If you live in a cold weather climate like ours, you may experience a slump in the winter during these cold-short days of the year. You are not alone. Your body is not immune to its environment. Many people believe there is a causal link between less daylight and the decrease in levels of serotonin (thought to help regulate your mood) your body produces throughout the changing cycles of the year. Our bodies are receptors of physical, relational, and spiritual information in the world. Not only are they receiving input, but they are also like a reservoir, the source we draw from to live in the world.

Your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are all interlocking and directly impact everything you do. You may be surprised that your pastor is writing an article that talks mostly about physical and emotional health. I’m surprised how many people don’t realize their physical and mental well-being affects their relationships with God and people. You can do a few things to take care of yourself in the “bleak mid-winter.” So consider this some wholistic advice for addressing wholistic health.

PHYSICAL & BIOLOGICAL

There seem to be basic healthcare habits in life that regulate healthy levels of dopamine and serotonin in our bodies. Serotonin is thought to stabilize mood and anxiety, while dopamine affects motivation and pleasure. You need both of these for sustained liveliness.

• Sleep: Sufficient quality sleep each night (eight hours seems to be the magic number) restores your dopamine reserves.
  
  
• Exposure to Bright Light: Exposure to sunlight as early in the day as possible jump-starts your circadian rhythm, triggers cortisol early in the day so that it tapers later, and increases your serotonin levels. Light therapy is widely recommended as a natural treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). To get specific, some specialists recommend 5-10 minutes of daily direct sunlight or 10-20 minutes on a cloudy day.
  
  
• Nutrition: As you would expect, the digestion of multiple food groups provides a variety of benefits that give your body the chemistry to resupply itself with the building blocks of life.

Specifically, foods that enable your body to build a useful amino acid called tyrosine improve the brain’s mood, cognition, and concentration. Soy products, eggs, meats, cheeses, dairy, seeds, and beans all facilitate this.

Studies also indicate that foods like fish and seafood, some vegetable oils, nuts (especially walnuts), flax seeds, and leafy vegetables provide Omega-3 fatty acids, which also contain a host of benefits, including depression retardance.

• Deep Breathing: This can be purely biological and does not need to be tied to spiritual meditation like yoga, etc. Deep breathing (from your diaphragm, and there are multiple techniques) oxygenates the part of your brain that allows you to make rational and compassionate decisions. It also can help de-escalate the part of your nervous system that operates “fight-or-flight,” ultimately reducing feelings of stress and anxiety.

Personally practicing this technique has enabled me to downshift more intentionally after periods of stress and engage in a more reflective state for focused prayer and meditation.  

• Exercise and Movement: Among the host of other bodily benefits, working out releases more tryptophan, the amino acid your brain uses to make serotonin, which provides mood-boosting effects.

SOCIAL & RELATIONAL:

• Friends and Family. Planning a few extra dates, game nights, something special with your girlfriends, or going to a movie with a buddy gives you something to look forward to in the boredom of winter. Two weeks ago, my wife and I braved the snow to watch a comedy show at The Santander Arena in Reading, PA. Neither of us felt motivated to leave the house, and it was hard getting there, but traveling with friends and making memories together gave us the motivation, and it turned out to be thoroughly worth it.
  
  
• Check-ins. Symptoms of SAD can be fatigue or social withdrawal. Invite others to check in on you or to just “show up.” Give others a heads-up that you need their check-ins to stay mentally healthy.
  
  
• All the Little Things. Drinking a specialty drink, wearing your favorite shirt, taking a walk at noon, or creating extra space to journal may give you the little rewards you need to keep pushing toward a goal.

SPIRITUAL & MENTAL:

• Slow Down: Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the non-growing season of winter was traditionally a season of rest. If your job allows it, or your family calendar, it is appropriate to slow down during certain seasons and not constantly be moving at warp speed. We need cycles of resting to recover from our seasons of surging. Learn to just say ‘no.’
  
  
• Prayerfulness and Meditation: Learning how to push pause on our weekly and daily demands is essential to being masters and not being mastered. It's in the slowing down that we learn to pray to God and actually enjoy life, not just get through it. Turn off the noise or the TV. Reacclimate to silence.
  
  
• Altruistic Acts: Doing something nice for someone else can have positive emotional health benefits. Hold a door. Give someone a specific encouragement. Donate to your charity. Praise someone behind their back. These small activities keep us moving out of our private psychology of struggle and help us engage in the world.

Final Thoughts

Taking care of yourself is important. If you annually experience symptoms of depression strongly enough that you can’t get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy or to show up at work on time, don’t be embarrassed to seek the help of a professional counselor or therapist. “Seasonal Affective Disorder” is a real form of depression. The Mayo Clinic says there is “no known way to prevent the development of seasonal affective disorder.”[1] But if you take appropriate steps, you can mitigate symptoms and prevent them from getting worse over time.

Nobody wins when you’re living just to get by. People rarely "snap out of" a depression, but perhaps with some self-care, you can feel a little better day by day. It's important to listen to your body, know your needs, regulate your emotions, and take care of yourself during the bleak mid-winter.

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651

Tags: prayer, depression, health, light, dark, fun, exercise, friendships, winter, breathing, emotional, cold, meditation, nutrition, slump, self-care