I don’t know about you, but this can be a difficult time of year for me. After the excitement and pageantry of the Christmas season, we still have many weeks of cold temperatures, long nights, and possibly adverse weather to look forward to. And even though I’m feeling more optimistic this year than I have in recent years, I can still struggle with a case of the wintertime blues.
Depression is a serious condition affecting millions of Americans. And Covid has made things even worse. Too many of us are struggling – possibly in silence and alone, if we’re feeling shame and stigma about our depression. We might feel like we have no reason or right to feel bad, so we feel bad about feeling bad.
Just a month or so ago we’d resolved to improve our lives. We promised ourselves we’d start exercising again, change our eating or spending habits, make better choices about how we spend our time or with whom. And then life gets hard, we stress out, and we fall off the wagon. Not only are we right back where we started, we beat ourselves up and feel miserable because now we’ve ‘failed’ at making things better.
But there’s hope. A recent book by Alex Korb, PhD, called The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, shows us how ‘small life changes actually change the activity and chemistry in specific circuits’ of the brain.
Depression is a downward spiral . . . [and] the big problem with the downward spiral of depression is that it doesn’t just get you down, it keeps you down. Depression is a very stable state – your brain tends to think and act in ways keep you depressed. All the life changes that could help your depression just seem too difficult.”
Alex Korb, PhD, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time
The good news, of course, is that the brain is very adaptive. Scientists call this neuroplasticity: you can actually rewire the circuits in your brain – at any age. It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks.
What if, instead of your life spiraling down, it spiraled up? . . . Your neural circuits have just as potential for this as they do for depression. It often takes only a few positive emotions to kick-start the process, which then begins to fuel positive changes in other areas of your life – this is the upward spiral, and its incredible efficacy has been proven time and again, in hundreds of scientific studies.”
Alex Korb, PhD, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time
You don’t have to be a neuroscientist to appreciate how the brain adapts to positive changes. You don’t even have to understand all the complexities, though it certainly helps. You just need to recognize how certain behaviors can start moving you in the right direction, and actually make it easier for you to keep moving in that same ‘upward’ direction.
It turns out that certain activities and behaviors activate certain circuits and regions of the brain, with fairly predictable results. And it turns out that many of these activities and behaviors are ‘common sense’ to most of us. This book helps explain how and why they work.
- Go out in the sunlight. It boosts the production of serotonin and the release of melatonin, which helps you get a better night’s sleep.
- Think of happy memories. Especially right before you go to sleep. Again, serotonin.
- Make a decision. About anything. This helps calm the amygdala and soothes anxious thoughts.
- Pay attention to what you can control. This reduces worry, anxiety, and even sensitivity to pain via the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
- Take a deep breath. This calms down the sympathetic nervous system and reduces stress.
I could go on and on.
- Go for good enough. Don’t agonize about falling short of perfection.
- Avoid catastrophizing. It’s okay to plan for the worst, but focus on hoping for the best.
- Stay focused in the present moment. Practice mindfulness.
- Notice what you notice. Make friends with your thoughts; be curious about them.
- Hug someone. It releases oxytocin (the ‘cuddle hormone’) and reduces reactivity in the amygdala.
Korb writes that ‘exercise is possibly the most straightforward and powerful way to start an upward spiral.’ The problem is that too many of us see it as a chore to endure and not as a lifestyle to enjoy. He offers the following tips on how to make it happen, and how to compound its impactfulness.
- Have fun. This turns exercise into play and not work.
- Find an exercise buddy. ‘Not only is social interaction good for depression, but social pressure will also help you exercise.’
- Enjoy the view. Exercising in pleasant environments increases its positive benefits.
- Think about what’s important to you. ‘When you connect your exercise to a long-term goal, it helps your brain overlook momentary discomfort and makes your exercise more satisfying.’
- Exercise before you reward yourself. You know you’re going to reward yourself anyway.
- Keep an exercise plan. ‘Planning activates the prefrontal cortex, and checking it off the list releases dopamine. Win-win.’
- Make it simple. Something is better than nothing. Don’t go for dramatic or elaborate, go for sustainable. This is probably what trips most of us up with our lofty New Year’s resolutions.
The book continues in just such a fashion. And it isn’t just about physical activity. It’s also about inactivity – namely, sleep. ‘Poor sleep is one of the most common symptoms of depression, as well as one of the biggest contributors to developing depression and staying depressed.’ He provides practical tools to improving ‘sleep hygiene‘ that I won’t go into here, but are pretty straightforward and widely known.
It’s also about mental activity. Setting goals and making decisions are actually quite beneficial in terms of brain function and architecture.
The book is jam-packed with helpful tips and suggestions to nudge your life in a better direction. You don’t need fancy exercise equipment or a gym membership. You just need to use a basic understanding of how the brain works to leverage what we humans can and should do, naturally.
- Sing and dance more.
- Smile and laugh more.
- Be more grateful. And express your gratitude to yourself and others.
- Reach out. Don’t hesitate to offer or accept help.
- Seek professional help. Its effects are measurable and real.
It’s science!
Thankfully, my job as a UPS driver not only keeps me physically active, but requires a considerable and constant amount of mental activity. It has also heightened my awareness to how we’re all connected through serving others, made me more appreciative of that service, and has just made me more grateful in general – not just at Thanksgiving, but all throughout the year.
Perhaps the one practice that has made the biggest difference in my own upward spiral has been daily mindfulness meditation. I can’t say enough good things about it. I’ve been using the Headspace app, although I’m sure there are plenty of good resources to introduce and sustain a regular practice of mindfulness to help create a bit of space between me and my own thoughts and feelings.
In short, although for many years I was prone to extended bouts of major depression, I’ve routinized enough of these positive habits in the past few years to keep me from experiencing anything more than symptoms that are mild, occasional, and brief. I only wished I’d figured it out sooner. I’m hoping that my writing about it here will help others.
The Upward Spiral is a great way to learn about what’s good and not-so-good about New Year’s resolutions, and what contributes to our success or failure in keeping them.
