Depression and Concentration Natural Remedies

Does sound like those two things are at a cross purpose, doesn't it. When you want to "chilax", you don't really want to "concentrate" on stuff, and when you need more focus, relaxing isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

Well, lets think about it again. In a long run, depression will weaken and water-down your concentration. The loss of focus on things that need to be done or things that are important might lead to more depression later on. It's a self-feeding loop of misery.

Sounds familiar to some of you, my gentle readers? It should. This is one of the perks of having a migraine - feeling blue and blurry-minded.

There are plenty of pills that should fix us up. Except, until they come up with a mix of Prozac and Ritalin, it will still be the same never ending circle of annoying side effects.

I came across a couple of excellent articles recently that list some natural remedies, one for depression, another for improving concentration. While most of the items on the lists were familiar, I did trip over a surprise item or two.

Here's the list from "Dr. Nicole"'s The Nine Best Natural Remedies for Depression

• St. John’s wort
• Schisandra
• Passionflower
• B-vitamins
• Calcium/Magnesium
• Omega 3 Fatty acids
• 5-HTP
• S-adenosyl-Methionine (SAMe)
• Vitamin D

Not only I was not aware of Schisandra, I never thought one could overdose on Vitamin D. The whole write-up is extremely well documented and detailed with some pretty specific recommendations. It looks more like a research paper than a blog post. A must read.

The second list, Concentration Foods: 5 Foods That Help You Concentrate and Focus at Work? , comes from The Daily Minder:

• Ginkgo Biloba
• Ginseng
• Coffee
• Brahmi (Bacopa Monnieri)
• Fish (Omega 3 Fatty acids)

Notice the interesting overlap of Omega 3 Fatty acids in both lists. It would be interesting to read about it in more detail; questions like - "Do Japanese make anime because they eat more fish and if we start eating more fish, do we start making anime too?" need to be answered.

Brahmi is a new thing to me as well. Curiously enough, it's not only used to improve the "noggin-werkz" but also recommended for treating anxiety and stress.

There's also a nice observation on coffee - the "more often you drink coffee the less effective it can become". Caffeine is somewhat of a controversy among the migraine people and it's something we should pay attention to. As Megan recently pointed out, for migraine patients, it's recommended "limiting caffeine to one cup per day, and using more to treat migraines when they arise."

Do give all the above-mentioned articles a read-through, you won't be disappointed.

link: The Nine Best Natural Remedies for Depression

link: Concentration Foods: 5 Foods That Help You Concentrate and Focus at Work?

link: Caffeine Withdrawal and Weekend Migraines

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