…It’s All Good!
Do you ever wake up in the morning and feel the dread of the day? With Fall coming just around the corner and summer ending very soon – we all have our days of the oncoming seasonal dread! The days are shorter, the darkness is coming, and we just don’t want the summer to end yet!
The Good News! – It is all temporary!
Being outside and soaking up that warm sun and brightness makes us all feel so good! Even though “FALL” is my favorite time of the year, I still dread the shorter days of sunlight and the thought of the winter season following. ☹
Like the change of seasons, our mood changes right along with them! Seasonal Depression begins to affect millions of people. It’s a fact that we can all become crankier, more depressed, more stressed out with the change of seasons!
The Good News! – It is all temporary! As the Fall and Winter seasons come upon us, so does our “temporary moods” – it won’t last, but it can sure put a damper on our health happiness journey’s! Progress and change we may have made during the Spring and Summer months may disappear for a while. Holidays are coming, and the feasts will begin again. Looking forward to the holidays is always welcomed, but the dark and cold days along with the never-ending abundance of holiday foods are not!
The Good News! – It is all temporary! If we look towards the positive side of the changing seasons and what the holidays really mean to us – it will bring us all out of our seasonal depression.
Just what is “seasonal depression” you ask? Let me break it down for you ---
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer.
Don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.
Fall and winter SAD
Symptoms specific to winter-onset SAD, sometimes called winter depression, may include:
Oversleeping
Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
Weight gain
Tiredness or low energy
It's normal to have some days when you feel down. But if you feel down for days at a time and you can't get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy, see your doctor. This is especially important if your sleep patterns and appetite have changed, you turn to alcohol for comfort or relaxation, or you feel hopeless or think about suicide.
Causes:
The specific cause of seasonal affective disorder remains unknown. Some factors that may come into play include:
Your biological clock (circadian rhythm). The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD. This decrease in sunlight may disrupt your body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression.
Serotonin levels. A drop-in serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that affects mood, might play a role in SAD. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop-in serotonin that may trigger depression.
Melatonin levels. The change in season can disrupt the balance of the body's level of melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.
The Good News! – It can all be temporary! If it’s just the change of seasons for your dreads – It’s all good – spring is just around the corner! We can still stay on our health happiness journeys through it all! Just Remember…
The Sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun! Just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs, and the sorrow, ‘til there's none! When I'm stuck in a day that's gray, and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin, and say, Oh the sun will come out tomorrow, so ya gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya tomorrow! You're always a day away.
Just remind yourself every day that you wake up in the morning, the sun is still there, my body is still changing for the better, I am still on my health happiness journey! I can do this – It’s all still GOOD!
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