Instant Mood Boosters For Bad Days

• Learn to Love Salmon The Omega 3 fatty acids in oily fish can starve off depression, according to University of Pittsburgh research. Worried about pollutants? If you're past the menopause, you can eat up to four servings a week. Before that, stick to two.

• Plan Your Weekend Arranging things to do ahead of time means you anticipate the pleasure you'll feel and get twice the benefit, says psychotherapist Gael Lindfield, author of The Emotional Healing Strategy (Michael Joseph).

• Do Five Thoughtful Things Each Day Giving to others in small ways make you happier, according to US research. It's also the recommendation of Foresight, the Government's think tank. So take time to say thank you to the supermarket cashier, hold the door open for a mum with a pushchair, put your change in a charity box...Little things like these increase your sense of wellbeing, says Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California.

• Do Something Different Every Day Swap to a different radio station, take a new route to work, clean your teeth with the other hand. Change challenges your brain, forcing it to revise negative habits, says professor Ben Fletcher of Hertfordshire University, who believes it can even help you to lose weight.

(Source: Good Housekeeping Magazine, February 2009 edition)