Post-rave depression (+What it is and how to cope)
By
PsychReel
This article will discuss what is post-rave depression. For that, it will explain what a rave is, and why you may get post-rave depression. Asked from that, the article will discuss what are ways you can cope with post-rave depression.
What is post-rave depression?
Post-rave depression is the sadness you can experience after you attend a rave. Since in the rave you can experience such a great sense of freedom and connection to people around you, it can be hard to go back to real life.
Post-rave depression can vary the duration from one person to another. It can last a few hours to some people, but others can experience it for days, or even weeks. People that often go to raves usually call this moment when you feel the sadness of going back to real life “the let-down”.
When you are at the rave, you spend long hours dancing, feeding such positive energy. Aside from that, people in raves can use drugs known as ecstasy. Those can make you feel euphoric during the rave, but afterward, they can cause you to experience forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, and even a sort of depression.
This, added to the feeling of missing the rave, can add to your post-rave depression. The use of ecstasy, also known as MDMA, can fetch people’s mood, attention, and memory worse than drinking alcohol. The depression it generates can be serious and can send people into a deep depression.
People that are experiencing a rave for the first time, can go through post-rave depression as soon as it ends. When the lights are off, and the music stops, they can just feel it creeping in. And although it is more common to first-time goers, people that go often can also experience it.
Post-rave depression is mostly related to the level of serotonin in your body. When you are at a rave, although it is a lot of fun, you put your body through a lot of stress. You are dancing, screaming but your body needs some time to recover.
But before learning what ways you can recover, let’s explain a little about what a rave is.
What is a rave?
A rave is a form of party that started around the 1980s. A rave is an electronic music party that goes on all night. With time, they became weekend-long parties, or even longer than that. It usually has DJs and performers. It usually takes place in darker places, such as sheds.
In it, there will be lots of lighting. And because people usually take drugs during it, law enforcement may stop by. Some raves are legal, and others not.
How can I recover from post-rave depression?
After you go to a rave you can feel its physical and emotional effects. It can not only leave you tired, but even depressed. If you are going through post-rave depression, here are ways you can overcome it.
If you’re facing this, it may be a good idea to seek the help of a therapist or other mental health professional. You can find a therapist at BetterHelp who can help you learn how to cope and address it.
Look at memories of it
In all those days in the rave, you surely took many pictures and made videos. When you get back to your everyday life and miss what happened the weekend before, you can reminisce on it by going through them. This, to some people, can have a counterproductive effect.
And by remembering it all, you can feel sadder. But usually taking another look at all of it can make you feel happy about the whole experience, and it is a chance to relive what you have been through.
Move your body
It might be hard to consider exercising right after a rave. You have danced so much that you can feel tired. But keep in mind that good exercise will make the toxins leave your body through your sweat. And can also help loosen your muscles, and improve any pain you might have from dancing for so many days.
But if you feel like exercising is not something that can be done at the moment, you can look for a massage to take care of those muscles, or you can just move to our next suggestion.
Be in nature
If working out seems hard, you can do a hike. Be in nature, do a hike, and enjoy the silence that comes with it. It will be a big change from the rave, but the hiking will release endorphins, which will improve your mood, not only that, the hike will give you a great sense of accomplishment.
Get some rest
Although it is recommended for you to exercise, it is also important for you to take some time to rest. The rave causes you to miss many nights of sleep, so getting your sleep in order is a must. And not just sleeping, you might enjoy some Netflix time to rest.
On the days right after the rave, you need to recover your sleep, so you should go to bed with the possibility of 9 to 10 hours of sleep. This will make your body go back to its normal sleep pattern, and help your body recover from all that it went through.
Be with your friends
Although after a party, and a lot of socializing, you might want to be alone. But it can be detrimental to you. Try to be close to your friends, and if they went to the rave as well, all of you can reminisce on it, share stories, and have a good laugh about what went on there.
