Do You Have The Winter Blues?

Do you live in a place where winter can have it's grip on your area for a few months. We all know what it is like, gray days, snow, freezing rain, not a lot of sunshine and just that overall blah feeling that you get.

I was driving into work and head a segement on "winter blues" after the symptoms were read off, I thought, yep that is me. I am a totally different person in the summer than say late February.

Here are the symptoms:

Desire to sleep more (check)
Overeating
Withdrawing from social activities (kind of check)
Feeling anxious (check)
Being unusually irritable
Feeling a lack of energy (check)
Headaches
Craving of sweets (check)
Loss of desire for physical activity (check)
Weight gain

It sounds like a form of depression doesn't it. If you said yes, you are right. It is depression from the lack of daylight hours. Some ways the "experts" say you can beat the winter blues is the following:

Sunlight does provide the body with essential vitamins that are mood enhancing. One way to combat this effect is to use moderation and get some sun therapy at a tanning bed. The artificial sunlight will help enhance your mood by increasing the body's capability of utilizing and producing vitamin D.

Cold weather keeps people indoors for the most part. Being in doors can create a sense of suffocation and increased amounts of boredom. One way to overcome this is to take a walk outside. Bundle up in a coat, gloves and hat. Even if you just walk a few blocks outside it will help get the circulation going and give you a chance to see the beautiful winter landscape.

During the winter most people develop a sense of lethargy- being tired all of the time. They tend to sleep during the day and then wake up feeling even more tired than before. One way to overcome this feeling of lethargy is simply to fight it by doing some aerobic exercise. Buy a gym membership in the winter.

Many people suffer from an increased sense of loneliness because they are trapped for long periods of time indoors. Being alone can play harsh mental games on a person. It can become so severe that a person might begin to feel that they are all alone. The best way to overcome the feeling of being alone is to get out and join a class or league, whether it is an indoor sports league or a dance class.

So if you are tired of having the winter blues, than do something about it. And Spring is less than a month away!