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How to Beat the Winter Blahs
By Stephen Bucaro
I remember many dark overcast gloomy winter days in Illinois. Those days made
me so depressed that I ended up spending a fortune to move to a sunny state. Now
I cheerfully enjoy every day in sunny Arizona. Well, everybody can't pick up
and move across the country, so how can you do away with winter depression?
Winter depression, more technically called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD),
affects about five percent of Americans, three-fourths of them women. It occurs
mostly in people who live in northern latitudes. For example, about ten percent
of Alaskans experience SAD, while less than one percent of Arizonans do.
How do you know if you have SAD? Below are some of the symptoms.
- sadness
- fatigue
- sleepiness
- difficulty concentrating
- cravings for carbohydrates
- social withdrawal
If you're experiencing some or all of these symptoms, here's what you need to do:
 Drink plenty
of water. Dry winter air can quickly suck the moisture out of you, leaving you dehydrated.
You may not even realize that you're dehydrated, but the condition will have an effect on
your body chemistry. One symptom of dehydration is unclear thinking.
Go out.
I know it's cold outside and you feel tired and are not in the mood for socializing, but
force yourself to go out. Go to the shopping mall. Go to the movie theater. Visit friends
or family. Who knows, maybe they're experiencing SAD too and you can cheer them up.
Do some
aerobic exercise. I know you feel tired, but force yourself to work out on a stationary
bike, treadmill, elliptical machine, or jump rope. Increasing your heart beat will
improve your blood circulation and help your body's chemical balance.
Go for
a walk outside. I know it's cold outside, but you can always put on more layers of
clothes to keep warm. At least your lucky in this way. In Arizona when it's 120 degrees
outside, there's not much you can do about it. Take a walk in a park with lots of trees.
I guarantee this will cheer you up.
Buy some
house plants, or plant some seedlings. When I lived in Illinois, the one thing that
always cheered me up was looking in seed catalogs and planning my garden for the next summer.
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