Winter Depression

Seasonal winter depression...

January 7, 2002
By Lay Nonprofessional Staff

Many people gain weight in the winter, often writing it off to the colder climate and perceived need for more "fat" to stay warm, or the excess temptation of holiday celebrations. There is often more to the picture than that, more than a few people even spell stressed backwards (d-e-s-s-e-r-t-s) to help.

Some experts estimate more that more than 25 million in the US alone experience winter depression, also known as the blues, blahs, doldrums, et al, a form of depression that makes you feel irritable and wanting to eat more. There are many reasons why your mood can vary; perhaps you're feeling cooped up, bored or restless. Or perhaps a drop in serotonin, a brain chemical that helps regulate mood and hunger. When serotonin levels are low, your body craves sweets thus raising serotonin levels and making you temporarily feel better. The serotonin high is usually followed by a serotonin low setting up a hunger-mood roller coaster that can often lead to overeating and weight gain.

Here are some simple ideas to help fight the winter blues munchies:

Increase your protein intake, beginning in the morning. Protein takes longer to digest and convert into sugars. In other words, it has a satisfying effect that keeps you feeling full longer. The prolonged period needed to digest protein from each meal helps level out serotonin high-low cycles.
Get extra exposure to sunlight or bright full-spectrum artificial lighting to alleviate feelings of the “winter blues.”
Eat some honey before bed, which can also improve sleep and boost your mood.
Cut back on your intake of caffeine or eliminate it altogether. Caffeine only aggravates the blues by stressing the chemical and neural relationships and increasing the “out of balance” situation. Beware, however, if you have become “addicted” to caffeine you will have to cope with cravings and headaches for a few days until your body is freed from the physical needs of the addiction.
Get some exercise, it benefits both your physical and mental health.
Drink lots and lots and lots of clean, filtered water - not cholrinated water, not juice and not tea. Water is the basic fuel of the body. One of the first noticed but least recognized symptoms of dehydration is not thirst, but a sensation almost always incorrectly identified as hunger.