We are knee deep in the winter doldrums characterized by a lack of enthusiasm, low energy levels, mild depression and a general idea that eating whatever we want will simply not be applied directly to our hips. Although our weather has been superior, as have our workloads, which makes it difficult to take time for us, we still need to find a healthy balance. This inability to find time creates the doldrums that govern our winter days. Chances are your depressed state is not all in your head but a combination of geography and other factors that you will find as you read this section. Hopefully this month’s article will infuse some ideas into your particular lifestyle and help you to decompress until spring arrives.

According to http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/beating-winters-woes  the “gloom caused by Mother Nature each winter in much of the country is biologically felt to some degree by an estimated one in four of us – usually starting around October and then magically ending by April with spring’s thaw”. With approximately 550 students matriculating through our school; sprinkle in teachers, school staff, coaches, parents (2 for each student), etc. and taking the ratio of 1:4 into consideration we are coming into contact daily with approximately 300 people with the winter doldrums! To keep ourselves sane after running into contact with such a high number of less than happy individuals, including ourselves, we need to tweak our winter lifestyles to create a harmonious environment for all.

The top “doldrums” offenders are lack of diet, exercise, sun and perhaps too much hibernation. The way too much weekend sleep can affect circadian rhythm timing, which is “the physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness, and throw the body clock out of sync” so does the short winter days without those extra hours of sunlight. Seasonal Affective Disorder also known as SAD, which is a form of depression, affects approximately 11 million Americans during the winter months. The majority of which are found north of the equator where the days are shorter and the climate is colder. Florida residents, comprised of 1% experience “some winter-specific discomfort or depression, compared to about half of those living in uppermost parts of the U.S. or in southern Canada”. We need to get out and become physically active, sloughing off that sluggish feeling, to avoid the 5 to 6 average pound weight gain that normally occurs during the winter months.

To give you an idea of the importance of real sunlight, psychiatrist Daniel F. Kripke, MD conducted the world’s first controlled study of bright light therapy for depression. He believes the solution to physical harmony during the winter months is to get as much sunlight as possible. “Light enters the eye, which activates a body clock system that is similar to what controls … hibernation in animals”. It is also hypothesized that lack of sunlight is connected to the brain’s appetite hardwiring, which might explain why you crave food during the winter, thus the weight gain. If you are unable to go for a walk or enjoy the outdoors and for those who fall under the category of severely depressed there are artificial sunbox lights with “special fluorescent tubes that mimic the sun’s beneficial rays” that you expose yourself to for 30  minutes each morning. These sunboxes “keep your body clock on its springtime cycle during the winter” and can be placed anywhere including your kitchen table as you eat breakfast. Michael Terman, PhD, director of the Winter Depression Program at New York Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center believes that negative ions normalize serotonin levels in the brain and improve mood which is why “natural concentrations of negative ions are highest at the seashore, by the pounding surf, or right after a spring thunderstorm…that’s why many people report a spontaneous elevation in mood from being at the beach”.

Proper diet and exercise, as usual, are some of the answers to beating all that ails you, including the doldrums.   Focus on the joy in your life that makes you happy and remember true happiness comes from within!

Quotes of the day:
“Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face.”
~ Victor Hugo – Writer, Les Miserables

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
~ John Steinbeck – Writer, The Grapes of Wrath

Affordable accessory alert:
There is a plethora of Negative Air Ionizers, for floor or tabletop, available on Amazon.com that will help you to achieve a healthy balance of the mind. http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=dp_bc_4/187-4633447-8329360?ie=UTF8&node=510196