Tips for Coping with Pandemic Depression

Hi, I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper, and today we're going to talk about how to cope with depression from the pandemic. Make sure you check out my other videos that talk about anxiety and depression during the pandemic to get more information. So let's talk about some of the things that people are experiencing as a result of the pandemic regarding depression. I found that many people in in my office and in therapy are feeling a higher level of depression since the start of the pandemic. Many reasons why. Lots of uncertainty since the beginning about how long it's going to last, what we're gonna do, if we have to wear a mask, where we have to wear it, and now having to do with the vaccine. So just a lot of different questions about what this is going to look like and how long it's going to last. But for many people, it's caused a great deal of depression because, um, they feel sad and hopeless about this entire situation. It's been a huge adjustment and transition for all of us, for sure. But today I want to talk about some of the tips for how to deal with the depression that you might experience as a result of the pandemic. And one of the first things that I always tell my patients is that you have to get sunlight. Now, I live in the Midwest, so if you live in a place like the Midwest, where there is not a lot of natural sunlight, then you're going to have to get some light from somewhere. So they have those, uh, light, light therapy lamps that you can buy on Amazon or other places that can simulate the light that you would get from sunlight. And you could set a time to use that light at different parts of the day to be able to get the brain, uh, help that you would use from the sunlight. So why do we need sunlight? We need sunlight because we get vitamin D from sunlight. What is the role of vitamin D for us? Vitamin D plays a huge role in the wellness of everyone. One of the main things you get from vitamin D is mental clarity. So in other words, it can really help you focus a lot better, concentrate a lot better. That's one of the things. It also helps you get better sleep, and it also helps your mood. So it really plays a big role in a lot of the things that have to do with wellness and depression. So first tip, get more sunlight. If you can't get natural sunlight, buy some sunlight from Amazon or any place like a Walmart or a Target. I'm sure they all sell those, uh, sunlights or sun lamps they may call them for light therapy. If you just Google light therapy, you will be able to find it. Another tip that I would have is to watch less news. I know it's not possible for many people to watch no news but if you can watch less news, then it could really help you feel better and more hopeful about the future. I find that when people watch more news, they tend to become hopeless and helpless about the future because what you see on the news is, uh, lots of stories about killings, murder, bad things, what's to come in the future. It could make you even a little bit more frightened about the outcome of COVID-19 or the vaccine. So again, I would say the second tip is watch less news. My third tip would be to alter your physical activity. So if you're an individual that is not currently engaging in daily or weekly physical activity, then to start doing that ASAP. So of course, what they used to recommend is to exercise 3 to 5 times a week for a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes, but now, since most of us have altered the ways that we work and we're working from home, that gives you a little bit of benefit in how to include physical activity in your daily work. So if you're working at a desk, you could build in squats or calf lifts, things like that, while you're working from home at your desk, um, or just stretching. That could be a part of your day as well. But physical activity definitely needs to be something that gets your heart rate up, some so that you get the cardiovascular benefits of moving and sweating and, um, improving your stamina and endurance. So those are definitely parts of the reasons why we do it, but we have to do it long enough to sweat and be out of breath in order for it to be effective. So if you can maximize the amount of physical activity that you have in your week, that is going to help your overall levels of depression. Other things you can do, my fourth tip would be to alter, modify, and improve your diet. What I find with many of my patients in therapy is that they don't have the best diets. In other words, the things that they are eating are not the best things and the things that they should be eating, and many times they know that. And so they tell me, hopefully honestly, what they're eating, and then we talk about ways that they can improve that. So, If you're a person that is taking in a lot of processed sugar, eating a lot of fried food, lots of caffeine, lots of dairy, and especially lots of alcohol, which I've seen people do a lot during the pandemic, all those things are not the best for your mood because the ways that diet impact our mood are really extensive. So too much dairy and too much sugar can make you feel more depressed. It can also make you feel more anxious. It can really alter your focus and concentration as well. Um, of course, alcohol and caffeine could have other effects, but in general, those who intake too much alcohol tend to have that, that withdrawal effect or that rebound effect that could include fogginess, fatigue, and sleep issues. So lots of reasons why to stay away from alcohol. What I found during the pandemic is people is people are really increasing their use of alcohol. So that is one thing that most people have to really keep an eye on. So alcohol and caffeine reduction is big. Processed sugar and dairy should be reduced, if not eliminated, because they cause other symptoms that could relate to your depression. And then fried foods, of course, for obvious reasons why that's not healthy for us. So all those things in your diet focus on them, modify them, and try to make your choices for food a lot better. So again, these were my 4 tips today about how to help improve your depression or reduce your depression during the pandemic. First one we talked about was sunlight, the second one was news, third one was activity, and the fourth was diet. These are my biggest tips for my patients all the time about how to improve their depression on their own. So in other words, a do-it-yourself method without getting others involved. So if these tips don't work, there are always other options. We will talk about other options later in my other videos. Please make sure that you subscribe.