As winter approaches, you may be anticipating your annual mood fluctuations. It turns out, those down days can be more than just an inconvenience. In seasonal affective disorder, depression is more chronic with the seasons. As well, your depressed feelings may actually be a form of seasonal affective disorder, also known as S.A.D. Thankfully, there are simple ways you can combat these feelings and improve your mood. Wisdom Within Counseling provides a few below. Try holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling for healthy coping tools.
To begin, click the button below for creative, holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut.
Are you or a family member suffering from seasonal affective disorder? You may experience the following symptoms.
When you experience seasonal affective disorder, you may be feeling depressed most of the day, and down in your mood nearly every day. Likewise, losing interest in activities you once found fun or brought you joy is common in seasonal affective disorder. Struggling with S.A.D. gets worse when you sleep too much. When you stay indoors in the winter, you may have worse symptoms of S.A.D. Working in holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy can help you boost your mood when it is winter.
Overall, you can be your most amazing self and blast through the blues through self-care skills in counseling.
Having low energy, feeling tired, and having problems with sleeping are signs of seasonal affective disorder.
As well, some people with seasonal affective disorder experience changes in appetite or weight. Some people find themselves irritated, frustrated, or easily agitated. If you are feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty due to the weather, you are not alone. At Wisdom Within Counseling, in Southeastern Connecticut, the team of therapists support seasonal affective disorder through holistic counseling. You can learn ways to improve your mood and feel confident to overcome seasonal affective disorder.
Don’t Let Winter Drain Your Energy
When you suffer from S.A.D., the winter months can be a drag on your vitality. And, less light can lead to sluggishness. Shorter hours of daylight result in your body having a difficult time producing the energy you need. So, how can you combat this effect of winter season? You may need to find ways to boost your energy, even when it’s hard to get some sunlight. Spending time outside, exercising, sharing time with friends. For instance, go to Devil’s Hopyard in East Haddam, Connecticut for a hike. Or, goto Day Pond State Park on a sunny winter day. For an indoor activity, writing in a journal can be a wonderful ways to boost your energy during the winter.
How to Keep S.A.D. from Bringing You Down This Winter?
Another approach to increasing winter zeal is to focus on your gut health.
If the bacteria in your gut is out of balance, Psychiatry Advisor says it could lead to an imbalanced mood. As well, improving your gut and brain connection has a bug impact on your mood. Studies show that food and mood play roles together. Consider supplementing your diet with probiotics to stabilize your gut and mood. Or, have yogurt or kombucha for probiotics. As well, make sure to have real fiber in the form of fruits and veggies. Fiber is a form of pre-biotics. Taking the time to do food prepping can help with seasonal affective disorder symptoms.
Why choose holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut?
At Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut, your therapist can can provide the option of outdoor walking therapies. So, for someone with S.A.D. going outdoors can be a big help. Furthermore, outdoor walking therapies provide an instant lift in spirits. As well, at Wisdom Within Counseling, you can do drama therapy. Even if the sun is not out, drama therapy, acting, expressive arts, and playfulness are parts of counseling. In counseling, you can also be creative and release depression in positive ways. As well, in holistic counseling, you can gain passion for life. From holistic counseling, you get connected to your mind, body, and spirit over dreary winter months.
To begin, click the button below for creative, holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut.
For an additional boost, especially for those weeks when overcast skies never seem to end, consider investing in a light therapy box.
These specialty lamps supply much-needed light therapy that can provide a natural pick-me-up. Of course, if you have trees with overhanging branches that impede natural light from coming in through the windows, trim them. So, try to address the issue by removing the branches or the tree itself. Then, you can get more light into your windows naturally. You don’t have to suffer with seasonal affective disorder alone. At Wisdom Within Counseling, the team of therapists support people with seasonal affective disorder in gaining positive tools.
