Overcoming the Winter Blues

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The first Sunday of November marks the end of daylight savings time, as well as the beginning of shorter days and colder temperatures.  You notice an increased appetite for sugar and starches, and as you button up your jeans, you find it more difficult to get the job done.  As the alarm goes off, you hit the snooze button a half dozen times, dreading getting out of that warm bed and into the cold.
Once you get to work, you find it difficult to concentrate; you are irritable with your co-workers.  You also are drinking more coffee to overcome you fatigue.  You feel a low grade depression as you look at the weather channel hoping for warmer, brighter days.  The holidays have distracted you from feeling blue, but then disappointment sets in, knowing daylight savings time is months away.
The blues that you experience during this time of year have been given a cool name…Seasonal Affective Disorder.  It is characterized as a low-grade depression. People with SAD may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods. This low-grade depression sets in during the Fall and Winter months and usually clears in the Spring.
The reason behind this “Disorder” is decreased environmental stimulation to the brain.  To keep us upright, the muscles of the spine have to fight gravity thus creating a constant stimulus to the brain maintaining its survival.  Along with gravity; sound, vision, and touch, are all important stimulus to the brain, and oh yeh, let’s not forget light. I’m sure you can relate to waking in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and you do everything possible to keep from turning on the lights knowing that the lights will wake you up.  All forms of light increase the function of the brain.  When the light in the environment diminishes, so does the output of the brain.  So this so called condition is merely momentary decreased brain activity as a consequence of changes in our environment.

How can you stave off the Winter Blues?

Many people dread the winter months knowing that it will bring heavy coats, runny noses, cold car seats and low back pain associated with shoveling snow.  It is also that time of the year when all you feel like doing is settling in while you chow down on your favorite comfort food watching the expansion of your waistline. As the cold and darker months are upon us, why not make an effort to combat the moody blues with some basic remedies.

Exercise

Physical exercise is a sure cure for the winter blues.  Exercising is important for maintaining physical fitness and can contribute positively to maintaining a healthy weight; building and maintaining healthy bone density, muscle strength, and joint mobility; promoting physiological well-being; reducing surgical risks, and strengthening the immune system. Frequent and regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help prevent or treat serious and life-threatening chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, insomnia, and depression.  Physical activity also delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular physical activity strengthens your heart and lungs, and helps the circulation of blood through your blood vessels.  When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you’ll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.  Exercise also stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and less depressed.  So dust off those snow shoes, wax those skis and enjoy the winter landscape.

Nutritional Remedies

Experience the benefits of OPCs or Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins.  OPCs are organic plant compounds found mostly in fruits, vegetables and certain tree barks. They are powerful antioxidants, “free-radical scavengers” and function as helpers to influence the body’s immune response to inflammation, allergy and infection. There are more than 20,000 different types of bioflavanoids, of which OPCs are considered the most potent antioxidants. These OPC’s are derived from one or more of a combination of grape seed extract, red wine extract and/or pine bark extract.  Proanthocyanidins regulate enzymes that help control crucial neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) such as dopamine and norepinephrine.  These chemicals are involved in ‘excitatory’ responses in the brain.  That low grade winter depression may also be caused by low levels of these neurotransmitters.  Fortunately, OPC’s regulate enzymes that help control these two crucial neurotransmitters, thereby giving us better focus and elevated moods.  Before you reach for your old bottle of anti-depressants, go for a shot of OPC.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Western diets have changed drastically over the past 150 years, during which the ratio of fats from fish and wild plants to those from animal and vegetable oil sources, especially in processed foods, has gone from 1:1 to 1:10. This switch has coincided with a sharp rise in the rates of depression in recent decades, suggesting that omega-3 supplementation could be one approach to treating depression and other mood disorders. Studies suggest that populations that eat more fish per capita, such as Japan (147 pounds a year) and Iceland (225 pounds a year), have unexpectedly low rates of SAD.

St.John’s wort

(Hypericum performatum) is the most commonly used herb for treating depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the clinical term for the “winter blues,” or depression brought on from short day length. A summary of 23 clinical trials including 1,757 outpatients found that St John’s wort was as effective as standard anti-depressive medications for treatment of mild to moderate depression, and with fewer side-effects. Depression invokes an image of someone crying, sleeping, moping around the house and avoiding social engagements. This is characteristic for many people, but it’s not the pattern for others. Low levels of the relaxation hormone serotonin are thought to play a role in this behavior. Low serotonin is a common thread in low grade depression and there are several natural ways to increase serotonin levels, including physical exercise (as stated above) and the use of St Johns wort.

Vitamin D

Current research indicates that vitamin D deficiency may be linked to a wide range of health problems including osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and yes, depression. The best way to get vitamin D might seem obvious: Get some sun! But it may also be a good idea to consider vitamin D supplements. In the winter, the low angle of the sun can make it difficult for some populations to get enough vitamin D, for example the elderly, and those who live at northern latitudes.
If you’re not feeling yourself from the months of November through April, see your health-care practitioner.  A prescribed non-invasive, drug-free protocol should be implemented, restoring balance to your system and thereby relieving the symptoms of your winter blues.

Dr. Robert Zembroski is a board-certified chiropractic neurologist and the director of the Darien Center for Integrative Medicine. He has maintained a successful private practice for 15 years in Darien, CT. For more information visit www.darienim.com.