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Try building these 10 tips into your everyday life and they should help bring you out of your slump and set you on your way to better mental health.

1. Get a massage

An aromatherapy massage will not only relieve tension, but the oils that are used can help ease depression. A good masseuse should ask you what you want to achieve and use scents that will help.

If you can't get down to your local massage clinic, try dropping a few drops of essential oils into a bath or burner:
- Ylang ylang oil is from a tropical tree and relieves feelings of anxiety and stress
- Jasmine is enhances mood and is also known to ease anxiety. It also helps with catarrh, coughs and laryngitis
- Rose is very soothing and is works as an anti-depressant. It also ease headaches and is good for the circulation.

2. Have sex

A side-effect of depression is a loss of interest in sex, but being intimate with a partner can have many benefits.

Psychologists have proved that having regular sex boosts our immune levels. It also helps to reduce stress, and a number of scientific studies show that it lowers anxiety, boosts relaxation and helps sleep. All of these will help fight your depression.

However, it is important that the sex is meaningful and with someone you care about. Having casual meaningless sex is more likely to make your depression deeper, because it will increase how worthless you feel about yourself.

If having sex still feels like too much of an effort, remember that even close contact like a hug with someone you care about will boost your mood and increase your 'happy' serotonin levels.

3. Spend time with friends and family

Take time out to be with people who care for you. Go out for an evening with a group of friends. You don't have to talk about yourself, but simply socialising and being with a circle of people who know you and are there for you will give you a satisfying feeling and help to boost your mood.

You're also more likely to have a laugh and joke when you're relaxed and out with friends. Laughter has also been scientifically proven to fight the symptoms of stress and increase feelgood hormones in your body that will obviously help to lift your mood and your state of mind.

- Next: why eating properly can help fight depression

More help and advice

- Read all the facts on depression
- Read one woman's experience of depression
- Get all the facts about SAD
- Tips on coping with post-natal depression

By Rob Mansfield

• Next: Ten ways to fight depression - part 2

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