“Prevention is better than cure.”

These words are even more truer in mental health cases like depression.

Mental health issues like depression usually do not just happen. Even though it always seems so. The effects are mostly from events that would take time to grow until it eventually erupt suddenly like a volcano.

Our goal therefore should be on taking more preventive measures by being proactive in handling our emotions and any potential trigger to such issues before we become too helpless to act.

Since three weeks now, I have been discussing depression and some shared stories about it. See last week’s post here

As noteworthy as those lessons embedded in the stories are, nothing beats more effectively at combating depression than what we do before we get to that state of helplessness.

My focus today would be sharing one of the preventable methods that can help in proactively taking charge of our emotions before it goes out of hand.

Of the many wonders of this world, gratitude stands out to me as something too amazing that it can be almost indescribable because of its many profound results. But often sidelined for its simplicity.

If we are grateful for what we have, however small that might be, we may never have the time at complaining over what isn’t working so much as we usually do. This is not to make the issues around some of our life’s challenges seem like nothing. But it can help in reminding us of the little things that matters most which we often ignore until we are made to pay the bigger price.

Bad stuff happens to everybody. But some people are better at handling them. While others have argued about how this may be because of the way these people were wired biologically, which I do not entirely disregard, I also do agree that all of us do have a measure of control over our lives. We can within the space of the minutest control choose our response to issues – especially those challenges we do not have the total control over. Which, unfortunately, can be the more reasons for the frustrations often experienced prior to a depressive state.

Resilient people are not super made humans. No. not at all. They are humans like us who made up their minds they wanted the control button of their lives in their own hands. That decision guides how they usually bounce back from some very difficult times.

And one of the most powerful resilient attitude is GRATITUDE.

Being grateful helps our mental wellness. Because gratitude increases the quality of sleep. When we are thankful about our lives, circumstances, whether of those experienced, or of the ones we are still hopeful for, we tend to fall faster asleep – and deep too.

Since enough of sleep remedies anxiety, pains, stress, and depression, it means that gratitude may help us prevent depression before it take its toll on us, and cause us to lose sleep.

The naturally deep sleep from a grateful heart is possible because of the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus is the part of the brain responsible for regulating our bodily functions such as sleep, appetite, temperature, growth and metabolism.

Scientific study has since proven that the hypothalamus is activated when we feel or express gratitude for something, or someone.

More so, feelings of gratitude can flood our brains with the “feel good” hormone, called dopamine. When we are grateful for something specific, or because of someone in particular, our brain becomes flooded with dopamine, making us feel good about ourselves. Talk about the natural high!

To read the complete post click:

http://joyiseki.com/before-you-become-depressed-be-grateful/