Exericise Helps Beat Depression

Its no secret that most stay at home moms get depressed. Mothering can be a hard job. There may also be hormonal reasons for getting depressed such as being a new mother. 

You don't have to dope yourself up on a bunch of prescribed pills if you feel despressed.The most inexpensive actual cure for depression is exercise. Even better yet exercising has no side effects except for weight loss and a good mood. 

Still as successful as exercise has been shown to be effective in reducing the painful symptoms (both physical and psychological) of depression, few people take this route to relief because it is so much easier just to pop a pill. The main reason that most depressed people avoid exercising is because they feel tired.  

Women who have just had a baby may also get the idea that their bodies are embarrassing to look at. Some women are simply overweight and neurotic about how they look.  Usually the shame they suffer at the notion of anyone looking at them is out of proportion to their real physical flaws. Studies conducted in 1999 found that only thirty minutes vigorous exercise three times a week was as effective in relieving the symptoms of major depression as antidepressants.  This means getting up off of the couch and turning the television off. The reason that exercise can practically claim to be a cure for depression is the fact that a follow up study to the one mentioned above done in 2000 showed that the depressed people who continued to exercise three times a week never seemed to suffer from depression. In fact the more the individual exercised the less likely he or she was to see any recurrence of the symptoms of either short term OR chronic depression.  

Yet another interesting thing about these studies was that people who used a combination of medications and exercise did not recover as fast as those who simply spent some time exercising. This means that taking antidepressants might actually block the positive effects of any exercising you are doing now. 

There have been no real studies done on what type of exercise is best for curing depression. For instance it seems that both aerobic (running, swimming) and anaerobic (weight lifting) exercises seem to accomplish the same thing as long as you are performing the exercises on a regular basis. 

If you are depressed and can hardly seem to get off the couch to exercise remember that the journey to success starts with one small step at a time. All you really have to do is get up and start taking a walk.

According to all of the great New Age type gurus, taking a walk in a natural setting is probably the most effective thing that you can do to relieve depression.  However despite what this blog says you should follow your doctor's orders especially if you are suffering from something like post-partum depression. Further research needs to take place to determine exactly why vigorous activity is effective and which types of depression can best be relieved by it.

Parenting Tips
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Window Guards Save Kid’s Lives

 There have been too many new stories about children falling out of windows lately.  This of course is a great tragedy as it is so easy to install window guards and yet still hundreds of children take a tumble annually.  This type of terrible accident is more common than you think.

 In 2005, the United Stated Consumer Safety Commission reported that 732 children were hurt because they crawled out a window and then fell. Twelve of the children who fell died. This has also resulted in a greater number of lawsuits against landlords who have failed to install window guards. 

What is a window guard?  Window guards in effect prevent the child from opening the window. It is the equivalent of a childproof cap on a bottle of drugs.
Landlords should install window guards to prevent lawsuits. Unfortunately most property owners, especially the slumlord types find the installation of window guards to be too expensive and any laws do not enforce their installation. This is why if you are a parent who lives in an apartment building you still might want to pay for window guards even if you ethically feel that the landlord should pay for them.  Install them and then hand your landlord a bill. A window guard is not a complicated thing.  All it amounts to being is a frame of metal bars that can be fixes with screws to a windowpane. As an added bonus they also prevent small animals such as squirrels or even birds from getting in or out of your place as well. Window guards work the best when they are installed along with window stops. Window stops prevent the window from opening more than four inches.  A child simply cannot squeeze through the bars. This allows a lot of air to circulate through the apartment without letting small creatures in or out of the building.

Window stops are most commonly found as part of the fixtures on winding type window knobs. For even more safety, also make sure that all of your windows have screens. A window screen can easily be torn or popped out by the weight of a child’s or pet’s body. So make sure it is a durable heavy one of high quality. Furthermore, a window without a screen is more likely to tempt the curiosity of a child or a pet. However if you do decide to use window guards in your apartment it is not a good idea to put them on every single window. This is because at least one window should be used as an exit in case of fire. The one window in your place that should not have a window guard should be the one that leads to the fire escape.  You should keep this window closed. The latch or handle on this window should also be of the type of design that can make it difficult for a child's little hand to pry open.  Taking just a few of these precautions can help prevent some senseless tragedies from occurring.

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