For others, the symptoms go far beyond feeling sad that summer is over. These people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a form of depression that accompanies changes in the seasons. People with good mental health throughout most of the year will start showing depressive symptoms in the fall and winter months.

Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

This kind of depression is easily dismissed because it starts out mild but worsens as the season progresses. Its signs and symptoms are typical depression symptoms such as low energy, loss of interest in activities that you previously enjoyed, and changes in appetite and sleep patterns.

SAD doesn’t actually appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) – the big book therapists use to diagnose patients. For this reason, many experts refer to it as a form of depression with a seasonal pattern. However, they recognize that it’s a real condition that cannot be dismissed as “winter sadness.”

How to Beat the Blues

Serious cases of SAD require medication, psychotherapy, and phototherapy. However, and here’s the good news, less serious cases can be resolved through lifestyle and environment changes.

Brighter Lights

The cause of “winter blues” remains unknown, but scientists think that the decrease in daylight disrupts the body’s internal clock, leading to feelings of sadness.

This is why you should get as much daylight as possible. Open the blinds and sit closer to the windows.

Artificial light can also be very useful in remedying this situation. And get this, sitting next to a light box for 30 minutes every day is just as effective as taking medication.

You might also consider investing in a dawn simulator, a device that causes your bedroom lights to gradually brighten in the morning. It’s especially useful for people who struggle to wake up in the morning.

Eat Better and Exercise

Poor food choices can make SAD much worse. Coffee and soda may make you feel better for a while, but ultimately make your symptoms worse.

Eat regular meals to stabilize your blood sugar and prevent cravings. Add tryptophan-rich foods such as oats, nuts, and seeds to your diet. Tryptophan is necessary for the production of serotonin, a chemical that regulates mood.

Walking fast for about 35 minutes a day, five days a week, can relieve symptoms of mild to moderate depression. It’s even better if you can exercise under bright light as opposed to ordinary light.

Go Outside

It’s hard not to feel blue when you spend all your time indoors. Get into the habit of spending time outdoors even when it’s chilly. Take a walk or something!

Many people feel a little blue in the fall and winter, so it’s not all in your head. In fact, we could all benefit from brighter lights, a better diet, exercise, and spending more time outdoors during these months.

The post Beat the Fall and Winter Blues appeared first on Lifestyle.

The circadian rhythm regulates your level of sleepiness or wakefulness throughout the day. When it’s working properly, you should wake up feeling energized and ready to conquer the world!

An out-of-whack body clock doesn’t just make you tired. It also disrupts your brain’s wave patterns, hormone production, and cell regulation. This disruption has been linked to depression, obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

Thankfully, it is possible to reset your circadian rhythm as long as you can figure out what is throwing it off.

Do you have a regular sleep schedule?

Do you go to bed and get up at around the same time every day? An erratic sleep schedule throws off your body clock.

If you want to wake up feeling refreshed, you need to pick a bedtime and a wake-up time. Don’t just go to bed whenever you feel like it.

Having a fixed bedtime also helps you wind down. You might not always go to bed on time, but the realization that it’s “past your bedtime” helps you to relax and get ready for bed.

Do you wind down before bed?

How do you prepare for bed? If you work or watch TV up until the minute you fall asleep, your brain doesn’t get a chance to wind down.

To sleep better, you need to find a way to let your mind know that it’s time to gear down and to set aside any anxious or worrisome thoughts before bedtime.

You need a pre-sleep ritual or routine.

It could be anything from taking a warm bath to reading a book, as long as it helps you relax.

Your body and mind need 30 to 60 minutes of pre-sleep time. During that time, you should avoid doing anything stimulating, such as working or browsing the internet.

Do you turn off the lights and electronics?

This seems obvious, but many people still go to sleep with the lights, TV, computer, or phone on.

Your body’s clock responds to light. This is why you’re most alert when the sun is shining and most tired when it’s dark outside.

Artificial light, whether from indoor lights or from the phone, confuses your body and makes it difficult for it to determine whether it’s day or night.

If you go to bed expecting to wake up feeling rested and energized but wake up feeling groggy, you may need to reset your body clock. Start by analyzing your pre-sleep and sleep habits using the above pointers, and then make any necessary changes.

The post Is your Body Clock Out of Whack? appeared first on Lifestyle.

On the flip side, some experts believe that late night snacking increases your metabolism and helps burn calories. To them, a calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat it. So, who’s right?

Bad News for Late Night Snackers

Multiple nutrition studies have proven that eating at night causes weight gain as well as negative hormonal and metabolic changes. This applies for healthy eaters as well.

Your body has an internal clock, which typically wants you to be awake during the day and asleep at night. For this reason, the food that you eat during “normal waking hours” is metabolized much faster than food eaten at 3:00 am when your body clock is in sleep mode. Your liver also absorbs fats much faster during the day, so when you eat at night most of that fat gets stored causing weight gain.

What Time Of The Night Should You Stop Eating?

Consider having your main meal before 3:00 pm; so go ahead and have a hearty lunch. After 3:00 pm, most of the hormones that follow your natural circadian rhythm, your body clock, begin decreasing as your body prepares for the end of the day. Additionally, most experts do not recommend eating after 7:00 pm because most late-night munching has more to do with cravings than hunger. This doesn’t mean you should starve yourself if you’re legitimately hungry and didn’t have a chance to eat before 7:00 pm.

