Season affective trouble or winter blues; affect 100 thousand people each year. Symptoms are often moodiness, anxiety, and lethargy, difficulty to sleep, decreased libido and increased appetite. As we know at the moment, this trouble affects more women than men; and concerns more the Nordic population than the one leaving in the south, which is an easy deduction. And before being totally demotivated winter blues can be treated with luminotherapy, exercise, meditation,aromatherapy and eventually some well selected supplements; and there are some nutritional advice which will have a positive impact on the prevention of stress and depression.
Luminotherapy = light therapy: level of light radiating from the sun drops from 50 000 lux in the summer, to just 500 lux in the winter, which is not enough to keep our bodies working in the same way.
The lack of light has a direct impact on the mood, so go out to get some fresh air and enjoy the natural light as much as possible. If needed, you can use the luminotherapy light every morning. We can find easily these special lamps designed to reproduce the sun light. In 20minutes we can get a beneficial dose of artificial sun which will activate the serotonin production, a hormone which helps to be in a very positive frame of mind.
Do some exercise: for sure the best natural antidepressant, which avoids low moral, and as efficient as the chemical antidepressant is sport. Walk, jogging, swim, tai-chi, qi gong… A daily training of 30 minutes 3 times a week or per day, and should be maintained! Exercise increases the production of serotonin.
Meditation:
Practice of meditation lower the stress level, we all know it. Chose the technique using the focalisation, as concentrating on a mental image, a sound or a word; or a more active from of meditation such as tai-chi. Whatever the technique, the wanted result consists to decrease stress, which will release the emotional burden of the person affected by winter blues.
Nutrition:
I meet lots of people who are deficient in serotonin. We need to know that women who follow a restrictive diet are often deficient in triptophan; which explain the rebound effect of this type of diet: we start to lose weight but the kilos come back over the repetitive diets and more comes in addition!
Add to your daily menus the food which promote the good function of the brain by acting on the neurotransmitters called dopamine, noradrenalin and serotonin who are the messengers of the nervous system; they are the regulator of the mood and behaviour. A deficiency in one of these will promote an immediate sensibility to stress.
Here is an adapted nutrition to remedy to a lack of serotonin:
¯ Eat food rich in triptophan: eggs, turkey, soy, almonds, dates, nuts…
¯ Chose snacks which will stimulate secretion of serotonin: a banana and 2 pieces of black chocolate
¯ Every day eat food rich in omega 3 and vitamin B which will increase the production of serotonin, eat oily fish 4 time week: sardine, hearing, salmon mackerel , use extra virgin oils and cold pressed oils: rapeseed, sunflower, olive.
¯ Omega 3 has an anti-inflammatory action and is an anti ageing of the brain.
Booster Food:
Leguminous such as: Lentils, dried beans, chickpeas, etc. are an excellent source of low
GI (Glycemic index), because the brain is a big consumer of carbs.
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Whole grain cereals (as rice, bread…): like the leguminous, the wholemeal/wholegrain cereals have a low GI, a way to avoid drowsiness and the temptation of nibble between meals. They are rich in vitamins B, which are the vitamin of the well-being and participate to the synthesis of the neurotransmitters
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Wheat germ: wheat germ flakes are rich in vitamin B, magnesium, phosphorus…sprinkle it generously on your salads, soup, yogurt…
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Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, nuts: oleaginous are a very good source of magnesium, the trace element which is literally leaking from our body in situation of stress.
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Corn salad,
broccoli, spinach, lettuce… all green leaf vegetables are riche in vitamin B, but also in calcium and magnesium; eat them fresh and raw as possible.
Aromatherapy: the essential oils to rescue you!
Essential oil of Bergamot (citrus bergamia): will help to recover your self confidence and smile, it can give a boost to move on and to be proactive.
Keep the bottle in your bag and breath in as often as you need; or put a drop on your wrist or on the solar plexus.
Essential oil of Niaouli (melaleuca quiquinervia): if you spend lots of time in front of your computer, which is a big energetic vacuum, put 2 drops of niaouli on your wrist, you will be protected and your mental energy will be boosted.
Supplements: to add on the previous techniques, we can use supplements and herbal therapy. An adapted supply in vitamin D can be useful. Vitamins B help with stress and a B complex supplement containing selenium, chromium as well as folic acid will have a great effect.
Some Herbal therapy and supplements can be great to get over the lack of energy such as red ginseng, eleutherocoque, spiruline, camu-camu, shi-ta-ké, kola, acerola, rose hips, alfalfa, lapacho, nettle, sage, thyme, ginger, brewer yeast. The appropriate supplement and herbal therapy should always been recommended by a qualified therapist or practitioner; never take it off the shelve.
If you trouble persist, you must consult you GP and Natural practitioner to get the best treatment to make sure that you can get through the rest of the winter with optimum well-being.
