Alleviating Winter Blues

The darker days and nights caused by the shorter daylight hours of winter can have a huge effect on how we feel. If you find yourself wanting to eat and sleep more during winter or are less eager to get out and socialise, tips to alleviate the winter blues are at hand.

If you feel a dip in mood and a lack of enthusiasm during winter, you are not alone. Our internal patterns of sleep, appetite, sex drive, temperature, mood and activity all rely on natural light cycles. I learned a valuable lesson of allowing myself to adjust to acknowledge that it is winter time and it will be different to summer. Giving ourselves permission to be different, manage the expectations of those around us. What is important is to get as much daylight as we can do during the daylight hours. Adjusting our desk space at work to turn to a window or source of natural light, go for a walk or wrap up and head outside for a walk at lunchtime if you are able to. Feeling SAD?

Over two million people in the UK are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The low levels of light during the winter months can cause a range of symptoms, from slowing down and lacking energy right through to severe depression. Other symptoms include feeling gloomy, lethargic and experiencing feelings of being unable to carry out our normal routine. Not wanting to go outdoors, loss of libido and craving sweet carbohydrates are also indicators of SAD. Light therapy has been shown to be extremely helpful for many sufferers and is very easy to use in the form of a lightbox, which mimics natural sunlight and can be used daily. These devices are readily available in the shops and online for desktops and freestanding. The great outdoors

Many of us feel low in winter and research shows this can be related to decreased exposure to natural light. Getting outdoors each day is crucial to tackling winter blues, as it increases our exposure to sunlight and can positively impact on our mood. If you can get into a place of nature, such as a forest or near to water, once or twice a week, research has shown that the healthrelated benefits include lower blood pressure, help with reducing anxiety and mild depression. Mind, a mental health charity has content on the full range of benefits on their website along with some great ideas on how to use nature to benefit our mental health. Not only that but being outdoors almost always means you are doing exercise – even if it’s just washing the car – and that is beneficial in itself.

Both exercise and socialising stimulate and boost endorphins, those wonderful feel-good chemicals in our bodies that help to lift our mood. While doing a home workout is better than nothing, it does mean you are missing out on contact with people. Ideally join a group – something like Nordic Walking or a dance class – but even if it’s just a weights session in the gym, if you go often enough you’ll start to see the same faces each time you are there. Often somebody saying “Hello” is all that’s needed to lift your spirit. If we consider our body as a pool of water, such as a pond, if you let it sit for long periods of time it starts to become stagnant. If we use a pump in the pond, it put oxygen in the water and reduces that. Like our body, if we use our pump (heart), it allows a good flow of oxygen around our body. People power

Even if you actually quite enjoy your own company, you do need people contact too. If your family or friends don’t live nearby, make a point of having a face-to-face call instead of just messaging. Think about joining a group too. Evening classes start at many colleges in January, or find out if there’s any voluntary work you can do. Of course, if you are feeling a bit January blue, you might be thinking “I don’t have time to do any of this.” But most of us seem to find time to watch TV or do mindless internet browsing. Recognise that it’s taking the first step that’s the most difficult part, but once you do the momentum will build and before you know it, spring will be here! In and around Yaxley, there are some places where we can go to have a chat and a cuppa with others, including:  MIND, Feel Good Café, which is at The Farmers. Details can be found on their website.  Huntingdonshire Health Walks, which meet at the library in Yaxley  The lunchtime sitting at the British Legion as well as the recently started lunchtime sitting for parents and children to attend.  Wellness sessions at St Peters, Yaxley If there is a thought, it is that the shortest day was on 21st December and so day by day there is more daylight.