Winter Blues

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Originally uploaded by LRose17

Change in appetite, especially a craving for sweets or starches
Weight gain
Fatigue
Tendency to oversleep
Difficulty in concentrating
Irritability/anxiety
Avoidance of social situations
Increased sensitivity to social rejection

This morning. Waking up. Waking up to the gray. In the winter, we are warriors, each deciding what armor we will need for the day to combat the winter’s chill and also the winter’s depressive conditions. Last night I rode my bike and it felt wonderful. It felt like a powerful declaration to the winter, “YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!” My cheeks were red and the layers of clothes were many. And it was good. Great, even.

It’s hard to feel motivated to do much in the winter for anyone, but it is particularly hard when you are a “two-life person.” The term “two-life person” is a term I made-up to refer to those who do a day job full-time and also maintain some sort of “second life” after hours when their real strengths and loves come out to play. In the winter, I find myself struggling as a “two-lifer.” It’s a victory to get out of bed and get through my day without drinking so much coffee that my eyeballs hurt and eating cereal by the boxful.  In winter it’s hard to maintain the sort of energy it takes to keep producing the things in your second life to make the 1st life seem worth the time. But we all find ways to do it.

In the wintertime we re-discover blogs established once upon a summer. We try to make good on promises made to ourselves to stay home more. We try to make good on promises to ourselves to get out more. We try to learn how to bake bread. We try to learn how to love the snow. And we try to come out of the winter with some good ideas for new plays, hoping that we’ve maybe started work on some of those blue-sky notions. Wintertime, how I love to hate you. And hate to love you.

8 winter mood-boosters from Dr. Howard (who the hell, Dr. Howard is? I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you. But I’m willing to listen to anybody who might have answers to the winter.)

1. Take the best preventive action next fall—before winter begins. Between October 1 and October 15, go somewhere with a lot of sun and spend time outside four hours a day, four days in a row. This really works, says Dr. Howard.

2. Get a Lights of America desk lamp. Put it right next to your computer and use it at least one hour a day, especially in the early evening. This is easier to fit into good old “real life” than using those expensive light boxes that you’re supposed to bask in front of for 45 minutes in the morning, says Dr. Howard.

3. Exercise at least four to six times a week for 30 to 45 minutes. This can be a 2-mile-an-hour walk on the treadmill, or you can even walk through the halls and up and down the stairs of your house or building. Do something, anything. (someone, DO something!!!)

4. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs work well for some people, but have to be tailored to the individual by a TCM practitioner.

5. Try SAM-e (S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine). This naturally occurring bodily compound helps produce and regulate hormones, including the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine; low levels of these are associated with depression. Dr. Howard recommends taking 400 to 800 milligrams daily. Brands that passed the independent tests for potency, conducted by ConsumerLab.com, include GNC, Natrol, and NutraLife. St. John’s wort, which has been touted as a SAD remedy, doesn’t seem to be effective for relieving seasonal affective disorder, Dr. Howard notes.

6. Take a fish oil supplement with at least 600 milligrams of combined EPA/DHA daily. (MMM…FISH!)

7. Take 500 milligrams of vitamin C three to four times a day with plenty of water, and a B-complex vitamin.

8. If you feel hopeless or in a state of deep despair during the winter, see your health-care practitioner. You may need an antidepressant medication during the November to April season, says Dr. Howard. Low-dose Zoloft or Lexapro can be good choices, she says.