The Ancient Cure for Depression
Depression is a malicious mental illness to suffer from. It destroys every aspect of your daily life, and we treat it entirely wrong today. The correct way to treat depression has been used by our ancestors for years!
Suicide claims over a million lives per year worldwide. Depression is extremely common in today’s society, we have almost romanticized it. Depression is a horrible thing to suffer from, and it demands to be taken seriously. The approach we have on the disease has a huge impact on those who suffer from it. Many people still believe it could be an attitude problem and that causes people to refrain from asking for help. Depression is a serious mental health ailment and you have to take it seriously.
Depression is horrible in itself, but the way we are treating it makes it that much worse. The big pharma and medical industry see depression as a way to drug people up and make a buttload of money. According to author of The Depression Cure, Stephen Ilardi, depression robs people of their sleep, energy, sex drive, focus, and their basic ability to experience the pleasures of life. He even says if left unchecked, it can cause permanent brain damage.
Depression is not a natural disease. According to Ilardi, depression is not inevitable. He says like many diseases, it is a disease of the society. “Many begin to look to death as a welcome means of escape,” he said in a Ted Talks presentation. Depression is the result of a prolonged stress response. He says that it is similar to the body’s fight or flight system, almost like a runaway response.
“The problem is for many people throughout the Western world, the stress response goes on for weeks, months and even years at a time, and when it does that, it’s incredibly toxic,”
Ildari said.
One study focused on a group of 2000 Kaluli aborigines from Papua New Guinea. They found only one marginal cause of clinical depression. Because the Kaluli lifestyle is so closely related to our ancestors hunting lifestyle, they lasted almost 2 million years before agriculture, according to Ilardi.
“99.9 percent of the human experience was lived in a hunter-gatherer context,” he added. “Most of the selection pressures that have sculpted and shaped our genomes are really well adapted for that environment and that lifestyle.” According to Ilardi, all the drugs in the world couldn’t cure depression. While he is not opposed to medicine, he explains why antidepressant use is setting us back. He says the answer to our depression issue is in a six step program. He says that the result exceeded his wildest dreams of curing depression. It includes:
- Exercise
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids
- Sunlight
- Healthy Sleep
- Anti-ruminative activity
- Social connection
He emphasizes the importance of regular physical activity and a good social connection. He says these are the two of the hardest parts of the program for modern-day Americans. The dirty little secret about exercise, Ildari says, is “it is not natural.” We are designed to be physically active “in the service of adopted goals,” not to exercise on a hamster wheel.
“When you put a lab rat on a treadmill … it will squat down on its haunches, and the treadmill starts to rub the fur and the skin right off its backside,” he said. “When you stare at a piece of exercise equipment, there is a part of your brain that’s screaming out ‘Don’t do it! You’re not going anywhere!’”
A social connection is just as important because it has caused a modern-day nuclear family bubble. “Face-time with our loved ones puts the breaks on our stress response,” Ildari says.
The problem is we’ve replaced face-time with screen-time.
“Our hunter gatherer ancestors spent all day in the company of their loved ones. “
The answer to depression is baby steps. You have to realize that you are not plagued or stuck in an endless cycle of sadness and depressiveness. Take baby steps away from the modern day civilization and try to expand your consciousness. Do this while eating a healthy natural diet, and you’ll be alleviated from the symptoms of depression. You’ll never know until you at least try, right?
Inspired by an article written by UpLiftConnect.com