Brighten Up Your Gloomy Winter Mood
After the holidays, winter weather just seems gloomy. It’s too cold to do anything outdoors and depending on where you live, you might also be exposed to disruptive weather. To boost your mood during the rest of winter, try the following tips:
TAKE VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS
Since it’s cloudy or rainy for most of winter, some people can start to experience Vitamin D deficiency. Lack of Vitamin D can lead to a number of health problems including depression, fatigue, and low immunity. The recommended daily amount of Vitamin D is 400-800 IU, which can easily be reached by taking supplements. Vitamin D supplements are usually inexpensive and can be found at most drugstores or on Amazon.
MAINTAIN A HEALTHIER DIET
It’s easy to stay in the habit of eating dense foods, especially with all of the holiday leftovers. However, continuing to consume unhealthy foods can lead to fatigue among other health problems. If you don't like grocery shopping, a subscription service like Hello Fresh could be a great alternative for you. Hello Fresh has weekly dining plans for two or four people complete with farm fresh ingredients. This service eliminates the inconvenience of going to the grocery store along with limiting waste from both excessive packaging and unused products.
WORKING OUT
Because whose New Year’s Resolution isn’t to get in to shape?! In addition to the many physical benefits of working out, exercise has also been shown to decrease pain perception and stress. Gyms like Planet Fitness and Crunch offer memberships as low as $10 per month, but there are also numerous workout videos on YouTube. Cassey Ho is a fitness trainer who offers workouts anywhere from 3-30 minutes long on her YouTube channel. For individuals with limited mobility, practicing yoga could be a wonderful alternative. Adriene Mishler offers a wide variety of yoga classes on her YouTube channel, perfect for beginners or seasoned yogis.
VOLUNTEERING
Giving back to those in need is a two way street. Volunteers experience increased levels of happiness and decreases feelings of depression and sadness. If you're unable to own a pet, devoting some of your time to caring for shelter animals can provide you with a pet ‘fix’. If you live in a city, there are most likely homeless shelters that could benefit from your time.Volunteer Match allows users to search for volunteer work in their communities and find work that they would enjoy doing.
