Exercise is recognised as a successful, common way to help treat depression, anxiety and a host of other mental health issues. Moderate exercise for twenty minutes, three times a week is the minimum you should be doing. Aside from the need for physical exercise, your brain needs stimulation. I’d suggest the obvious. Get a hobby.

Therapists shouldn’t use a word like ‘Hobby’.

Terrible word. Hobby. Sounds like whatever it is, it’s probably insignificant to life on earth. But the fact is that a hobby can be a fantastic way for escaping the hum-drum and pressures of everyday life, pressures that can result in depression, anxiety and a number of other mental illnesses. Carpentry to cards, a hobby stimulates the mind and offers the kind of purpose that is so often needed in getting over depression. It’s only a hobby for a lack of a better word. And it’s therapeutic.

Mental Health: Know Yourself and your ‘Triggers’.

The key when trying to pick up a new hobby is understanding what sets you off, i.e. the ‘triggers’ that make you feel depressed or anxious. Once you can identify the sources of your depression, they’re far easier to treat. For instance, if work pressures and deadlines are causing you anxiety, then look for a hobby that has no deadlines, like surfing or carpentry. You can surf until the waves dry up or you’ve had enough. If there aren’t any waves, take a walk on the beach or eat an ice-cream. The point is that you’re in the space that calms you down, away from the pressures that let the demons of your depression and anxiety out into the open. Mental health is about knowing yourself as best you can, so that you can treat yourself the best you can.

Carpentry, you can work on a project until it’s sanded away to a toothpick. Because, if it’s the sanding that chills you out, sand something. Go into restoring furniture. Do something that’s opposite to your stress source and you’ll negate the consequences.

Sometimes it’s the Simple Things that Solve.

The Yo-Yo thing? Just a thought. You can go around the world, walk the dog and rock the baby with two pieces of plastic hanging off a piece of string. Killing two birds with one stone? Try three. Laughs aside, whatever gets your mind off the stressor is the solution.

Exercise is obviously a must. Releasing endorphins the good endorphins of exercise combats the devastating effect that stress can have on the psyche.

By flooding your system with these positive endorphins, it releases stresses built up mentally and physically, and clears your system of toxins. Combined with a well-balanced diet, i.e. adequate fruit and vegetable servings, high in fibre, with a good mix of proteins and carbohydrates to build muscle and fuel your activity, exercise and mental stimulation from a hobby can do a lot for your mental health.

Exercise and a hobby are a great start to handling and treating your own depression and anxiety. Don’t get put off by the word hobby. See it as a little time for yourself.