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Mindfulness practices are a staple of non-medication approaches to managing chronic illness and maintaining mental and physical health, but they have sometimes been considered unscientific, unproven, or just not “modern”. However, more and more experience and research is backing up the claims of mindfulness practitioners. A recent study looking a mood homeostasis, or balance, found that people who utilize strategies …
Healthy lifestyle is a matter of establishing healthy habits and breaking unhealthy habits. We can’t make a decision each and every day to have the oatmeal for breakfast instead of donuts. The idea is to get in the habit of reaching for the oatmeal without having to think it through. Especially at this time of year, many people are thinking …
MoodSurfing is dedicated to educating people about healthy ways to live with mental illness and to develop mental and physical wellness. In addition to that, we’d like to foster dialogue among people who share these interests. What works in the battle against mental illness? What helps folks with bipolar live better? What keeps depression at bay and lets one live …
How to develop resilience to face difficult times Resilience is a process that people can learn and activate to help recover from personal or community disaster, trauma or loss. While it has sometimes been described as a trait that some people have and others don’t, it is better understood as a skill, or series of skills, that we can all …
Since getting in to see a doctor these days can be very difficult (for example, we are not going to be seeing patients in person until 2021), now seems like a good time to get a home monitoring kit. For around 200$ you can purchase a set of devices that will measure your blood pressure, heart rate, weight, temperature and …
MoodSurfing advocates identifying strategies for managing moods without medications, not because we think medications are bad, but because they do have potential adverse effects. We think that some of these strategies are very helpful, but the psychiatric establishment has not always agreed. A recent study1 provides evidence that choosing activities to stabilize mood can have a big impact on mental …
It seems appropriate today to notice the fact that the largest civil rights movement ever is responding to the shame of ongoing racism not only in the United States, but in communities around the world. On June 19, 1865 the Emancipation Proclamation was read out publicly in Texas, the last state to surrender in the American Civil War. The states …
Stigma about mental illness is found everywhere, so why not in the intensely macho world of college football? Brent Guy, a college football coach for 30 years can tell you all about stigma. He hid his bipolar diagnosis and regular medication from everyone but his wife and doctors. I’ve written quite a few of these “famous people with bipolar” profiles …
A woman who is an HR manager complained that working from home has made her more physically inactive than ever. This seems to be a common complaint. Because of the risk of social isolation, she encouraged her team to use the chat application to check in with teammates more often. But what began as an effort to make people feel …
We’re all spending more time online these days, and learning to do things inside that we used to go out to do. How can we use this time positively to increase health, coping skills, mindfulness, and general well-being? There are more and more online resources for improving mindfulness and mental health. It seems like we just finish a list of …
Getting better sleep – longer, deeper, more restful – is an important part of managing mental illness and healthy lifestyle. Lack of sleep, and interrupted sleep, is one of the most common problems mentioned by our clients, and helping people get better sleep is one of our first goals for management of moods and especially major depression. Sleep technology is, …
Pleasure! We all want it. Not only is it fun, but it enables our bodies to release oxytocin, which helps strengthen the immune system, heal wounds faster, and generally increase health and happiness. Problem is, often when we feel bad, tired, or bored, we can’t even imagine doing something fun. To help with that, Moodsurfing has posted lists before of …
Seems like it’s been a while since we blogged about the title of the blog. Why is it called “Moodsurfing”? Living creatively with moods means we accept that there are going to be ups and downs in life, and rather than aim for an ideal “stability” we learn to manage life with moods and, ultimately, even to exploit the strengths …
Are you supposed to be happy? Depression can be a really depressing thing to talk about and often we are told not to bring up “depressing” topics in conversation, even with close friends and family members. People struggling with depression are expected to put on a cheerful mask and not spread their sadness around to others. How can we learn …
Moodsurfing offers a guest post by Deborah Michelle Sanders, JD. Deborah has had lifelong PTSD and has had Bipolar Disorder (first Type I, then II,) since 1984. She is a lawyer in three States. She was first home bound in 2015. We think that this article is a thoughtful perspective on our current situation. The views in the article are, …
Moodsurfing has often commented on the importance of limiting reading and watching sensationalist stories during a time of crisis. But a question that seems to be coming up these days is where one can turn for reliable information that is not sensationalist. I have created this blog post as a place to store some recommendations for keeping up with the …
Having a dog, cat or other companion animal in the home can be a boost for mental health, even if it is not a trained service animal. Pets lift our moods, give us a reason to get out of bed, and offer unconditional love and companionship. A growing body of research backs up what most Americans already believe: pets are …
Tips for surviving a quarantine with the family. Quarantines and lockdowns have become a common feature of our lives, and while we may be grateful for not being exposed to dangerous viruses, we are also suffering in a real sense from too much closeness to the people we live with. Weeks of stay-at-home orders may still be ahead of us, …
Moodsurfing readers have been sharing their thoughts and findings about “what works” in navigating these difficult times, and we’ve collected a series of coping strategies that everyone can use while homebound and social distancing. Keep Active. Some people report that they are walking up and down the stairs at home, some have unearthed old exercise equipment that they had lying …
Anxious Times, Anxious Thoughts Anxiety is a common companion for mood disorders, in fact, anxiety is, for many people, the first mood-related symptom they remember from childhood, before other symptoms began to develop. Studies show that as many as 90% of people with bipolar also have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety often takes the form of constantly repeated worry about worst-case …
