When daylight hours are short and days are cloudy, it can be very tough on those of us affected with season affective disorder. The depression and anxiety can seem inescapable. Here are a few great tips to improve your life in the winter.
#1 Buy a light box. I have the NatureBright that I purchased off Amazon for about $80. I use it every morning at my desk for about 20 minutes. I really find it helps my mood and my energy when there isn’t a lot of light.
#2 Get outside for at least 20 minutes a day.
#3 Commit to a regular exercise plan. For those of you who don’t regularly exercise, that’s a bad move. Your body was designed for exercise and with the typical American schedule of sitting all desk, your body will thank you for getting up and moving as it was intended. I am a regular exerciser but once daylight savings time hits, I often find it impossible to make myself workout at night. Instead, I make myself go at lunch until my body settles into a routine.
#4 Speaking of a regular routine…..Establish 5 things you would like to do after work, even if one of them is simply reading a book in front of the fireplace. Make sure you do them and set a goal of how late you want to stay up. I literally have to force myself to stay awake until 10pm because I naturally want to go to sleep at 8pm this time of year. Its absolutely pathetic.
#5 Supplement with Vitamin D I take 5000mg of NutriDyn each day and test my levels once a year.
These are all the tips I have on helping yourself with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Try them and let me know how it works for you. Also–if you have any other suggestions that you have used to help yourself, I would love to hear about them.