Due to poor eating habits, insufficient physical activity, and nicotine use, schizophrenia patients are at increased risk of lifestyle diseases.
Drug and alcohol use
If you already have schizophrenia, research shows that using recreational drugs may worsen your symptoms. Some studies suggest that people who use high-potency cannabis ('skunk') when in recovery are more likely to have a relapse too.
Negative symptoms experienced by people living with schizophrenia can include: not wanting to look after themselves and their needs, such as not caring about personal hygiene. feeling disconnected from their feelings or emotions. wanting to avoid people, including friends.
Many people with schizophrenia have trouble with sleep, but getting regular exercise, reducing sugar in your diet, and avoiding caffeine can help. Avoid alcohol and drugs. It can be tempting to try to self-medicate the symptoms of schizophrenia with drugs and alcohol.
Balance your blood sugar and avoid stimulants
The incidence of blood sugar problems and diabetes is also much higher in those with schizophrenia. Therefore it is strongly advisable to reduce, as much as possible, your intake of sugar, refined carbohydrates, caffeine and stimulant drugs and eat a low glycemic load diet.
Unfortunately, most people with schizophrenia are unaware that their symptoms are warning signs of a mental disorder. Their lives may be unraveling, yet they may believe that their experiences are normal. Or they may feel that they're blessed or cursed with special insights that others can't see.
People with schizophrenia suffer a wide range of social cognitive deficits, including abnormalities in eye gaze perception. For instance, patients have shown an increased bias to misjudge averted gaze as being directed toward them.
A person with schizophrenia may not respond in the way we might expect in a 'normal' conversation. Your words may be met with silence or monosyllabic answers. In some cases, the person may say that they are extremely interested in what you want to discuss, but their facial expression and tone may not reflect the same.
Schizophrenia is typically diagnosed in the late teens years to early thirties, and tends to emerge earlier in males (late adolescence – early twenties) than females (early twenties – early thirties). More subtle changes in cognition and social relationships may precede the actual diagnosis, often by years.
The reasons are unclear. In nonhumans, caffeine enhances the effects of dopamine, which might be expected to worsen positive symptoms and improve negative symptoms of schizophrenia and worsen tardive dyskinesia. Eliminating caffeine among patients with schizophrenia does not appear to make them better or worse.
Research shows that people with neuropsychiatric diseases – including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and autism – often have significantly elevated immune reactions to casein in milk, which corresponds with the severity of their mental symptoms.
Engaging in aerobic exercises like walking or other activities like stretching or yoga can be beneficial for weight management among people with schizophrenia, says Moe.
Most people with schizophrenia make a recovery, although many will experience the occasional return of symptoms (relapses). Support and treatment can help you to manage your condition and the impact it has on your life.
In the past, it was accepted that schizophrenia can worsen as people age. However, research in recent years suggests that although some symptoms may get worse with age, others will remain stable, and some symptoms may actually improve with age.
People with schizophreniform disorder recover within six months. If the symptoms continue beyond six months, you most likely have schizophrenia, which is a lifelong illness.
Treatment of schizophrenia without medication is primarily with psychotherapy. Psychotherapy takes place in sessions with a clinical therapist who works with clients to help them manage and navigate reality and distortions in their thoughts.