Beat the Winter Blues

With daylight savings time comes shorter days, colder temperatures, and darker mornings.

Winter can be a challenging time for many people. How do you feel as the days get shorter and colder? Do you gain weight or slack on your workout routine? What is your script about winter that you tell yourself and others?

If you honestly answer these questions, you will begin to see a pattern of behavior that may keep you stuck in a negative winter experience. Let's start with some reality testing, which is to say, recognizing that you have the power to "flip your script" about winter. There is no problem with modifying your routine because of the change in weather, but it does not have to be depressing or limiting. How you experience the colder months is totally up to you.

If you are debilitated in the winter months in a way that seriously impacts the quality of your life, you may suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Winter depression, as it is also called, is biochemical in nature, brought on by the lack of sunshine.

According to the Mayo Clinic:

Winter-onset seasonal affective disorder symptoms include:

• Depression


• Hopelessness


• Anxiety


• Loss of energy


• Heavy, "leaden" feeling in the arms or legs


• Social withdrawal


• Oversleeping


• Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed


• Appetite changes, especially craving foods high in carbohydrates


• Weight gain


• Difficulty concentrating

The Vitamin D Link
Numerous studies indicate that vitamin D may be helpful for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder. Vitamin D is not found in vast quantities in most foods. Mainly, our bodies produce vitamin D from the sun's rays hitting our skin. So, when there's not as much sun and you're indoors more, there's less vitamin D being produced. A simple blood test can determine your vitamin D level. If you do have a deficiency, your doctor will recommend a daily vitamin D supplement and the appropriate dosing. Vitamin D pills are inexpensive, and can be purchased at most grocery stores and pharmacies. There are also specially-designed lamps whose rays mimic sunlight to help with the body's vitamin D production. Studies have indicated that sitting in front of these lamps for as little as 30 minutes a day can also affect brain chemicals linked to mood, thereby easing SAD symptoms. As with any medical condition, consult with your doctor to get a proper diagnosis and discuss treatment options.

Keep Radiating!
Once seasonal affective disorder is ruled out or remedied, you can focus on actions and attitudes within your control. Decide how you want to feel and make choices in line with that goal.

Some ways to stay inspired this season include:

1. Exercise
Commit to at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. If you live in an area with harsh winters, exercising outdoors might require extra planning or may not be an option. Try a yoga DVD and turn your living room into your own mini-studio. Thanks to Sandy and now the nor'easter, I'm digging Tara Stiles' four-DVD set -- variety is the spice of life and thwarts boredom! Lots of DVDs, YouTube videos, and magazines offer at-home workouts that require little or no equipment. Dancing around to inspiring music is free, easy, and fun -- and not to mention, can burn some serious calories! Find what you enjoy, and you're more likely to stick to it. Exercise gets your endorphins (feel-good hormones) flowing, which is one of the best cures for the winter blues.

2. Meditation
Every summer sunset, day at the beach, and lazy outdoor afternoon is just a visualization away. Since you have internalized all of these experiences, a dedicated meditation practice can help you consciously access them. Create a sacred space in your home that reminds you of all of the summer experiences you love and get your butt on the pillow for a few minutes a day. You may be amazed at how this lifts your mood.

3. Intention
You are the same person in July as in November. You can actively choose to flip your script about the winter months and create a joyful and inspired fall/winter season this year. The past need not dictate your future. The power of your intention is mind-blowing. So set your intention on creating and maintaining your radiance from the inside out and see what magic your new attitude brings.

If you have struggled during the winter months in the past, remember now is not then. On autopilot, your mind and body can slip into familiar patterns of behavior that have not served you, but you have the power to choose. Practice extreme self-care this season and enjoy feeling and looking good all year round!

Daylight Saving Time Ends This Weekend: How The Time Change May Affect Your Sleep And Mood

Sunday, November 4, marks the end of Daylight Saving Time this year, and unlike the springtime transition in March, turning the clocks back an hour in November means a precious extra hour of sleep!

Compared to the jet lag-like feeling that comes with turning the clocks forward in the spring, this weekend's extra hour of sleep feels like a gift -- one that many of the 43 percent of Americans who say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep can't wait to receive.

"We are so sleep deprived to begin with, the extra hour of sleep is welcome!" says Dr. Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute and HuffPost blogger.

Thanks to that extra hour, "falling back" isn't nearly as disruptive to our bodies as "springing forward." Our circadian rhythms, or our bodies' natural clocks, operate on a slightly longer than 24-hour cycle, he says. "Being able to extend our day is much easier than it is to shorten our day. The body clock is used to a little bit of extra time."

As such, it can take up to a week to feel back to normal after the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in March, and experts recommend preparing by adjusting bedtime by a few minutes each night leading up to the time change. But in the fall, all it usually takes is one night. "We tell people they don't even really need to prepare for the change when we get an extra hour of sleep," says Oexman.

Falling back may even help us prioritize sleep. After this weekend, it will get dark earlier, which could prompt us to hit the hay sooner, especially compared to the long, well-lit summer evenings that encouraged us to stay up past our bedtimes.

It may even remind us to value sleep long after this weekend comes and goes. In the days after the spring transition, car accidents, heart attacks and injuries on the job all increase. But after we turn the clocks back, we see a decrease in heart attacks and car accidents, a testament to the power of sleep, says Oexman. "It shows the importance of even gaining one hour of sleep. If we can make an effort to get a little more sleep, maybe we can control diseases like heart disease or diabetes or risk of accidents," he says.

However, there is a little bad news. Soon, the sleep-deprived workers who find themselves putting in long hours at the office could be making both the morning and evening commute in the dark. And the early nightfall might make it more difficult to stay awake for some people, especially the elderly, says Oexman. "The tendency is to get tired, watch TV in the dark and nap, and then when it's time to go to bed, they don't sleep well and wake up very early in the morning," he says.

The dark evenings and trouble sleeping can make some susceptible to Seasonal Affective Disorder. Talk to your doctor if you're feeling sleepiness paired with a stronger appetite, decreased energy, unhappiness and a loss of interest in work or other activities.

Others may experience a simple dip in mood and energy that Oexman says is preventable with a few simple steps:

• Expose yourself to plenty of light. When it starts to get dark out early, turn on the lights around the house, he says, to remind your brain that it's not quite time for bed. Get outside during the day, maybe during your lunch break, for natural light. If it's too cold, open your blinds to at least let some sunshine into your home.


• Exercise late. Typically, experts don't recommend working out too close to bedtime, but a late-afternoon or early-evening sweat session can help keep you energized during those dreary evenings.


• Try light therapy. Oexman suggests buying a small box to keep on your desk at the office, or for women to turn one on while putting on makeup in the morning. The gadget mimics natural sunlight, so a regular lamp won't do the trick.

How does changing the clocks affect you? Let us know in the comments.
Can't sleep? Check out which home remedies really work. -  http://healthyworldlifestyle.blogspot.in/2012/10/cant-sleep.html#.UJaWO67jpV4