Seasonal Affective Disorder & Winter Doldrums
By award-winning author and stress-relief expert Susie Mantell
Help for Stress & Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
Many experience clinical winter blues known as Season Affective Disorder that can be related to fewer hours of available daylight in winter. If you suspect you may be one of them, talk with a trusted healthcare professional for support. In addition, during a hectic winter holiday season, at the end of the day most of us find attention to personal needs somewhere at the bottom of our To-Do List. If you find yourself feeling low, try the following tips for diminishing the stress of Seasonal Affective Disorder:
1. There are natural light bulbs and scheduling suggestions for their timing, that can provide the effect of daylight that lifts spirits. Some nutritional supplements may help you through a slump. As always, get professional advice on dosage, risks, any contraindications, etc.
2. Make time for recreation. Get outdoors each day. Moderate exercise and replenishing sleep help to support health, and replenish a weary body.
3. See friends. Organize a girls (or guys) night-out. Even a few minutes with someone you really like is a great stress-buster. Schedule quick tea dates. Invite friends and order-in. Use elegant paper plates. Rent a movie, play a board game. Have everybody bring a wrapped grab-bag gift under $10. Make one new friend this winter.
4. Stay hydrated. We're not as naturally thirsty in winter as we are in as in summer when we perspire more, so we tend to choose hot beverages, which are harder to drink in quantity. Get in 6-8 glasses of water to flush toxins, hydrate skin and aid digestion. Dehydration can cause many problems, "the blues" among them.
5. Eat healthily and exercise regularly. When you do splurge on a holiday treat, enjoy every bite. Watch sugar, caffeine and alcohol consumption. Winter leads many into "Sugar Blues," often confused with clinical depression ...or another common winter ailment known as "crabbiness."
6. Reducing caffeine, sugar and alcohol just may help. Too much of these can make us irritable and distractible. (See the tip on my website about sugar and stress and many other helpful techniques at www.relaxintuit.com/tips.asp )
7. After a long day, luxuriate in hot, "non-working" baths. Soothing music, relaxation CD and mini-meditations all provide effortless comfort and lift our spirits.
8. Overwhelmed? Simplify & Prioritize. How could you simplify (or eliminate) just one task? Who could help?
9. Take healthy breaks. Do something you love every day. Schedule naps, time to read, swim. Read something that makes you think, feel or grow every day.
10. Do something kind--just "because." ( Feed an expired meter, let someone go first at the market. Thank
six people daily, e.g. the mailman, a first responder, a teacher.)
11. Are you missing a far-away friend or loved one? Schedule an uninterrupted phone date to catch up.
12. Close your eyes, and imagine you are smiling. Then open your eyes, and stay that way all day, kind of half- smiling. This sends a mind-body signal: "I must be happy. I'm smiling." Now see how many people you can get
to smile back. Rushing along windy streets, bundled up, head down, we often forget to look others in the
eye and connect. Smiling actually releases endorphins, yours and theirs. Go ahead and smile. Then, move
on and "accomplish." The day you save could be your own!
[Copyright 2000, 2008 Susie Mantell, Relax. . .Intuit (tm) LLC. All rights reserved.] Federal law prohibits use of this material in whole or in part without the express written consent of Relax...Intuit™ LLC. For Reprint Permission: Kindly email your request for guidelines, pasting in the full text of the specific article you wish to use, to info@relaxintuit.com We'll try to reply within 72 hrs.]
Award-winning stress-relief expert Susie Mantell ...is the author of the deeply soothing relaxation CD, "Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace,” clinically approved for symptoms associated with stress and sleeplessness, depression and grief, anxiety, P.T.S.D., Fibromyalgia, caregiver stress, cancer, pain, divorce and addiction recovery. Featured in The Los Angeles Times, NBC, ABC, CBS-TV, Town & Country, The American Pain Society, Hazelden and The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, listeners include The Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, The Betty Ford Center, V.A. Hospitals,and Canyon Ranch (#1 Spa.) Customizing stress-reduction for Fortune 500 companies, distinguished hospitals and spas, Mantell has facilitated thousands in relieving health-related, work-related, chronic or traumatic stress. Her multi-sensory, mind-body techniques appear in national media, medical and corporate publications. Susie Mantell's Stress-Relief & Wellness Tips are intended as an adjunct to, not a substitute for, professional health care. Order “Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace” and find more of Mantell’s stress-relief tips at www.relaxintuit.com