Hey Everyone! My first post..but not my last. So, I am well trained child/adult psychiatrist....I love the field of psychiatry, but I dont think the typical ways of most psychiatrist. I have been many people struggle or die from complications from mental illness. Potential yet lack of follow through because without a sound mind, its just an idea! I wanted to provide some great pointers pointers to get your brain optimal to help reduce the disease burden for most mental illness across the board (except schizophrenia, bipolar disorder). Regardless, everyone should follow these pointers, especially if you have an underlying mental illness, which in my opinion everyone tends to be on spectrum of disease burden.
1) Exercise twice times a day -30 minutes x2 (evidence based; helps with neuroplasticity, reduce stress burden)
2) Turn off all electronic 1 hour per sleep; All white light alters your sleep/wake cycle.
3) Meditated approximately 30 minutes - 1 hour before sleep. Great apps include Calm, etc. Guided meditation each day.
4) Create a schedule every day of what you are planning on doing. Schedules are excellent for providing confidence and helping with accountability with depression, anxiety, etc.
5) Stick with a Mediterrian diet. Omega 3 fatty acids, natural neuroprotective, great for depression. Hate fish, take high quality supplements. Look over what you put in your body, LoseIt great app. Poor quality, high calorie foods alter the brain/gut homeostasis. Every get butterflies in your stomach? Hmmm case and point....
6) Listen to positive affirmation every day - neuroplasticity of brain and alter the distorted thinking that starts to shift your frame your thinking.
7) Important to be the victor instead of victim. Ask yourself...what do I want...where do I want to be? Find out and model those that have overcome adversity. Surround yourself with positive people that bring you up. Scrap people that are negative, negativity breeds negativity. I listen to podcasts everyday. Why not learn from others?
8) Medications - Don't be bold and consistent. Seek out advice from experts in the field....ask questions questions question to each of your doctors. Ask them for research....Its your body and life...own it!
9) Herbal/Supplements? - Not always safe. Highly recommend seeking and reading about various sources. Highly recommend consumerlab.com MD owned research based company that vets quality products from different price points. I used it for every supplement I started on my patients. Don't flush ur money down the toilet literally....bioavailability and absorption.
10) Highly recommend Yoga/Meditation - Flexible mind yields flexible mind....Research and evidence based.
11) No alcohol/drugs - Yeah pretty obvious!
12) Therapy - Very important to get to the root cause of your underlying issues. Seek out a good, qualified therapist, who is a great fit. Theraupetic alliance is the most important factor in therapy. You dont vibe with them, thats okay, find someone else. Also, recommend seeking out CBT, ACT, DBT specialist. Depending on what your underlying mental illness, find out the person that can help you get to the root cause.
12) If you have any questions, I can't give formal advice for legal purposes, regarding medications, however would love to provide pointers or give guidance on who to speak with. Please feel to shoot me an message as time/life is short...why not feel your best?
-Vilash Reddy, MD
Vilash, thanks for sharing. I do a lot of these things, but not consistently on a daily basis. I will heed your advice and do more regularly. Cheers.