Most people have experienced sadness at some point in their lives. These moods are often fleeting, but people with depression can have a hard time breaking free of the downward spiral that accompanies this illness. They may even have trouble imagining that breaking free is at all possible.
Over the past few decades, neuroscience research has changed how we view the areas of the brain that cause depression and expanded our understanding of what can be done to move out of depression toward happiness. What researchers have found is that simple life changes can shift the direction that you are heading.
In The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb shares the latest scientific insights on how to create an upward spiral of happiness in your own life.
Honor the Little Things
When people talk about depression, it usually seems like a big deal. And for people stuck in the depths of this disease, it really is. But depression is not an all-or-nothing illness. Its severity can range from mild sadness that resolves on its own to a full-blown major depressive episode that throws someone’s life completely off track.
There is a common factor among all these. Downward spirals, wrote Korb, usually start with a small change that “leads to unintended consequences that build on each other.”
For example, if you skip a party that your friends invited you to, you might spend the entire evening watching TV alone at home, and eating junk food rather than a healthy dinner. This can throw off your sleep cycle, leaving you feeling drained, and possibly even more cut off from your friends. As a result, you may become less social and sink deeper into depression.
Most people can stop this cycle, but some become stuck in the downward spiral. When you are sad or depressed, the activities that would most help you—like exercising, eating right or being social—suddenly seem very difficult or exhausting. You might also not be able to do them, even if you try—as is the case with insomnia.
But just as small changes can lead you into the downward spiral, small positive changes will have the opposite effect. Studies have shown that even small life changes can alter the activity and chemistry in areas of the brain involved in depression—such as the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.
This is good news for people who are battling depression, because it quickly becomes clear that you don’t have to jump right into perfect habits. Instead of a full-blown exercise program—which has been shown to help people with depression—you can focus on increasing your physical activity in small bits. This might involve taking the stairs instead of the elevator or getting off the bus one stop early and walking to work.
Over time, these small changes can help create a positive feedback loop that makes it easier to follow the upward spiral toward happiness.
Remember to Be Grateful
Another small change that can promote happiness is embracing gratitude. According to Korb, feeling grateful has many positive effects on the brain, including boosting the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Gratitude toward others can activate the social dopamine circuits and encourage social interactions, which can help reduce depression.
If you—like many people when they are sad—have trouble finding something to be grateful for, it doesn’t matter. The act of trying by itself can still have a positive impact on your mood.
“It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place,” wrote Korb. “Remembering to be grateful is a form of emotional intelligence … With higher emotional intelligence, it simply takes less effort to be grateful.”
Label Negative Feelings
If you are sad, you may be tempted to hold it all inside and show a brave face to the world. This can often make things worse. In one study, people who tried to suppress a negative emotional experience couldn’t do it. They may have looked fine on the outside, but inside their limbic system—the feeling system of the brain—was just as active, and sometimes even more so.
“Trying not to feel something doesn’t work, and in some cases even backfires,” wrote Korb.
There is a better way to deal with negative emotions—labeling them.
“To reduce arousal, you need to use just a few words to describe an emotion,” wrote Korb, “and ideally use symbolic language, which means using indirect metaphors, metrics, and simplifications of your experience.”
Labeling is a common practice among some types of meditation. As emotions arise while you are meditating, instead of trying to push them back down, you label them—such as “thinking” or “anger”—and then let them go.
Embrace Touch
Touch is an incredibly powerful ritual that can stimulate the release of the hormone oxytocin, which has an effect on social behavior and emotion. It is also released during sex, but even simple touching can work, as well.
“In addition,” wrote Korb, “holding hands with someone can help comfort you and your brain through painful situations.” This effect is stronger when it is someone you are close to, such as a husband or wife.
Even massage can help boost your mood by decreasing stress hormones and increasing dopamine levels. It can also improve your sleep and reduce fatigue, both of which can be beneficial for people with depression.
In the end, it is helpful to think of the circuits in the brain as “an interconnected web, like the environment.” Although depression can throw off this delicate ecosystem, tiny positive life changes can reverse this damage.
“As your brain starts to spiral upward,” wrote Korb, “the ecosystem becomes more and more resilient, which helps prevent future bouts of depression.”
