So, I'd be lying if I said I didn't deal with depression a little bit most days, and anxiety most days. But I've been throwing myself fully into exercise and lifestyle changes to claw back as much control of my brain as I can, and now my energy levels are better than they have been since I was a teenager. I haven't had coffee in months.

Exercise

-Get a step counter and walk at least 8k steps a day. Try for 10k. this seriously does so much. If you live in a place with bad weather or walking infrastructure, get a walking pad.

-lift weights. Legs, chest, back, arms. I have a spare room where I stuck a cheap craigslist weight bench and about 200 bucks of barbells and dumbbells. Sure, getting a gym membership is more practical for some people, but for me I know I will work out more with a set at home. It's a nice feeling when I stick some protein in the oven and can just pump out a few sets by the time my food is ready.

-hike/spend time in nature. Aromatic turpentines in forests are shown to have massive positive benefits on emotional regulation.

Diet/lifestyle

-cut out alch, nictotine, weed, processed foods, soda, processed sugar as much as you can. For me, weed was fucking up my mental state, memory, and sleep cycle. I feel way more energy and mental clarity without it. And i can breathe easier without smoking. It's maybe made more of a difference for me than anything.

-focus your diet around getting as wide of a range of micronutrients as possible. Vitamin A (carrots/squash), Vitamin Bs (too much to go into for me rn) Vitamin C (citrus or lots of other fruit), Vitamin E (nuts), Vitamin K (lots of vegetables). Foods like kale are great bc they knock out a lot of your vitamin needs at once (it has A, C, and K I believe).

-avoid plastic if possible. Don't drink out of cans and plastic bottles, don't eat canned food (plastic apoxy). Ironically frozen vegetables in plastic packagaing often have less plastic in them than canned food.

-incorporate antioxidant rich superfoods whenever possible. I especially recommend purple (skin and flesh) Japanese sweet potatoes, blueberries, kale, avocado. Moringa is the healthiest plant I know of (and I am a horticulturalist by training), you might find it at a farmer's market but i buy it dried and drink it as tea.

-if you eat meat, supplement protein needs with plant protein like chickpeas.

-if you are going to eat processed foods, there is a big difference between pasta/bread/hummus vs. twinkees/hohos/etc

Supplements

-magensium glycinate for sleep

-b12

-d3 (maybe take half doses if you get decent amounts of sun, I tested a little high last time I did bloodwork)

Sleep

-find the gentlest lighting possible

-wear blue light glasses as much as possible

-get an essential oil diffuser with tree oils to lower your heartrate

-exercise will make things much easier

-air purifier

-black out curtains

Skincare

-sunscreen every day. avoid it out of plastic if possible bc plastic is not good for your skin

-wear a hat outside

-I make an aloe vera gel harvested from the plant and mix with green tea/moringa/Macha. Then i take the leftover stalks, soak them in warm water and pour it over my head in the bath. Did away with my dandruff overnight.

-ricewater, for skin and hair

-retinol

Hair

-gugo bark shampoo if you can get it is said to fight hair loss

-rosemary oil encourages hair growth

-rice water

-I wash my hair with squash water (yes, water I boiled squash in) before shampooing with gugo bark shampoo. Vitamin A contains retinol. After I did that my girlfriend said my hair had never looked shinier.

Tea

-for caffeine I go with green tea or yerba mate

-non caffeine mix (which I add to the green tea/yerb sometimes as well) is moringa, nettle, and stevia leaf

-if you have a sweet tooth, stevia leaf can be a great sugar replacement.

lmk what you think or if you think of anything