You don’t need to do a big outing, or even a coffee shop, but even staying in with friends, in your house or theirs, can be a good way to handle post-rave depression.
Drink a lot of water
Water is a great remedy at this moment. It is always recommended for you to take a lot of water during the rave, but since you might forget it sometimes, try to hydrate yourself when you go back home. The more water you drink, the easier it will be for your body to release the toxins that are going through it.
Eat well
You should keep in mind how going through a long party, such as a rave, can impact your body, and try to eat healthy when you come home. Green leafy vegetables, such as kale, can help with your regeneration process. By eating healthy, you might try to raise your serotonin levels, since they will make you feel good.
To get that serotonin boost, you can have high-carbohydrates food. Caffeine and alcohol should be avoided. They can make you even more dehydrated, and make it harder for you to relax, which is extremely important at this moment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): What is post-rave depression?
What is post-vacation depression?
Post-vacation depression is that sad feeling you may get once you return home from a vacation trip. It can seem hard for you to reconnect with your life and the things you did on your day-to-day before the vacation.
It can take some readjusting to your life, the routine you have, the passions and hobbies you used to do. It is also necessary for you to rediscover the positive aspects of it, such as your friends and family. In time, post-vacation depression usually goes away, but if you notice it doesn’t after a few weeks, you might want to look for help.
Am I depressed or is it just a funk?
Sometimes it may be hard to separate what is a funk, or a momentary sadness, and what is depression. If you are going through that, some signs might help you.
When you are depressed, the sense of sadness, lack of energy, and negative thinking can be constant, and touch every single aspect of your life. There is no relief from the sadness.
But when you are just in a funk, aside from being a momentary thing, you will be able to notice that it is not something that spreads through all the aspects of your life. You can still feel joy, or positive emotions when something good happens. If that is the case, you might feel better in no time.
How can I improve brain fog?
Brain fog is that feeling a person may have that they can’t focus or are not thinking clearly. This can be caused by too much work, lack of sleep, or even stress. It can give you sleeping problems, headaches, and make you feel less energetic.
It can hurt your cognitive function, causing you to feel more irritable, and lose motivation on doing things. It can even be connected to mild depressive episodes. To treat it, you might want to reduce your stimuli.
For that, you can spend less time on computers or smartphones. You can also find ways to reduce your stress level, such as exercising. If you don’t eat healthily, try to improve your diet, and avoid coffee, and drinking alcohol, since they can make you even more agitated.
Is post-rave depression a clinical condition?
No, post-rave depression is not a comical condition, although it can lead to some clinical conditions. If you experience a prolonged manner, it can turn into clinical depression. Or if you are a person that already has a depressive disorder, you can experience it with more intensity.
That’s why it is so important to take care of your mood and well-being post-rave. If you are in treatment for depression, you should also talk to the professional taking care of you to discuss how the lack of sleep and even the use of ecstasy can affect you.
If you are on medication, it can be dangerous for you to take drugs. So be aware as to not jeopardize your mental health by going to a rave.
How do I deal with post-festival blues?
Going to a festival can be great, but going back from it can be a hard task. The first thing to do when you get home is to put your clothes on to wash. Leaving it for later will only cause everything to smell worse. After that, go take a long warm bath. It will help you relax, and make you connect better to the world around you.
After you shower and feel relaxed, it might be a great idea to get some sleep. It will allow you to feel restored. And during that time, try to drink as much water as you can. You need to clean your system from all the alcohol, and the junk food you had the last few days.
Enjoy your time relaxing and eating well. You might want to watch some Netflix, and even though you might feel down after that exhilarating weekend, keep in mind the great moment you had, share it with friends, and go back to your daily life little by little.
Conclusion
This article explained what post-rave depression is. For that, it explained what raves are, and what can cause people to develop post-rave depression. Not only that, the article explained what are ways to deal with post-rave depression.
If you have any questions or comments about this article, feel free to write it in the section below.
