Darkness Defences
It doesn’t take long for the excitement of the fresh start of the new year to fade away into the seemingly endless dark and cold that January brings. It can be a difficult month for a lot of people. The longer days are still many months off, it’s one of the coldest months of the year, and there is often less opportunity to catch a few rays of sunshine. If you have the means and the time, perhaps January is a good month to fly south for a bit of beach time - but most of us can’t escape winter indefinitely. Combating this dark cold month requires a bit of creativity on your part to keep you engaged and fend off the post-holiday winter blues. Here’s a few tips to shine some light on the subject.
Happy lights: These little gadgets have grown in popularity over the past few years and can be a game changer for some people. They are often the size of a tablet with a screen that glows bright white “daylight” on you. Set up beside you, switching this little gadget on for a few minutes in the morning can help trigger the brain to release the hormones that tell the rest of our body that day time is here! With the longer nights and darker mornings, it can be hard to get this mojo going yourself. So while this might not be exactly the same as the sunshine streaming through your blinds in the summer, it’s not a bad fill-in for these darker months.
Head lamps: It can be easy to use the darkness as an excuse to not get outside in the fresh air and exercise. The shorter days leave very little pre and post workday time with enough light to participate in outdoor activities. Don’t let this deter you though. Take a tip from those in the north, where the sun just barely makes it over the horizon in the winter, and get out there anyways! You don’t want to be fumbling around in the dark though, so i’d suggest investing in a good headlamp. A good one will illuminate a lot more than just a few feet in front of you and won’t leave you “guessing” what’s out there. While it might not be advisable to venture deep into the wildness at night in the cold, getting out for a walk or a snowshoe - even better if you drag friends with you, will help keep you active and feeling refreshed. Wearing a headlamp leaves your hands free for walking poles, which can help on slippery surfaces or if you are snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. If you live somewhat close to a ski hill, it may also have lit trails for you to walk on and they don’t always require a pass to access.
Vitamin D: Remember to get a few drops of sunshine every day! Vitamin D supplementation is especially important in the winter if you live in Canada or other northern countries. We just don’t get a strong enough dose from the sun up here at this time of year. A few drops a day can really help supply your body with this important vitamin. Apart from helping maintain bone health, some people find their mood and energy levels suffer a bit when their levels drop. Others experience symptoms very similar to auto-immune or neurological diseases if they have low levels of vitamin D. In fact, some who actually do have these medical conditions experience vast improvements in their symptoms when supplementing vitamin D in high doses (just be sure to speak to your physician or naturopath before attempting these higher doses so that they can ensure you take the correct amount for the correct length of time). If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, your demands for Vitamin D are also higher. While it is difficult to “overdose” on Vitamin D, because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, we don’t just clear out the excess via our urine like we do in the case of water-soluble vitamins. That means it is possible to get too much, so always double check with someone who is knowledgable about your specific situation.
Drive up the hill: If you live in a valley, it can seem like the cloud lingers on and on, day after day but sometimes that cloud is only settled in the valley bottoms. Just a short drive uphill can often get you above those low lying clouds and allow you to enjoy some sunshine and blue sky. It doesn’t matter if you are a skier or not, keep an eye on the webcams from nearby ski hills or higher elevation areas like highway cams. If you see it’s sunny up there, try to carve out a bit of time and muster up the effort to head up there. Even doing a short walk or just sitting in a snow bank in the sun can offer that much needed break from the dark dull cloudy days and recharge your patience for winter.
Reorganize your day: See if you are able to reorganize your work day when possible to get outside for a little bit in the middle of the day - when there’s actually some daylight. Maybe some of the errands you usually do at lunch can be done after work in the dark instead or perhaps you can start a bit earlier or end a bit later and have a mid-day intermission.
Remember what lights you up: Whatever it is that makes you tick, do more of it. Making a conscious effort to do the things you enjoy or spend time with the people you love, can be another way to get those “feel good” hormone juices flowing in your body. It might feel as though it takes more of an effort at this time of year compared to the summer, but it will be worth it. You may also want to try out some new winter activities. Learning something new or doing an activity you haven’t done much of since childhood is also helpful to pull the brain out of doom and gloom. Stimulating the different areas of the brain involved in learning is a good use of its energy - and might just even make you feel like a kid again.
So while it’s dark and cold outside, remember your life doesn’t have to be put on pause. Find ways to light up your day during these dark weeks of January - you might find that you kinda like winter after all (don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone).