|
It’s that time of year again—a time of cool breezes, colored leaves and holiday preparation. Fall and winter are exciting times… Unless you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). If you struggle with winter depression, this time of year is not filled with joy and anticipation. Instead, you probably feel like hiding under the covers until spring arrives in several months…
**What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?** Everyone has the blues now and then. But SAD is a depressive state that occurs seasonally, year after year, usually in the fall and winter. If you suffer from SAD, you may feel perfectly normal during the spring and summer months, but starting around October or November, symptoms begin showing up. Because this type of depression come and goes with the seasons, you may wonder if it is all in your head. It isn’t. This is a real condition and can have a devastating impact on your life. Researchers still don’t know the exact cause of SAD, but there are some factors that seem to be involved, and they involve the decreased amount of sunlight that fall and winter bring. • Melatonin: Melatonin is a hormone that impacts mood and sleep. As the seasons change, your melatonin levels can fluctuate and may cause feelings of depressions. • Serotonin: When the amount of sunlight drops, so can your serotonin levels. Since this chemical helps you have feelings of well-being and happiness, not having enough of it can cause your mood to drop. • Internal clock: Some scientists think that decreased sunlight disrupts your normal rhythms of wakefulness and sleepiness. The result is sad and depressed feelings. What are the Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? SAD will often manifest itself as feelings of sadness or depression. You may feel as though you cannot get enough sleep—struggling to get out of the bed in the morning, feeling drowsy during the day and going to bed earlier than you usually do. Your energy and concentration may also run low, and this can affect your productivity at work and at home. Of course, not having the energy to ‘get things done,’ only leads to frustration and more feelings of depression. You may also notice weight gain. Typically, SAD sufferers will crave foods high in carbohydrates and can gain between 9 and 30 pounds each year. Finally, your social life may suffer. If you are depressed, you just won’t enjoy being around others as much as you used to. This can turn into social withdrawal which makes your feelings of depression and sadness even worse. Now for the Good News – Ways to Combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) If you think that you may be one of the millions of people who are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder, you will be happy to know that you have many treatment options available. Try experimenting with different treatments until you find one or a combination that works for you: 1. Light therapy: Up to 85% of winter depression sufferers are helped by simply sitting under a therapy light. The bright light stabilizes the out-of-balance chemicals in your body, helping you to feel less depressed and more like yourself. The best lights are those between 2,500 and 10,000 lux. 2. Vitamin D3: Vitamin D is frequently referred to as “The Sunshine Vitamin” because your body produces it when exposed to sunlight. In fact, just 20-30 minutes of sunlight will produce 10,000 – 50,000 IUs of Vitamin D. Why is this important? Vitamin D is actually a hormone that has important roles in supporting a healthy heart, cellular replication, immune system, mood & mental health, muscles, blood sugar levels, and more! 3. Exercise: Exercise is a powerful player in the fight against SAD. When you exercise, your body releases “feel good” chemicals called endorphins. These chemicals cause you to feel happy, confident and bring about a feeling of well-being. The elated feelings that endorphins bring are comparable to the feelings that morphine and heroin create. To release endorphins, you will need to sustain your workout for about 30 minutes. 4. Dawn Simulators: Unlike the spring months, in which the light of dawn and dusk changes gradually, the winter months bring a much more abrupt change of light. This may be one of the aggravators of SAD. Try a dawn simulator. These appliances can be programmed, much like an alarm clock, to gradually brighten your room each morning before you wake up. Some SAD sufferers have had great success with dawn simulators. You are not alone if you are beginning to feel depressed with the shortened days that we are experiencing. Experiment with some of the treatment options and especially start exercising. Before you know it, the days will begin lengthening out again!
0 Comments
With busy schedules, meetings, work, home life, family and obligations, you may want to spend more of your free time doing the things you love...
Which means you may not always get your workouts in. Today, you’re going to learn the best way to train your legs—with no equipment needed. This at-home workout will give you everything you need to train the biggest muscle groups in your body. Strong, well-defined legs show you’re serious about your training—and you care about your results. They protect your knees and back and are part of well-rounded body strength. [Also: Your legs use the most nutrients—and when developed the right way, training your legs may spike your metabolism, and help you burn off unwanted pounds.] But getting a good leg work out at home may seem more challenging. So…no more excuses for why you can’t train legs… These exercises are sure to give your glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips, and all your stabilizing muscles a good workout. 1. Squats Arguably the best exercise for developing the legs and glutes (your behind), the squat should be a staple in any leg workout you do. Not only does it target the muscles in your legs, when done correctly (with good form), the squat targets your core as well. 2. Lunges The lunge is a great exercise for developing the quads, hamstrings, and glutes…it also adds stress to your hips, which helps strengthen your stabilizing muscle groups. Not only is this exercise great for developing all the muscles in your legs, you might develop better stability and balance. Be careful of knees and of form. 3. Side Lunges Similar to the lunge, this exercise targets many different muscles in your legs—although you’re working in a different plane of motion. Most of the work in this exercise comes from the glutes and the hips, which is ideal for developing strength in all the muscle groups in your legs. This exercise is also important because your body moves in all planes of motion—so working your muscles in the same way your body moves is especially important for injury prevention and strength. Be mindful of knee position in this exercise. 4. Glute Bridge This exercise, also called bridging or hip raises, is a perfect exercise for those with injuries or limitations in your knees, hips, or ankles. This exercise, which targets the glutes, hamstrings, hips, and lower back is ideal for those who want to work their legs, but aren’t quite strong enough, or recovering from an injury, for a full range squat. It is also good, in addition to a squat. Use your core and go slowly when doing this exercise. 5. Supine Stability Ball Leg Curl This exercise is ideal for building strength in your leg muscles, while also building core strength. Although this exercise targets the major muscle in the legs, the attention is focused on the hamstrings, due to the flexion and extension of the knee. If you want to transform your metabolism, and develop massive strength in your legs, you don’t need a gym to do it. You can get the same fat-blasting results in the comfort of your own home—by doing these 5 bodyweight exercises. These exercises will help you burn fat and build strong, sleek muscles. If you’re unsure how to perform these exercises, or you would like help developing your own leg routine you can do at home—or in a gym--CONTACT ME to set up a time to discuss your program needs. |
Amy Morton. Archives
November 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed
Website by armdgraphics.com