Got SAD??

Got SAD? It is called Seasonal Affect Disorder, but I think it should be renamed as Sunlight Absence Disorder! I know I have this and when I first learned about it in my 20’s, I was happy to know I was not the only one!

Every year, as the days get shorter, I feel the symptoms sooner and sooner.  I now feel it by the end of September, and for sure in the middle of October!  I sometimes just don’t even want to get out of bed!

I tried all sorts of remedies over the years and this year am adding the Happy Light to see if that helps. Symptoms are usually depression, feeling unmotivated, need to sleep longer, feeling in a funk, craving sugar and carb-rich comfort foods. You want to hibernate like a bear.

Last year I did an interview on Huffington Post on Winter Blues.
Exercise helps, especially outside. Fresh air – ahhh.  You get the endorphin high and fresh air!  Do it with friends, and you get to laugh too as how crazy you are to be outside riding while others are riding inside.  But any form of exercise, even indoors will help!  Trust me!

Vitamin D3 helps, but you need to take the right kind and the right amount or it won’t work well enough.

I do NRT (Nutrition Response Testing) which helps to identify which form and what dosage I need. Here it is the last day of September, and I am already taking 4,000 IU per day even with all my outdoor training.

Better nutrition helps!  I want to eat more comfort foods (cookies, candy, chocolate like it is going out of style, starchy foods, etc).  These comfort foods help maybe temporarily, but then when I gain weight from eating those nutrient void comfort foods, then I am more depressed! Then I don’t want to go out sporting a few extra pounds, I don’t want to be social, and then the depression starts to spiral out of control.

And that spiraling depression can be avoided by adding more leafy greens, juicing daily with greens and limiting the grains to just one serving per day after my workouts or just switching to potatoes instead of grains. Limiting sugary treats keeps my SAD at bay.  Well, more controlled.

The detox plan helps me every year, and I modify it for my exercise level, or use the Detox Plan For Athletes version.  If I can do it, anyone can do it. It might be a good jump start into healthier but it is a great option to help minimize the depression, fatigue and blah feeling from the low sun days. What do you have to lose trying it?

SAD is a real phenomenon. Winter Blues can happen long before winter! And for me, it seems to get worse as days get shorter, and subsides shortly after December 23 when the days start to get longer. You don’t know what works best until you start trying different options.

You don’t need to hibernate this winter, because you got SAD. Try a change in your nutrition, less grains/more greens, a detox plan, Vit D3 supplementation, and/or a HappyLight Compact Energy Lamp.  And lastly or on top of those others, try Elevation essential oil by doterra.  I also love Citrus Bliss with Cheer – like sunshine in a bottle.
Last year I created a Winter Mojo blend which included some of those and Melissa Oil (the Oil of Light) – it was amazing. It is totally uplifting on any cloudy day, and one of the quickest ways to lift a downer mood  especially in the shorter day of fall and winter 🙂