However, too much sleep can also worsen your mood. The best advice is to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Stress can trigger episodes of mania and depression in people with bipolar disorder, so keeping it under control is extremely important. Know your limits, both at home and at work or school. Learn how to relax. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and guided imagery can be very effective at reducing stress and keeping you on an even keel.
A daily relaxation practice can improve your mood and keep depression at bay. Make leisure time a priority. Do things for no other reason than that it feels good to do them. Go to a funny movie, take a walk on the beach, listen to music, read a good book, or talk to a friend. Doing things just because they are fun is no indulgence. Play is an emotional and mental health necessity. Using Your Senses to Alleviate Stress. Appeal to your senses. Stay calm and energized by appealing to your senses: Listen to music that lifts your mood, place flowers where you will see and smell them, massage your hands and feet, or sip a warm drink.
From the food you eat to the vitamins and drugs you take, the substances you put in your body have an impact on the symptoms of bipolar disorder—for better or worse.
My Life with Bipolar I: What I Wish People Knew About Bipolar I Disorder
Eat a healthy diet. There is an undeniable link between food and mood. For optimal mood, eat plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and limit your fat and sugar intake. Space your meals out through the day, so your blood sugar never dips too low. High-carbohydrate diets can cause mood crashes, so they should also be avoided.
Other mood-damaging foods include chocolate, caffeine, and processed foods. Omega-3 fatty acids may decrease mood swings in bipolar disorder. You can increase your intake of omega-3 by eating cold-water fish such as salmon, halibut, and sardines, soybeans, flaxseeds, canola oil, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts.
Omega-3 is also available as a nutritional supplement. Avoid alcohol and drugs. Drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines can trigger mania, while alcohol and tranquilizers can trigger depression. Even moderate social drinking can upset your emotional balance. Substance use also interferes with sleep and may cause dangerous interactions with your medications.
Attempts to self-medicate or numb your symptoms with drugs and alcohol only create more problems. Be cautious when taking any medication. Certain prescription and over-the-counter medications can be problematic for people with bipolar disorder. Be especially careful with antidepressant drugs, which can trigger mania.
Other drugs that can cause mania include over-the-counter cold medicine, appetite suppressants, caffeine, corticosteroids, and thyroid medication.
- Land of the Tuk-Tuk;
- Hamlet.
- Living with Bipolar Disorder.
Dealing Effectively with Depression and Bipolar Disorder — Covers key recovery concepts and strategies, such as mood and symptom monitoring and crisis planning. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Stories of Coping and Courage — Read the personal stories of real people dealing with bipolar disorder. Keeping Your Balance — Australian government sponsored site offers a self-help series on managing bipolar disorder. Includes cognitive and behavioral strategies for managing and preventing mania and depression.
Centre for Clinical Interventions.
Why I Tell These 4 Lies About My Bipolar Disorder
Improving and Maintaining the Quality of your Life — Advice on improving the quality of your life through healthy lifestyle modifications such as eating right and exercising. Support Groups Outside the U. The content of this reprint is for informational purposes only and NOT a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ORG Trusted guide to mental health Toggle navigation. What can you do? Get involved in your treatment Monitor your symptoms and moods Reach out Develop a daily routine Keep stress to a minimum Watch what you put in your body Topic Page Bipolar Disorder.
What can you do to cope with bipolar disorder? These tips can help you influence the course of your illness, enabling you to take greater control over your symptoms, to stay well longer, and to quickly rebound from any mood episode or relapse Living with bipolar disorder tip 1: Get involved in your treatment Be a full and active participant in your own treatment.
Improve your treatment by: A list of emergency contacts — your doctor, therapist, close family members A list of all medications you are taking, including dosage information Symptoms that indicate you need others to take responsibility for your care, and information about any other health problems you have Treatment preferences — who you want to care for you, what treatments and medications do and do not work, who is authorized to make decisions on your behalf.
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Help someone else by volunteering. Have lunch or coffee with a friend. Ask a loved one to check in with you regularly. Accompany someone to the movies, a concert, or a small get-together. Call or email an old friend. Go for a walk with a workout buddy. Schedule a weekly dinner date Meet new people by taking a class or joining a club.
Accepting Your Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis
Confide in a counselor, therapist, or clergy member. How to Sleep Better: Healthy sleep habits for managing bipolar disorder Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Avoid or minimize napping, especially if it interferes with your sleep at night.
Instead of viewing screens or other stimulating activities before bed, try taking a bath, reading a book, or listening to relaxing music. Limit caffeine after lunch and alcohol at night as both interfere with sleep. Recommended reading Dealing Effectively with Depression and Bipolar Disorder — Covers key recovery concepts and strategies, such as mood and symptom monitoring and crisis planning.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Keeping Your Balance — Australian government sponsored site offers a self-help series on managing bipolar disorder. I am the worst version of myself. Depression cycles can last for years—my longest lasting from to In that span, I tried to take my life three different times—, , and After therapy and a more aggressive look at my depression and anxiety, I started to learn to limit my depression cycles to months, then weeks, and, now, just days.
The last time I entered this cycle was Christmas week of and it lasted just four days. Many people go through depression, and everyone experiences deep sadness at times, but bipolar depression is a war of the mind that people with bipolar I disorder will battle over the course of their lives. You fight battles with depression over the course of weeks, months, and even years but the war will always be there in your life.
There will always be battles in my mind.
With bipolar depression and mania, you live with extreme mood swings. This is the major difference between bipolar I and bipolar II.
What can you do to cope with bipolar disorder?
I learned to cut back my cycles by learning how to recognize my triggers and how to respond to them. My mania was often defined by racking up credit card debt and reckless behavior. My thoughts when manic were often running a million miles a minute in my head, and I could go days without sleep. The crash was always the hardest for me. Depression and mania can happen in an instant with bipolar I. I have had moments of peace in my life, sometimes for weeks, before something changes in my life that leads to rapid cycling. I can be on top of the world one moment and unable to get out of bed, the next.
My manic side never likes to sleep so when mania runs its course, it always cycles back to depression—my default setting. I never struggled with anxiety until my diagnosis of bipolar I. Since then I have had to deal with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety, otherwise known as social phobia. Other issues that I have experienced due to my medication include major weight gain and weight loss at various stages of my life. Insomnia is a major factor that accompanies my daily struggles with bipolar I.
I have also developed prediabetes.
My official diagnosis is bipolar I with a seasonal component. What that means is my depression hits epic levels for during the months of November to March. As a result, I can be in a really bad depression cycle and it gets worse every year at the same time. I can feel the changes at the end of October as the season gets colder.
As the temperature drops my depression increases and becomes a more prominent aspect of my daily life. In contrast, during the summer months, my depression is manageable, or even nonexistent. It is very easy to turn to self-harm when you live with bipolar I disorder. I turned to self-harm as a teen and in my early twenties to keep my suicidal thoughts at bay. It was easier to deal with physical pain than my emotional pain.
I now advocate against suicide as a final option and want others living with bipolar I to know that suicide is never the answer.