Tags
Gloom stress, Kebba Buckley Button, SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, stress, Stress Management, UpBeat Living
© tonda55 – Fotolia
© 2015 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM. World Rights Reserved.
Hands up, anyone who feels slower, more down, or more blah during the winter! Or on gray days? Have you been feeling gloomy when the weather is, well, gloomy? You have Gloom Stress! And maybe you are one of the estimated 10 million people who have Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. People with SAD report symptoms typically in the winter, when days are shorter. These symptoms include feeling sluggish, feeling “down”, lacking energy, and craving carbohydrates. People who eat for energy while affected by SAD may, sadly, gain weight. A side effect of feeling sluggish may be the tendency to exercise less, leading to a decrease in metabolic efficiency and therefore a further decrease in mood and vitality.
Depression is when your engine isn’t powering up. It might take a few pushes, an oil change, or you may have to take yourself to a loving engineer to fix you right up. If all does not work, getting a new engine isn’t always a bad idea. It’s a fresh start on your continuing journey.
~ Unknown
If you’re taking antidepressants, consider waiting until the days are longer, before concluding your depression needs a stronger prescription. Coordinate with your doctor. And do check out some of the other options, while the days are shorter.
Certainly, feeling bluesy slows you down and CAUSES stress. How can you ever get your Stuff done? How can you respond to conversations, phone calls, and emails? So how does this disorder work? In the brain, the hypothalamus is supposed to start the body’s clock each day, and it responds to strong light. With less light, you don’t get a great clock startup. However, light therapy has been used successfully to treat this disorder.
Whole light tubes for desk lamps, and light masks for a person to wear, were early attempts to help people get metabolize more light and feel better in short order. Today, you can buy therapy lamps, light boxes, and even “dawn simulators”. One style of lamp comes on with a low light that gradually increases to the brightness of daylight. However, a new light therapy is showing promise. Dr. Dan Oren, a psychiatrist at Yale University, has created a “light band”, which straps onto the back of the affected person’s knee. The light band is plugged in to recharge overnight, then unplugged and worn by the person, in the morning, for an hour. Dr. Oren hopes this particular green light will be proven to actually absorb into the bloodstream, through the skin.
Make sure you have relatively bright light in your home and office. Drink warm beverages, which raise your metabolic rate. Hold the mug in your hands and feel the warmth. Wear cheerful colors and use rich, joyful colors in your home. Experiment with colors to find the ones that uplift you most. Many find yellow is the most uplifting.
Want that antidepressant effect? Want your brain back in alignment with your sleep/wake cycle? Then try some of these self-helps. Look at the latest light therapy options, and talk with your doctor. You’ll soon beat gloom stress and be back in Upbeat Living, for all year round.
———————————————————–
- If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low. Thanks for your help!
Energy – Peace – Meditation
- Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert. She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.
- For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .
Healthy Happy Loving Life! 
Reblogged this on Perspectives On…. and commented:
This article is very timely, as I posted earlier today on “Ban Gray Days.” Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, can be insidious and you may suffer from mild to severe depression-like symptoms and not even realize what it wrong.
Shortly after the birth of my oldest daughter in late January 1985, I started feeling out of sorts. I thought it was just a little post-partum depression, but it turned out to be SAD. Once I recognized the symptoms from a magazine article, I went out and got some sunlight.
And I bought a new lipstick. That always helps!
Seriously, please take a look at this information.
LikeLike
Terri, wonderful! Sorry you were hit hard by it. Lipstick–great strategy for me–forgot to mention it! Thanks for visiting and sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really excellent information and very timely! I unknowingly suffered from this. Once I recognized the symptoms and got some sunlight, the symptoms disappeared. You may like my recent post: https://terriwebsterschrandt.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/ban-gray-days/
LikeLike
great ideas here. Makes total sense once I read it but I hadn’t thought of some of this before – like not stopping meds until spring and the longer days. great work. thx
LikeLike
Louise, thanks! So happy to be helpful. Thanks for visiting and sharing.
LikeLike
SAD is so interesting to me as a native of San Diego. Other than the days being shorter, we hardly have a winter here. I find that I actually have some agitation during the hot months when it can be miserable to be out and about, though that’s probably just me 🙂
What great suggestions for those afflicted with SAD.
LikeLike
Jess, thanks! This is the first time I’ve heard someone use the word “agitation” for their experience on the hottest days in SD. Do you have any trouble concentrating when this is happening? Thanks so much for visiting and sharing.
LikeLike
Kebba,
Wow! This is like the 2nd or 3rd post I’ve read about sadness (I know SAD is an acronym). My friend who is now in FL always said that she thought her mother had that. Maybe my friend even had that. I wonder if it depends on the climate. My sister used to PA had so few light days that we needed a special light box to replace the sun we were missing.
Thanks for a great post!
Amu
LikeLike
Amy, hopefully light-deficit is getting better recognition these days. Thanks for visiting and sharing!
LikeLike