Take Special Care with How You Eat
S.A.D. can impact much more than just your mood. As your energy levels and spirit begin to dip during the winter months, you may also notice a change in your food cravings. Furthermore, S.A.D. sufferers typically begin to crave comfort foods when they are feeling low. As well, too much of a heavy food can lead to depression and tiredness. In addition, comforting, soothing foods might be loaded with simple carbohydrates that will make you feel worse. So, go for whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, wheat bulgar, or wheat berries.
Try cauliflower
For those family members with diabetes, extra sugar and refined carbs can be dangerous. Luckily, there are plenty of swaps you can make in order to enjoy all your favorite comfort foods. Making food at a family gathering that is made with cauliflower can be supportive to those with diabetes. More so, having food without added starches and sugars supports family members with diabetes. Cauliflower is a brilliant substitution when you are craving mashed potatoes. As well, you will hardly know the difference once you make the switch. In fact, you can use cauliflower to make healthier pizza and rice which will allow you to support loved ones with diabetes.
Of course, no winter is complete without some holiday sweets.
But, baking up healthier holiday cookies is also a possibility, to keep all that sugar from crashing your mood. Adding flax, chia seeds, carrots, banana, apples, almonds, hemp seeds or even zucchini can boost your goodies. As well, it can make your holiday treats so much better for you. But, real butter, flour, and sugar make a great recipe for cookies too. Enjoy your treats no matter their ingredients.
Don’t Forget to Find Ways to Relieve Stress
Winter can get you feeling down, but the pressures of the holidays can bring additional stress. So, stress relief is a vital pillar in protecting yourself from the effects of S.A.D. To overcome seasonal affective disorder symptoms, establish some healthy practices to keep tension levels down. For instance, doing yoga, listening to music, playing piano, and watching funny movies are great ways to cope.
You may have once been easily able to motivate yourself, but not anymore.
Right now, you feel far from your usual self. But, with seasonal affective disorder, these positive coping skills may seem far from reach. Even hanging out with your best buddy becomes really hard with seasonal affective disorder.
Furthermore, seasonal affective disorder can get worse without a routine of stress relief.
Some times, couples get into more fights and arguments around the holidays. Parents tend to be more tense around big transition times. If you have not tried it already, yoga and meditation can be invaluable tools for stress relief. For your children and for yourself, meditation and yoga can provide playfulness. More so, mindfulness meditation supports life long anxiety coping tools and self-care.
How can starting holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy support meditation and mindfulness tools?
Many times, boys are taught to play sports and be competitive. As well, due to this competitive nature, boys don’t get taught to meditate, be mindful, or do yoga. A lot of times, anger and aggression comes from a lack of coping tools. With seasonal affective disorder, anger, irritation, depression, and tiredness are more common. Meditation is an easy skill you can start doing today. You can meditate before bed or meditate before work in the morning.
As well, meditation and mindfulness skills lower anxiety and improve depression.
Practicing even the most basic meditations can decrease stress and help you manifest a more positive attitude. In counseling, you can also learn to meditate, breathe deeply, and live more connected to your body. As well, if you can’t get up out of bed to goto work, meditation and yoga can be a good way to get moving gently. In holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut, you can gain positive coping tools for depression such as meditation. You can learn to identify depression coming on. Lastly, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness help to reduce tension and arguments couples may experience in the winter due to lack of sunlight.
To begin, click the button below for creative, holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut.
As well, you can combine a self massage like done in Ayurveda for better mood.
Furthermore, touching your body can be a form of self-care and meditation. For instance, taking extra virgin sesame oil can be deeply supportive in the winter months. As well, massaging your toes, heels, and ankles can be a great start. You can do a five minute foot massage for yourself. But, you can also keep going if it feeling really good and nourishing. Self-massage in Ayurveda is about truly caring for yourself, in mind, body, and spirit. Some people like to work the oil all over their whole body in a warm bathroom. Look on Spotify or youtube for guided meditations or yoga nidra for deep sleep.
To promote a regular practice, select a quiet space in your home to adapt into your own meditation area.
