experiencing their issue. We discuss the whole issue from many angles and my aim is to help your teenager develop their own internal guidance system of how to act and react in certain situations. Importantly, I also expand their awareness around why they think, feel, and experience things the way they do; as well as bring their awareness to the impact of their actions on others. If they need to be more assertive and powerful we will work on that (and vice versa,) but never at the expense of helping to develop and whole, balanced individual who can meet the challenges of their teenage years with empowered self-understanding.

How to get Counselling Help for Your Teenager

If you want to come and see me with, or about, your teenager I work face to face in my Sydney clinic in Rose Bay, or via Skype. Teenagers are usually great with technology and find the Skype process works well for them. Feel free to make contact and have a chat to hear more about how I work.

My name is Sam Adkins, known also as The Homeopathic Coach. I have been working as a Homeopath since 2003 in both Australia, the UK and internationally via skype. I am also a qualified and experienced holistic counsellor using a Process Oriented Psychology approach. I like to combine both these skill sets to facilitate greater balance, wellness and happiness for my clients.

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Acupuncture and Depression Treatment

Acupuncture

Aug 062011

Hua Shou. Expression of the fourteen meridians...

Image via Wikipedia

Acupuncture is one of the most effective methods used for depression treatment. There are several studies conducted on this treatment and it has been found effective to treat depression. Hence, many of the people suffering from depression opt for taking up this acupuncture for treatment.
In some situations, when there are very less chances of the depression being treated with the help of medicines or other treatment then mostly people opt for alternative methods such as the acupuncture and aromatherapy for treatment.
Various symptoms of depression which are commonly seen in the individuals suffering from depression are inability to concentrate and take decisions, loss of energy, inability to enjoy, difficulty in taking decisions and sleeping and also frequent thoughts of committing suicide.
You can get information about the different methods which can be used for treating depression and also about acupuncture which is an effective method for treating it from various websites online. It is a very safe and effective method which can be used for curing this problem.
There are many queries which arise about this treatment that commonly come in the minds of the individual; after undergoing this treatment whether there is any chance of the reoccurrence of the depression. It is the most popular natural treatment. This is the most popular natural method of treating depression and also prevents reoccurrence.
The stressful modern life is the main factor which would be responsible for the reoccurrence of depression. This treatment is helpful in relieving your from its symptoms, identify the cause and destroy them.
These treatments require visiting the clinic for treatment. The treatment should be undertaken by the certified acupuncturist or a qualified person only. This treatment is done by inserting the fine needles in the body. In some cases, acupuncture treatment is in combination with some herbal medicines which are used for treating. It is also used for treating other diseases also. It helps to release all your tensions and fill your body with positive energy.
Benefits of using acupuncture for treating depression are described below:

It does not have side effects like anti –depressants used for treating depression. It is a safe method for treating depression.
It helps to provide long term benefits to the patients who opt for this method for curing depression. It reduces the chances of reoccurrence of depression and would prevent the requirements and expenses for taking these medicines again.
This method helps in reducing the symptoms of depression such as insomnia, thoughts of committing suicide, mood swings and anxiety. Apart form treating depression, this treatment also helps you to track down the causes of depression and try to eradicate the problem from its root cause itself.
It will also prevent you from the over dependence on the anti depressants to treat depression.
It is also very helpful for the pregnant women who are suffering from depression. It is also helpful to treat depression among women even after pregnancy. This treatment is very useful in assisting the women to deal with the emotional changes during and after pregnancy.

The details about acupuncture and depression are provided here. It also informs you about the benefit of using acupuncture for treating depression and is very helpful for the persons who want to opt for this treatment.

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