This time of year I want to hibernate, to eat warm filling food, take early baths and cuddle on the coach for the night. I tend to become a withdrawn, sad and lonely.
I recently discovered that this is actually called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) it’s a type of depression that impacts millions of people each year. It generally kicks in as the hours of daylight get shorter and can last till early spring. Apparently, 60-90% of folks with SAD are women.
I noticed the signs already this past week and decided to be proactive because while it is nice to hibernate I also really want to stay mentally physically and spiritually healthy. So today I wanted to share some tips on how to do this—some of the tips came from Kris Carr’s blog.
- Take vitamin D-if we’re not getting the sunshine we need to supplement
- Get exercise. If you’re not a gym type person, get creative with it. Run and up and down the stairs of your house if you can, do sit ups while watching a favorite TV show….
- Go outside anyway, bundle up….breathe in the fresh air. This brings up both your serotonin and dopamine levels, which both play a star role in your joy factor.
- Try to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep but not more….make yourself get up and get moving.
- Get out of the house, and not just for drinks and dinner -If you get that cooped up, bored feeling over the winter months, shake it up. Is there somewhere locally you can go to…the library the coffee? I worked from Winan’s for 3 hours yesterday. Start a new hobby.
- Reach out to others– friend time always soothes the soul and yet it’s so easy to resist reaching out when we feel like crap. Plan something to look forward to, meet up, watch a movie together, make a game night.
- Pay attention to what you’re eating. Crap food creates crap thoughts, sleep and health. Yet, when we’re blue we often go crazy with the crap. Reconsider what comfort food is or may be.
And, I can share all of these things but I am not good at doing this alone. I need accountability, need encouragement, ideas, support and cheerleading. I decided to start a Facebook group for anyone who can relate and wants/needs support as well. We’ll check in and share our successes, challenges, ideas, thoughts, insight, etc.
Anyone who’s interested can email me or send a Facebook friend request. You also may want to consider creating your own sort of group with close friends online or off.
Life Coach Tip of the Week — Out of Hibernation
