5 Tips For Beating the Winter Blues
Beating the Winter Blues
Depending where you live—Boston versus Los Angeles—winter will either be something you dread or something that passes you by without noticing. Sometimes even people who live in the warmer states like California experience cyclical changes that affect their moods and disposition.
The extreme form of this is called SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. SAD is a cyclical form of depression caused by changes in the circadian rhythm—a 24-hour cycle that regulates biochemical processes in the body.
For some people, as the hours of sunlight decrease in the fall and winter, their circadian rhythm cycle can become disrupted. The hormone melatonin and the neurotransmitter serotonin suddenly drop in the winter and this causes lethargy, depression, irritability and weight gain.
So what are my top 5 tips for beating the winter blues?
1. Hibernate happily: Sometimes it’s best to surrender to winter and take up hibernation like a bear. You can watch movies, or binge watch shows on Netflix that you’ve always wanted to see or curl up on the couch with a good book you’ve been meaning to read or get all cozy by the fire in your favorite woolly socks.
2. Eat warm, nourishing comfort foods: Use this time to make those rich bean soups and hearty squash and root vegetable stews that you’ve been wanting to try. It will nourish and warm your body and spirit.
3. Layer up and go for walks outside in the cold, fresh air: Just because it’s cold outside, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be outside. As long as you layer up with woolly hats, down jackets and long johns, even the snow and sleet will be your friend. Take a stroll on a freezing wintery evening and return home refreshed.
4. Spend time soaking it up in a hot tub with Epsom salt or sauna: There is nothing that raises your body heat quite like soaking it up in a hot tub or sauna. Just do it weekly throughout winter! You can’t go wrong.
5. Find a movement class that makes you sweat: Getting your body moving floods you with feel-good endorphins. So find a high energy dance class Hot Yoga, Zumba, or even belly dancing and get your groove on. Then treat yourself to a cup of hot chocolate afterwards with your new dance buddy.
How will I know which of these tips will work for me?
Good question! Start by picking your top two that just jump out at you. Those are the ones that obviously appeal to you the most—so that’s a great place to start!
Next, schedule a time on your calendar to actually do them starting tomorrow. So if you picked hot tub and nourishing soup, then go out today and buy the ingredients for the soup to cook tomorrow buy some Epsom salt for a hot tub!
Once you’ve done these three keep doing them if you enjoy them or ditch them if you don’t! And then start adding more from your top 5 list until pretty soon winter will be over and you will yearn to do it all over again!
What do I do now?
If you are one of those people prone to the winter blues and you want to make sure not to fall into that rut this year, then click here now to schedule a time to chat with me about more ways to make your winter months not only bearable but pleasurable too!
I can help you come up with a plan that feels good in your bones and I can help you implement it and follow through so that you can beat the winter blues this year for real!