Be sure to clear out clutter, grime and anything else that can contribute negative energy. As well, get a meditation book to read for a positive mindset before. Reading a book by Eckart Tolle can be relaxing. Also, we recommend Meditations From The Matt by Rolf Gates for a good meditation book. In addition, Faith Hunter has a podcast and book, which you can pick up here. Remember, reading can be a great coping tools for S.A.D. by itself. So, reading about meditation helps lift mood too. Include a supportive cushion, to encourage better posture and alignment of your body during your meditation sessions.
For that final relaxing touch, The Huffington Post recommends choosing aromatherapy aids that will produce more feelings of calm.
Use lavender essential oil in your sacred space. Jasmine can elevate your mood and peppermint can increase focus. As well, balsam fir essential oil is grounding and calming. So, a combination of the two essential oils can take your meditation practice to the next level. Try out various essential oil scents in your diffuser. However, do not apply the essential oil to your skin. Essential oils must always be diluted in a carrier oil like olive oil or coconut oil.
The doldrums of seasonal affective disorder are very real in the winter, but you can easily take steps to relieve those gloomy feelings.
Be kind to yourself and willing to practice more self-care to reduce the impact S.A.D. has on your life. Each person, from teenagers to adults, experience S.A.D. differently. Furthermore, holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy can teach positive coping outlets. To note, seasonal affective disorder is no joke. It will get much worse without help. Someone who needs holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy may be talking about suicidal thinking. Depression is a severe issue, even if it is only seasonal.
Ayurvedic principles for winter
Southeastern Connecticut doesn’t offer much in terms of holistic, expressive arts. But, at Wisdom Within Counseling, you can learn Ayurvedic principles for healthy living. Also, Ayurveda recommends wear slippers and socks in winter to keep your feet warm. Since it is so cold outside, focus on keeping warm. Likewise, enjoy roasted foods like roasted nuts and veggies. As well, Ayurveda recommends using warming spices and herbs like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, turmeric, nutmeg, and cayenne.
Another tip, put warming spices and herbs in your food, which supports warmth from within yourself.
During the winter season and dark times of the year, you may experience more mood instability. You may feel cold and have more dryness to your skin. To combat low mood and depleted energy levels, focus on truly nourishing foods. For instance, have roasted cashews, roasted almonds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, real grass fed cheese, and whole milk. Wisdom Within Counseling offers a mixture of traditional counseling as well as Ayurvedic principles. You can pick from creative art, mindful yoga, music, drama therapies, Ayurveda and more. So, if you or your loved one has symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, get help sooner than later.
What are symptoms of seasonal affective disorder?
You may feel unlike yourself. As well, the hobbies you once enjoyed seem uninteresting. At Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut, you can have a safe place to explore LGBTQIA+ and queer feelings. Sometimes, depression is a result of being in the closet, and not being able to come out. You can learn to love and accept the feelings at hand. As well, you can identify coping tools in holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy. You may find new activities or hobbies to relieve stress. For some, holistic therapy is about building confidence and anxiety coping tools.
Working with the team of therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, Connecticut promotes coping tools.
For seasonal affective disorder, positive coping tools support outlets for the stress of winter. Often, the lack of sunlight creates low mood, lack of interest in activities, depression, and loss of focus. At Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut, you can receive holistic help for seasonal affective disorder. In counseling, you can go for an outdoor walk and talk therapy session. Or, you can do art, painting, or clay to move energy in expressive therapies. Furthermore, when building your passion for life back up, you can do drama therapies too. In drama therapy, you can build self-confidence.
To begin, click the button below for creative, holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut.
Winter can be a difficult time of year. There is less light and more snow. As well, it can be a time of slowness and heaviness. At Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut, the therapists teach holistic principles for healthy living. So, you can live in tune with your body, mind, and spirit. Furthermore, changes to sleep, exercises, and nutrition can make a big difference.
Working with a holistic counselor at Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut can support positive lifestyle changes.
As holistic counselors, Wisdom Within Counseling empowers you by showing how to grow out of old, negative patterns and attract positive, nurturing connections. You can learn about expressive art, yoga, music, or walking therapies in holistic seasonal affective disorder therapy. Building self-confidence, self-worth, and a passion for life is fun at Wisdom Within Counseling.
