Seasonal Affective Disorder [SAD]
By award-winning author and stress-relief expert Susie Mantell
Help for “Snowballing” Stress & Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
At the end of the day, most of us find attention to personal needs somewhere at the bottom of our To Do List. This winter can be different!
1. Make time for 'recreation'. (Look at that word again...) Get outdoors each day. Moderate exercise and replenishing sleep help to support healing and replenish a weary body.
2. Organize a girls (or guys) night-out. Make short tea dates. Just a few minutes with someone you really like is a terrific stress-buster. Invite friends, order-in. Use elegant paper plates. Rent a movie, play a board game. Have everybody bring a wrapped grab-bag gift under $10. Make one new friend this winter.
3. Flush toxins with plenty of water. We're not as naturally thirsty as in summer when we perspire more, and tend to choose hot beverages, which are harder to drink in quantity. Get in those vital, 8 glasses of water to flush toxins, hydrate skin and aid digestion.
4. Eat healthily and exercise. But when you splurge, enjoy every bite. Watch sugar, caffeine and alcohol consumption. Winter leads many into the dumpster known as "Sugar Blues", manifesting and often confused with clinical depression, other illness. (...or that common winter ailment known as "crabbiness!") Reducing caffeine, sugar and alcohol just may do the trick. Too much coffee makes us irritable, distractible –both of which can produce scowls. Frowns and knitted brows make us look unapproachable. (Not to mention creating wrinkles.)
5. Long day? Luxuriate in hot, "non-working" baths. Soothing music and relaxation tapes, and mini-meditations provide effortless comfort.
6. Seasonal Affective Disorder ("S.A.D.") Many experience clinical winter blues. If you suspect you’re one of them, talk with a trusted healthcare professional. It’s real. There are natural light bulbs and scheduling suggestions, herbal and other remedies available to help you through a slump, but as always, get professional advice on dosage, risks, contraindications, etc.
7. Simplify. & Prioritize. *How could I simplify (or eliminate,) just one task? Who could help?*
8. Take healthy breaks. Do something you love every day. Schedule naps, time to read, swim.
9. Read something that makes you think, feel or grow, every day.
10. Do something kind: (e.g. Feed an expired meter, let someone go first at the market,) just Because. Thank 6 people daily, e.g. the mailman, a 1st responder, teachers.
11. Far-away friend or loved one? Schedule an uninterrupted catch-up call.
12. Close your eyes and imagine you are smiling. Open your eyes, and stay that way all day, kind of half-smiling. This sends a mind-body signal: *I must be happy. I*m smiling.* See how many people you can get to smile back! Rushing along windy streets, bundled up, head down, we often forget to look others in the eye and connect. Smiling actually releases endorphins—Yours and theirs. Go ahead and smile…THEN move on and "accomplish." The day you save could be your own.
[Copyright 2000, 2008 Susie Mantell, Relax. . .Intuit (tm) LLC. All rights reserved.] Federal law prohibits use of this material in whole or in part without the express written consent of Relax...Intuit™ LLC. For Reprint Permission: Kindly email your request for guidelines, pasting in the full text of the specific article you wish to use, to info@relaxintuit.com We'll try to reply within 72 hrs.]
Award-winning stress-relief expert Susie Mantell ...is the author of the deeply soothing relaxation CD, "Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace,” clinically approved for symptoms associated with stress and sleeplessness, depression and grief, anxiety, P.T.S.D., Fibromyalgia, caregiver stress, cancer, pain, divorce and addiction recovery. Featured in The Los Angeles Times, NBC, ABC, CBS-TV, Town & Country, The American Pain Society, Hazelden and The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, listeners include The Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, The Betty Ford Center, V.A. Hospitals,and Canyon Ranch (#1 Spa.) Customizing stress-reduction for Fortune 500 companies, distinguished hospitals and spas, Mantell has facilitated thousands in relieving health-related, work-related, chronic or traumatic stress. Her multi-sensory, mind-body techniques appear in national media, medical and corporate publications. Susie Mantell's Stress-Relief & Wellness Tips are intended as an adjunct to, not a substitute for, professional health care. Order “Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace” and find more of Mantell’s stress-relief tips at www.relaxintuit.com