But, If You Do Have a Late Night Snack . . .

Obviously, all late night snacks are not created equal. If you can’t fall asleep because you’re hungry and have a bad case of the munchies, eat something that isn’t too sweet, salty or rich and has fewere than 150 calories. Have a piece of fruit, a glass of low fat milk or low fat yogurt (make sure it isn’t loaded with sugar), one or two squares of dark chocolate or a high fiber snack bar (again, check its sugar content).

Late night snacks to avoid include cereal, ice cream, fries, burgers, soda – basically anything that is high in sugar and fat. And stick to foods that don’t trigger overeating, like chips and cookies – anything you know you can’t stop eating once you’ve opened the floodgates! Even better, don’t keep junk food in the house to avoid late night temptations altogether.

If you must eat late at night, have a small, healthy snack. You’ll sleep better and your body (especially your waistline) will thank you for it!

The post Is Late Night Snacking Really That Bad For You? appeared first on Lifestyle.

Psychologists and health researchers have linked too much time indoors to increased risk of depression, obesity, diabetes and other health problems.

They have found that staying inside most of the day messes with our internal clock and sleep patterns, appetite, immunity as well as our bones and muscles. It goes without saying that we need to unplug and go outside! Thankfully, spending time in nature is a lot of fun and probably the easiest way to improve our health.

Boost Your Energy Levels

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, low on energy and craving another dose of caffeine, take a walk. The natural light that your body will absorb through your retinas will melt away mental fatigue because it restricts the release of stress hormones.  In fact, spending about 20 minutes outside can boost your physical or mental energy by 40%, the equivalent of one cup of coffee. Add that to the mind-clearing effects of fresh air and you’ll be feeling lighter and more energetic within no time.

Improve Your Eyesight

People who spend more time outdoors are less likely to develop nearsightedness. This is because natural light is essential to normal eye development, especially in kids.

This is not to say that you should expose your eyes to the sun’s UV rays. Remember to wear your UV-blocking sunglasses and hats and to enjoy better eyesight.

Boost Your Immunity

Breathing in the airborne chemicals that plants produce is good for your immune system. It triggers an increase in white blood cells which are essential to fighting off diseases and infections.

Going outdoors also helps to reduce inflammation which is associated with inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disorders. There’s evidence that patients who spend more time outdoors experience less pain.

Get Your Daily Dose of Vitamin D

There’s no better way to get your daily dose of Vitamin D than going outside. This is because Vitamin D-rich foods do not contain enough of this vitamin to meet your body’s requirements.

Vitamin D is essential for your health because it helps your body absorb calcium, thus preventing osteoporosis and reducing inflammation. It’s also an immune booster.

Spending time outdoors is so much fun and very good for your body and mind. And remember this encouraging information if you happen to live an urban area, green spaces such as parks are just as beneficial as forests in many ways. So get outside and start living life more fully today!

The post Spending Enough Time Outdoors? appeared first on Lifestyle.

It goes without saying that your morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. The more productive your morning, the likelier you will have a more productive rest of the day.

Studies by the American Psychological Association show that morning people are healthier, happier and often more successful than night owls! Remember the saying, “early to bed, early to rise . . .”, well, it’s actually true.

Additionally, it seems that morning people are more likable too! They score higher on agreeableness, cooperativeness and conscientiousness, and they procrastinate a lot less.

It’s Biology!

Let’s clear up some misconceptions first. Evening people are not lazy. Like everyone else, they are at the mercy of their internal body clocks / circadian rhythms. This rhythm is actually ingrained into the cells while still in the mother’s womb.

Although we might feel powerless against our respective biological clock, both larks and owls are capable of being creative and productive in their “off hours”.

Your circadian rhythm also changes as you get older. Most children are larks, most young people in their 20s are owls and most people above 50 are larks.

In addition, only about 25% of people are morning people. About 50% are somewhere in the middle, and the other 25% are evening people. So, you’re not alone in your struggle to not hit the snooze button.

Override Your Biology!

Hitting the snooze button multiple times is a sign of sleep deprivation and has little to do with your body clock. So create a consistent sleep schedule that involves going to bed early and waking up early.

If you decide to go to bed earlier in the evening, start by adjusting your bedtime by 15 minutes at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be going to bed earlier than you ever thought possible. Remember to adjust your sleep pattern in small increments because your body clock will fight any drastic changes.

Light shifts your circadian rhythm, so put away your electronics at least an hour before bed. This gives your body enough time to wind down making it easier to fall asleep when you finally do go to bed. If you need a little more help falling asleep, take melatonin 30 minutes before bed.

Exposing yourself to super bright light in the morning (about 2000 lux) lets your body know that it’s time to get going. The light calibrates your body clock, boosts your energy and makes it a lot easier for you to fall asleep in the evening. The light can be natural or artificial so long as it’s really bright.

Just because you were born an evening person doesn’t mean that you have to endure it for the rest of your life. With a few well-timed changes, you can train your internal clock into making you a morning person!

The post Anyone can be a Morning Person appeared first on Lifestyle.