Self-Care for Depression: Small Changes that Can Help Improve Your Mood

Self-care involves taking proper care of your daily needs, such as eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene. However, depression can drain your energy and make it hard to find the strength or motivation to do so. Just thinking about taking care of yourself may feel like an unattainable challenge. The result is a vicious cycle where the worse you feel, the less you do, and the less you do, the worse you feel.

This is because depression is more than a mindset problem. It is a mood disorder that involves changes in brain chemistry and nervous system regulation, zaps energy and motivation, distorts thinking, makes everything feel harder than it should, and makes activities that would lift your mood, such as self-care, feel pointless.

As a result, self-care for depression tends to be a difficult, counterintuitive process of doing the things that help even when you do not feel like doing them.

Habits that Fuel Depression

Small automatic daily habits you may not even be consciously aware of tend to add up over time, shaping your moods, leading you to feel mentally and emotionally overwhelmed, and fueling the symptoms of depression. The good news, however, is that if you learn to recognize these habits, you can take steps to unlearn them.

Discounting the positive Constantly discounting positivity, expecting the worst, dismissing wins, and rejecting compliments trains your brain to ignore the good and focus only on the negative.

Self-criticism Judging and berating yourself for the way you feel instead of accepting your emotions and criticizing yourself for all the things you do not do fuels shame and inaction.

Numbing behaviors Trying not to feel bad by numbing your feelings through distracting yourself or turning to food or alcohol may provide temporary relief from emotional pain, but tends to make your depression worse in the long run.

Rumination Ruminating on the past and replaying mistakes, perceived failures, injustices, or what could have been only keeps you stuck and deepens your depression.

Cognitive distortions Using emotional reasoning and allowing cognitive distortions such as all-or-nothing thinking to convince you that nothing you do will help or work creates unreasonable standards and reinforces feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness.

Self-neglect Using fatigue as an excuse to avoid self-care or engaging with others causes your energy to drop even lower and makes it even harder to do the things that can help you feel better.

Isolating Withdrawing from life to avoid difficult situations and isolating from others to avoid being hurt reinforces false beliefs of worthlessness and deprives you of the positive interactions and emotional support needed to help regulate your mood.

Waiting to feel motivated Waiting to feel motivated before taking action can become an easy trap to get stuck in that keeps you from taking any action at all.

Small Daily Practices that Can Help Improve Your Mood

The following are some simple evidence-based self-care practices that can help you break the inertia caused by depression and improve your mood. Strive for consistency rather than perfection.

Prioritize quality sleep Not getting enough sleep worsens symptoms of depression, whereas healthy sleep habits can lift your mood, improve brain function, and increase your level of energy.

To help facilitate good sleep, create and stick to a consistent sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day; have a calming bedtime routine; keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark; avoid caffeine late in the day; and limit screen time for a couple of hours before bed.

Create structure in your day Creating structure in your day by establishing a simple daily routine with small, realistic, achievable goals such as getting up at a certain time; eating three balanced meals; and completing simple tasks like making your bed, taking out the trash, or loading the dishwasher can add shape and direction to the day, provide a sense of control and predictability, and help combat lack of motivation.

Pay attention to your thoughts Depression changes the way your brain processes information, and thoughts like “nothing will ever change” or “I can’t do anything right” can feel like facts that, over time, reinforce feelings such as hopelessness.

When you notice yourself having these thoughts, stop and question them rather than accepting them as reality. Ask yourself whether there is any evidence to support that conclusion, or if there is an alternate, more balanced, realistic way of looking at it.

Journal Journaling can help you release painful emotions and overwhelming feelings by getting them out of your head and onto paper, where you can process them without trying to fix them. It can also help you track mood patterns and what seems to influence them, as well as identify, challenge, and reframe habitual negative thoughts.

Practice gratitude Write down three things you are grateful for when you get up in the morning, or before you go to bed at night. Making a habit of looking for small joys and positives as you go about your day can help boost your mood, as well as retrain your brain by redirecting its focus to small daily accomplishments and things you are thankful for.

Move your body Studies have shown that regular physical activity can significantly reduce symptoms of depression by lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol and boosting the release of feel-good chemicals such as endorphins.

You don’t have to engage in an intense workout or anything strenuous. Even light physical activity such as walking, stretching, or gardening can give your mood and energy a boost. Small amounts add up. Find something you enjoy, make it part of your daily routine, and aim for consistency and regularity.

Spend time in nature Spending time outdoors in the fresh air and sunlight can have a positive impact on your mood. 30 minutes daily not only has a mood-lifting effect; it also supports vitamin D synthesis and circadian regulation.

Set screen time boundaries How you engage online matters. Active engagement, such as creating content or connecting with others in a meaningful way, can be positive, whereas passive engagement like endless scrolling tends to worsen symptoms of depression. Set boundaries for yourself, such as limiting the time you spend on social media, not bringing your phone to the table at mealtime, and avoiding screen time for at least an hour before bedtime.

Practice grounding techniques Grounding techniques, such as deep breathing or mindfulness exercises that use your five senses to center you in the present moment, help reduce the physical symptoms of depression and interrupt the process of rehashing the past or worrying about the future

Eat a healthy diet What you eat affects your mood. Eating a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, leafy greens, whole grains, and lean protein, and staying hydrated, can help lift and stabilize your mood.

Connect with others Depression makes you want to withdraw from social contact, but lack of social contact worsens the symptoms of depression. Reach out to someone you trust and tell them how you are feeling, or join a support group where you can connect with others facing similar struggles and who can relate to what you are going through,

Do one thing you enjoy every day Make a habit of doing one thing every day that you used to enjoy, even if you don’t feel like doing it.

Be kind to yourself Be kind to yourself, and treat yourself with the same compassion you would extend to a friend. Instead of berating yourself for things you could not do, acknowledge the efforts you made and the things you accomplished – however small.

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