Natural Solutions For Winter Blues (Winter Blues Series Part 3)

Surviving Winter, Beating The Winter Blues Naturally | https://www.hannahhepworth.com

Supplementing To Help With The Winter Blues (Don’t  forget to check out part 1 and part 2 of this series!)

One of the MOST important things you can do is to keep your Vitamin D levels up. This is really hard when we don’t spend much time in the sun in the winter but you can supplement with Vitamin D3 from September to about May to keep your levels up. I take 5000 IU daily but you can talk to your doctor or someone at your local natural health food store about specific recommendations for you.

Another important nutrient is Omega 3 Fatty Acids. They are helpful for absorbing Vitamin D. You can get Omega 3’s from foods such as flax & chia seeds and walnuts as well as Fermented Cod Liver Oil. In addition, getting healthy fats like organic butter and coconut oil also help you absorb critical vitamins and nutrients from your food.

A low fat diet, is not a healthy diet. Make sure you get some healthy fats in your diet every day.

A combination of a few of these natural treatments is what will really do the trick. A study at the University of British Columbia showed that supplementing with tryptophan (5-HTP) and D3 with morning light therapy yielded a 64% improvement of symptoms.

Taking a B-Vitamin Complex could also be helpful as it is calming to your nerves and B12 helps produce serotonin, which is so important for a positive mood.

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland. It is important for helping regulate normal sleep patterns. It’s best to get melatonin from natural sources, which are nutritional yeast, ricotta cheese, kefir and dark cherries. Since sleep is so important to our hormones and our moods make sure that your melatonin is balanced.

St. John’s Wort is an herb and has been used to help with depression. You can learn more about St. John’s Wort here, and make sure to talk to your doctor because it can interfere with other medications.

Essential Oils To Help Support A Healthy Mood

There are a number of essential oils that you can use to help support a healthy mood and energy levels. These oils include peppermint (great for energy) lemon, jasmine, orange, balsam fir, grapefruit, lavender and bergamot are all wonderful.

You can either diffuse these oils by adding a few drops to some water in a diffuser and it creates a wonderful uplifting aroma throughout your home or office. You can also add 10-15 drops to glass spray bottle (found at your natural health food store) and fill with water, shake and spray in the room or on your clothes, or in your car!

Homeopathy For Winter Blues

I recently came across this article by Joette Calabrese who is a certified homeopathist. She recommends the homeopathic remedy Ignatia for winter blues. Learn more about homeopathy and winter blues by going to her website at http://joettecalabrese.com/blog/winter-blues/

Discover New Hobbies

It is so hard to get outside in cold weather but this could be the best opportunity for you to pick up a new hobby. Keeping busy and keeping your mind occupied will do so much to help you get through the winter and keep you actively engaged in good things and also make the time pass faster.

You can embark on any number of indoor activities like taking a class about something you’d like to learn about, many community colleges offer evening classes on a myriad of topics. You could pick up painting, drawing, knitting, crocheting, sewing, experiment in the kitchen, start making some homemade products for your home, read, journal, organize or anything else.

For outside activities, you could take up snowshoeing. Check out a second hand store, or craigslist or another site like that to see if you can pick up some gear second hand for cheap.

Try out cross country skiing, down hill skiing, sledding, walking, or get a puppy like we did last winter. Nothing gets you outside regularly like house training a puppy!

You can also get a membership at your local gym for a few months. It’s not an outside activity but it does get you out of your house and get your heart pumping and gets your body producing serotonin, which makes you feel good, and burns off stress.

Get Social, Stick To A Routine & Set Goals!

Although you may feel like hunkering down and staying in your home all winter, don’t! That will just make you feel worse. Make an effort to get out, hang out with friends and family. Continue to be social.

Also maintaining a daily routine will really help you stay focused and productive. Wake up and go to sleep at the same time each day. This will help establish healthy sleep rhythms and regulate your hormones.

Try to keep some sort of schedule. Get dressed in the morning, do your hair and makeup if you’re into that. Keep up on housework and other responsibilities.

Make a to do list each day and work to accomplish those tasks. At the end of the day you will feel a sense of accomplishment.

Set goals, what would you like to accomplish this winter? Read 1 book a month, 1 book a week? Learn a new skill? Organize your closet? Think about what you could accomplish this winter while you are inside and then you won’t have to worry about getting that done once the warm weather hits and you just want to play outside!

Good Luck!

I don’t want anyone to have to struggle through the winter like I have, year after year. It’s no fun. I can relate. Please pass this article on.

Do you have any other suggestions on how you beat the winter blues? Come over to my facebook page and share!

Have a wonderful, healthy day,

~Hannah

P.S. Don’t forget to check out part 1 and part 2!