How to Build a Consistent Routine That Combats Depression

Depression can feel like a pit you can’t escape from, but know that depression is treatable with the right help. A basic daily ritual encourages healthy habits like a regular sleep schedule, healthy food choices, and exercise that support mental health. 

Let’s take a look at how routines help with depression, how you can establish a routine, and the role therapy has in establishing healthy routines and combating depression. 

The Role of Routine in Managing Depression

About 9.5% of Americans over 18 suffer from some kind of depressive illness every year. A daily routine can help with managing depression in a few ways: 

• Provides a framework for healthy habits, such as exercise, sleep, and a nutritious diet. 
• Creates a sense of predictability so you can better handle stress. 
• Brings back a sense of control and calm. 
• Reduces decision fatigue, making it easier to make healthy choices that help you better cope with depression. 
• Promotes self-confidence by allowing you to complete tasks and making you feel good about yourself. 

The idea is that a routine can make it easier to have healthy habits. As habits become routine, you don’t have to think about them as much; they become automatic. 

Key Elements of a Depression-Fighting Routine

It’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed when creating a new routine. Where do you even start? It’s tough to believe the power that a routine can have on multiple areas of health. 

A team of researchers evaluated data from 290,000 people and found that maintaining a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of depression, specifically one that includes the following: 

• Good sleep 
• Healthy diet 
• Regular exercise 
• Social connection
• Limiting sedentary behavior 

When creating a routine to manage depression, try to focus on: 

• A consistent sleep schedule where you sleep and wake up at the same time. 
• Move your body and get outside, even for a quick walk. 
• Try to eat balanced meals at similar times (start with lunch or breakfast). 
• Spend time with loved ones and lean on your support network. 
• Incorporate mindfulness or stress-reducing activities, like yoga or deep breathing exercises. 
• Plan enjoyable activities like going to the park. 

Tips for Establishing and Sticking to a Daily Schedule

Although a routine can sound simple, creating one is far from it. Change will not happen overnight. Healthy habits, no matter how small, do add up over time. Remember, there’s no fixed period of time for a habit to become automatic and routine; it takes consistency. 

Here are some tips for establishing and sticking to a daily schedule: 

• Tiny Steps: Choose one or two realistic and manageable habits for tasks. Don’t overhaul your entire life in one day. Try something like getting up at 9 AM or eating one healthy meal. 
• Prioritize: Start with the basics and focus on essential tasks like sleep, meals, and hygiene. 
• Self-Care: Schedule time for activities you enjoy and add some buffer time between tasks so you don’t feel rushed. 
• Schedule: Use visual aids like a calendar, reminders, and checklists to keep you on track and provide a sense of accomplishment. 
• Mood-Boosting Activities: Move your body to support mental and physical health, and schedule time to spend with loved ones. 
• Celebrate: No matter how small, a win is a win. Reward yourself and celebrate your accomplishments. 
• Professional Help: A mental health professional can help you develop healthy coping strategies and routines. 

Incorporating Self-Care and Positive Activities

During a depressive episode, the last thing you might want to do is to cook a healthy meal or go outside for a walk. Depression is a serious mental illness that disrupts the way your brain functions, and it’s far more common than you probably think. It’s often difficult to explain depression to someone you love, as symptoms of depression can vary widely from emotional and cognitive symptoms to physical and behavioral. 

It’s a good idea to include positive activities and self-care into your routine that support healthy habits and a positive mood. Research shows that exercise, particularly yoga, walking, jogging, and strength training, shows significant promise as a treatment option for depression alongside traditional treatments like therapy and antidepressants. 

Depression can suck the joy out of activities you previously enjoyed, but still try to add self-care and activities to your day. These sorts of activities can help lift your mood, helping you stay consistent when navigating depression. 

Here are some activities you could add to your routine: 

• Go for a 10-minute walk outside around the block. 
• Write down three things you’re grateful for. 
• Dedicate 30 minutes to a hobby like reading or drawing. 
• Take a shower and brush your teeth every day.
• Use a guided meditation app for 5 minutes every day. 
• Do some sort of physical activity daily, like stretching or walking. 

Overcoming Challenges in Maintaining Consistency

Depression is all-encompassing and can interfere with your ability to think straight and make it incredibly difficult to get out of bed at times, let alone do anything else. 

While depression can affect anyone at any time of the day, the morning can feel especially rough. So, a consistent routine to manage depression should set you up for success, knowing when you need extra help. Low energy in the morning is a common struggle for people with depression. Be kind to yourself and recognize that mornings are a challenge; don’t put all your tasks into the morning. Instead, give yourself one or two achievable tasks in the morning. 

Overcoming challenges in maintaining consistency often requires a multifaceted approach that targets the psychological and behavioral aspects of depression. Be patient and try to understand how depression affects you. Avoid being too harsh on yourself. Symptoms of depression, like low energy, fatigue, lack of motivation, persistent sadness, and hopelessness, can make sticking to simple routines hard. 

Here are some strategies to help maintain consistency when managing depression: 

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of talking therapy, helps to identify and replace negative thoughts and feelings that contribute to depression and anxiety with more positive, balanced ones. 
• Mindfulness practices like deep breathing exercises help you to stay fully present and manage emotions more effectively. 
• Realistic goals help to prevent failure and provide a sense of accomplishment. 
• Supportive network and connecting with loved ones reminds you that you’re not alone. 
• Flexibility in your schedule and strategies allows you to be kinder to yourself during setbacks and recognize that recovery from depression isn’t always linear. 

How Therapy Can Help Reinforce Healthy Routines

Transitioning into a healthier lifestyle with good habits and healthy routines is a journey that takes time and effort. There’s no denying that healthy habits have a positive effect on emotional well-being. 

Therapy can help establish and reinforce healthy routines in several ways. First, a therapist helps address current issues, triggers, and obstacles to change. Therapy also addresses the underlying mental health conditions that prevent people from developing and sticking to healthier habits. 

Therapy helps foster healthy habits by equipping individuals with the tools to bring about sustainable change. Whether that’s a treatment plan to address depression and anxiety or helping you to set realistic goals so you can start your day with the biggest chance of success. 

Depression is a serious mental health condition that needs proper treatment and guidance from a mental health professional. Routines can be part of the toolkit for managing depression alongside therapy and, if necessary, medication. 

Where to Start?

Therapy can help build healthy routines, address underlying mental health issues, and get you on the road to recovery. At Thriving Center of Psychology, you don’t have to spend hours researching the right therapist for you; just take a few minutes to fill out our quick and easy questionnaire. We will match you with the right therapist for your needs. Let’s get started together!