When dozens of expert tips and advice don’t work, it’s time to ask chemistry for help.

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As Hemingway said, “work is the most important thing in life which distracts from every misfortune.” He believed that “work could cure almost anything.” But what to do if this cure is the reason of depression? Does the principle of fighting fire with fire work here?

The problem of work depression is as relevant as ever. Professional psycho-hygiene becomes a topic of discussion when we realize the reason for depression and show its symptoms:

loss of interest in everything around;

unwillingness to see and talk to anyone;

inability to rejoice and take pleasure in work and life;

daily routine and sleep disorder;

appetite loss.

A strong indication of work depression is energy loss: we feel tired and exhausted with no strengths to deal with tasks and duties.

This fatigue is not physical but mental: attention and concentration levels go down, memory declines, and a person feels locked in a dark room along with sullen despair.

The best cure for depression is the help of specialists. The problem is, most of us believe they can deal with the problem on their own, putting off the visit to a doctor till kingdom come. We google the info, and we do hope all those tips and strategies from motivational blogs can help.

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There’s little harm in doing so except that we fail when trying to follow those pieces of advice. Most are vague and, therefore, complicated to follow. Take a break, find treatment, be easy, take care of yourself, etc. are all fine, but they don’t give the answer to the crucial question:

HOW to win with depression at work?

German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin characterizes depression as the triad of symptoms known as affective inhibition, motoric inhibition, and ideational inhibition. In plain English, we feel sad, think hard, and poke along when depressed. In plainer English, everything happening to our minds is the result of chemical mechanisms and processes in our bodies.

We are not unique with inhibited functions. Numerous scientific experiments show that animals go depressive too, and mechanisms to beat depression are common as well.

So, it appears that we can beat depression at its own game. Learn how to fight the work depression by using the chemistry of our emotions, and big chances are you’ll outsmart it without any medical assistance.



3 Tricks to Outsmart Depression at Work

Chemical mechanisms of depression allow us to employ light, physical exercises, and grooming for reducing its symptoms and coordinating our mental health, as well as productivity and mood at work.

Sync with Light

As well as animals adapt their biorhythms to day length, we should work at daylight or set up artificial lighting of our workplaces and mobile devices the way it influenced our organisms the best it can.

No significant correlation lays between the type of light and its influence on our physical condition. Natural or artificial, its impact correlates with a person’s subjective estimation.

The trick is synchronizing our biorhythms to office luminance for influencing the spirits at work.

Groom Yourself

It doesn’t necessarily take place for reasons of hygiene. The experiments show that grooming protects from depression, increasing the endorphins level in blood.

To achieve the effect, take care of your daily routine and sleep.

When in office, you can try massage chairs, head massagers, or organizing hug days with colleagues.

The trick is influencing mental health through positive physical stimula.

Befriend with Sports

Scientific research proves the effectiveness of physical exercises and their positive influence on endorphins secretion.

For those working in an office, a set of exercises with a pull-up bar will be the best choice. Make a new program every day to achieve the results.

For those freelancing, options vary: pull-up bars, video lessons, dumbbells, and other exercise machines will boost spirits and help to outsmart depression.

The trick is exercises should be short but intense, and you better do them on mornings. Hard cyclic exercises with short rest periods are the best.

How to distinguish depression from simple laziness at work?

One should understand the reason of poor well-being at work. We spend about a half of life there, so it comes as no surprise that work influences our condition.

When we are in place and do our thing, laziness will be a rare guest. If it happens, it highlights the need of some break or being on the wrong track.

Speaking about depression, it’s more about a set of negative feelings and experiences absorbing a person for a long time. Depression is a signal we fight our needs and interests, so stop it and start working and living for all it is worth.

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Photo by Iure Goes