This Is How Kristen Bell Fights Off Anxiety And Depression

For those who didn’t know, Kristen Bell was under serious stress after having worked in one of the most pressurizing work environments. But here’s a lesson to let from her – not to let things fester. After all, why let anxiety and depression set in? She openly tells the world that those ailments are far away from her now! She’s just made a preoperative list that helps her combat them, as their arrival can never be guaranteed.

How Did It All Begin?

Since her college days, Bell had made a concerted effort to struggle through depressive periods and anxiousness. The 41-year old actor and star of Veronica Mars and The Good Place have carved a niche for herself. But excess pressure can get onto her, so she needs to be wary both at home and also in the workplace. While studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she had to resort to medication to deal with these.

Later on, after the Self Magazine, she also drafted an op-ed for Time (2016), where she mentioned everything regarding her struggles with ‘dark cloud’ in an article titled ‘I’m Over Staying Silent About Depression’. Soon after, she started advocating the importance of being transparent about mental health conditions throughout the nation. This way, more and more people would be inspired and also get the necessary encouragement in opening up about their hardships and thereby, seek health treatments too.

How Exactly Has She Managed To Become Stronger Than Ever?

She’s not the only one who has undergone tough times. Most importantly, it’s a phase, and not just another bad day or manic sadness. Today, more than 264 million people suffer from depression on a global scale and women are considerably more affected than men. Even anxiety has eroded the mental states of more than 40 million adults based in the US! But she didn’t stay fixed to these statistics. She picked up few simple and strategic tactics to manage her own mental health.

Openly Talking About It

For years, she kept everything bottled in simply because she feared people would judge her. When she started talking and seeking help in terms of combating her negative thoughts, her mental health started improving. Later on, she met more like-minded individuals who also did much the same. The idea is to adopt a growth mindset. In other words, there must be a belief to transform, develop and augment the existing mindset and abilities. Evolving oneself can only occur if one chooses to commit to sticking to the growth mindset.

Exercising Is The Key

If nothing else, just for the sake of mental health – one must exercise, at least for a couple of days. She sticks to a good combination of pilates, cardio, and circuit training. In one of her posts last year on Instagram, she confessed the difference she has noticed in what she did and what she didn’t.

When she doesn’t exercise, her mood is generally irritable and she becomes anxious and lethargic. On the other hand, exercising helps her stay motivated, peaceful, satisfied, and energetic. Even science backs up her beliefs. At least, going by the research data from Harvard Medical School, it clearly shows how exercise can be effective enough in treating depression, much like antidepressants. Serious issues, however, need to be dealt with separately.

Sticking to low-intensity workouts usually releases proteins, specifically the neurotrophic or growth factors in the brain that cause nerve cells to make new connections. As a result, brain functioning improves by several notches, making most people feel better in general.

Making Way For Timeouts

When stressful events get lined up, it’s important to reset and regulate. This is applicable even at home as much as work. She prefers going to her bedroom and setting aside about 10 minutes for herself.

In these timeout sessions, she mostly depends on CBD products that help her relax.  Exactly when she feels overwhelmed, she simply takes the break off Zoom and relaxes in those 10 minutes. And this should be a practice – with no reason in specific. In fact, there’s nothing to feel embarrassed about.

Bell is a strong supporter of the quote by Roosevelt – “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”. After all, she’s become a better and happier version of herself, as is evident today.