6 Healthy Lifestyle Therapies To Enhance Mood

SteamTherapy believes intensely in healthy living and feeling good. If you suffer from mood disorders, as many Americans do, you might want to learn about 6 beneficial healthy lifestyle therapies known to enhance mood.

Fun and Fit Fitness Experts and identical twins Alexandra Williams and Kymberly Williams-Evans offer 6 healthy lifestyle therapies and 2 questions for enhancing your mood.  

If you’re one of the 20 million American adults who has a mood disorder, there are many options you can try. Let’s take a look at a few of the more beneficial and common types of complementary and alternative therapies that are known to be mood enhancers.

1. Exercise, Dance & Movement as Healthy Lifestyle Therapy

Although some studies suggest three hours of moderate activity per week, others have found that even a few minutes of cardio activity can interrupt a negative mood pattern. Your mom knew what she was doing when she told you to go for a run around the block!

When you move you harness the body’s “fight or flight” response, and movement literally releases the stress and tension. And remember, it doesn’t have to be hard core exercise - raking the leaves or washing the car counts as movement too! Exercise, dance and movement of any kind definitely count as effective therapy for enhancing your mood! 

Scents are powerful, especially when they are tied into memories. If you want to energize, add a citrus scent to your morning shower

2. Herbal Healthy Lifestyle Therapies

Several herbs are known to help with mood enhancement:

• St. John’s Wort, yellow flowering plant used for sleep disorders, anxiety, PMS, and mild to moderate depression; 
• Valerian, dried roots used as a sleep aid and for anxiety; 
• Lavender, used in aromatherapy, essential oils and teas, is used to enhance relaxation; 
• Passion Flower, yellow flowering plant, used for anxiety and sleep disorders. 

To learn more about herbal medicine, you should contact a reputable herbalist and your physician.

3. Relaxation Technique as a Healthy Lifestyle Therapy

You cannot simultaneously be stressed and relaxed, so an easy and quick exercise is to clench your fists as tightly as you can for 5 seconds, then release and exhale. You’ll be surprised how quickly you start to become calmer.

4. Aromatherapy as Healthy Lifestyle Therapy

Aromatherapy makes use of scents to enhance mood. Scents are powerful, especially when they are tied into memories. When you’re irritable, lavender or sandalwood are good.

If you want to energize, add a citrus scent to your morning shower.

And if baking scents cheer you up, try vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg or even orange and clove.

5. Chromatherapy as Healthy Lifestyle Therapy

Chromatherapy focuses on color to enhance mood. Can colors affect your mood? Do you feel the same when looking at a blue sky as when it’s grey?

Ayurvedic medicine practitioners believe the body has seven chakras, each of which is associated with a specific color of the visible light spectrum, and a function and organ or bodily system. Do you associate blue with calmness, and red with energy? When you last painted your bathroom, how did you come to choose your wall colors?

6. Good Nutruition as Healthy Lifestyle Therapy

For your brain (and mood) to function properly, you need adequate nutrition. This means getting enough vitamins and minerals via brain-strengthening carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Simply put, junk food makes you feel crummy; healthy food makes you feel great.

For all of the healthy lifestyle therapy choices above, ask yourself these two questions

• Can I do it without criticizing myself?
• If I do this activity and persist at it, will I improve myself?

With depression alone costing more than $52 billion annually in treatment and lost wages, the choices above could be mood and money-savers!

We hope you will try one -or all- of these 6 healthy lifestyle therapies. We'd love to hear which you best helped you enhance your mood.

~ Alexandra and Kymberly - Fun and Fit