Depression can be caused by many different things and one of the first things we need to do to help beat depression is to avoic any circumstances that might make you feel depressed or sad. In knowing the symptoms of depression and being able to tell when depression is 'coming on', then this is the time to use some strategies to help reduce the problem.

The scope and breath of depression is staggering. The World Health Organization estimates that on any given day 121 people worldwide suffer the gloomy and sometimes dark condition known as depression. While so many other diseases have seen their occurrences drop, depression rates continue to escalate. Perhaps the most troubling of these rapidly escalating numbers is the fact that area seeing the most rapid increase is in children and teens.

Depression is created by numbness, denial, avoidance, excuses, justifications. The rule of the day is: don't feel. The more numb I get, the less I care about getting numb. In that way, the fear to live and express our feelings frequently leads us to depression.

The first symptom of daily stress is depression. People who are feeling stress often become anxious, depressed, and find quick fixes to overcome their anxiety. Some quick fixes include food binges, either sleeping too much or sleeping too little, anger, overreacting to situations and excessive mood swings.

Ego is the main problem behind our depression. Ego is a false center created by the society as an essential evil. When child comes to this earth, he has no sense of self. He cannot find him-self, separate from the existence. He lives in bliss & joy. Self-image is necessary as for as protecting oneself is considered. But the problem arises when one starts living, to feed it only. It becomes his center of living. Whatever he does in his whole life, is governed by his ego.

Meditation is known to induce a feeling of calm and dramatically reduce stress levels. Take time out for yourself everyday, at least about a half hour or so, seat yourself comfortably in a silent place where you will be totally undisturbed, turn on soft music if you so wish and then start meditating. Learn to appreciate the silence around you and internalize your thoughts towards the peace that lies within you.

Exercise: pick up some exercise that you can perform easily. What happens in depression is that your muscles get stiff, by exercising you bring flexibility to your muscles and they gain more strength. Some doctors say that walking, cycling and swimming are the best exercises that can help you reduce stress. These exercises affect all your body parts and you feel more relaxed.

Sleep: Lack of sleep can really make us feel depressed. Reduce or completely eliminate caffeine from your diet to help your brain know when it is time to settle down. Many people have low levels of melatonin which helps you sleep. Supplementing with melatonin is also helpful in many cases.