Taking Control of Bipolar Disorder: Tips for Living a Healthy Life

Living with Bipolar Tips

When you are living with bipolar disorder you will have a difficult time trying to live a normal life. You will need help from your friends, family, and especially your doctor. However, there are some other things that you can do to take more control of your life and your bipolar disorder.

It is possible with help for people who are dealing with bipolar disorder to lead a healthy, somewhat normal life. You will need to see your doctor and therapist regularly. Plus it is imperative to help you control your mood swings to take your medicine. Here are some suggestions to help you lead a healthy life:

Exercise: There have been studies done that show that regular exercise can help to make your mood better. Another thing it can help you do is to sleep better at night. You want to make sure that you talk to your doctor about the kind of exercise routine you need to do. Start slowly and then gradually increase every day.

Eat a healthy diet: Unfortunately, there is no miracle diet that you can try to cure bipolar disorder. You need to have a good meal plan that will help you feel better and provide nutrients. Keep your focus on the basics such as lots of fruits, vegetables, grains, and less fat and sugar. (Read here about Healthy Diet for Mental Health)

A good night’s sleep: You don’t want to be overtired because if you are then this can trigger mania in many people. You need to get yourself into good sleep habits. Maintain a routine for your sleep. Relax for a while before you attempt to go to sleep.

Relax: This sounds easier than it is, especially for someone who is dealing with bipolar disorder. One thing that can trigger mood episodes is stress and anxiety in some people. Make a real effort to relax every single day. Lying around on your couch just watching television is not enough. Try to be more creative and come up with something more focused such as meditation or yoga. (See here: Relaxation Techniques to Reduce Stress and Anxiety)

Stress at work and home needs to be reduced: You can ask your spouse, family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else you need for help. Your friends and family can take care of some of the household chores and other hassles for you. Also, when you are at work, if you are having a hard time doing your job because it is becoming too much for you then you may want to find ways of scaling back on some of your work responsibilities.

Come up with a schedule: Many people having bipolar disorder have found that sticking to a daily schedule can help keep your mood under control. It is important to have all of the following in your schedule – exercise, meals that are healthy, relaxation, and sleep. You want to make sure that you stick to a pattern every single day if you possibly can.

Stay away from caffeine, alcohol, and drugs: Caffeine is known to be a stimulant, which means that you will have a hard time going to sleep at night. Plus it might also aggravate your mood. Alcohol and drugs have been known to affect how your medications will work. These two things have also been shown to make your condition worse or to trigger a mood episode. 

Bipolar disorder for anyone that has it, including adults, and bipolar disorder in children, can be a psychologically painful disease. Due to this fact, many people will try to help themselves with alcohol and drugs to find relief. They won’t ever find relief, except temporarily, using these things because it will cause other symptoms of bipolar disorder to flare up for people who are living with bipolar disorder.

It has been shown that there is up to 60% of people who have bipolar disorder also have a substance abuse problem. Just make sure you find a way for you to start healthily living with bipolar because if you don’t then you will regret when your bipolar episodes flare up. (See here: Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction & Alcoholism)

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Dealing with Bipolar

Dealing with bipolar disorder can be very frustrating and difficult a lot of the time. However, you don’t have to do this alone. There are ways that you can find the bipolar help that you need because believe it or not you won’t be able to deal with this illness alone.

One thing that you need to do is to go see your doctor regularly. They will be able to get you on a treatment that will help you control your mood swings. This is vital to you getting better. The doctor will prescribe you bipolar medications that you will more than likely have to take for the rest of your life. This is sometimes hard for people to accept. However, you have to take your medicine regularly without stopping because if you don’t then your bipolar symptoms will come back.

Another thing you can do is to go for some bipolar disorder therapy. This will give you someone you can talk to but you want to make sure that you find someone that you like and can trust. If you can’t talk to them then they will not be able to help you in any way. So take time to find someone that you feel comfortable with. This is important because having someone that you can talk your feelings with will help you to get better.

One of the best things you can do is to join one of the many bipolar support groups that are available. This is a good idea for several different reasons. One reason is that again you will have someone to talk to who can understand what you are going through. Another reason is that when you have bipolar disorder, it will be very hard for your friends or family to understand what you are going through; and someone in a support group for bipolar disorder can understand because they are living with bipolar disorder every day just like you are.

It is highly recommended that your friends and family members go to some therapy or a support group for themselves. It will be hard for you to cope with having bipolar disease but it will be just as hard for them to deal with it because they can feel helpless and not know what they can do to help you. So encourage them to get some help. You also want to make sure that you take time to strengthen your bond with them because this will help all of you.

The next thing that you want to do is to make sure that you take care of your body and your health as much as you can. You need to make sure that you eat a healthy diet that will provide you with the nutrients that you need and be sure to drink plenty of water. You also want to make sure that you do some exercise every day because this has been found to help improve people’s moods. Getting plenty of sleep is imperative and making sure you relax before you attempt to go to bed is also important.

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Conclusion

No matter what way you choose to get the support you need, you want to make sure that you have as much help as you can. Otherwise, you will find yourself getting worse instead of better. It is vital to your emotional health for you to make sure you stick with taking your bipolar medicines even when you are feeling better. When you have medication and you go to therapy or a support group you will be able to live as normal of a life as you can live.