SAD

Pat here:

Since moving back to the Midwest from sunny Charlotte, I’ve been slammed again with what most people call the winter blahs. We live between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and gray and brown is the color of winter. This winter has been particularly horrible, with weeks when the temperature never rose above freezing and days of foggy gloom. I could look up how many sunny days we’ve had in January but it would just depress me more. I’m very thin-skinned and going outside involves wrapping up in untold layers of clothes and coats and hats and gloves. I even cover my nose because it turns bright rosy red in the cold.

And I’m totally aware that this is not healthy for me. We need the sun on our skin. Here’s the government link so you know I’m not just making this up:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585788
And here’s a rather frightening little ditty pointing out what happens if we don’t get enough sunshine: http://www.naturalnews.com/003069.html

Most of us physically crave sunshine for a reason—it’s good for us. And when we don’t get it, we not only don’t get Vitamin D, we’re likely to become victims of Seasonal Effective Disorder or SAD. Take a look at the symptoms listed: (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Seasonal+affective+disorder)
•    Afternoon slumps with decreased energy and concentration
•    Carbohydrate cravings
•    Decreased interest in work or other activities                                    
•    Depression that starts in fall or winter
•    Increased appetite with weight gain
•    Increased sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness
•    Lack of energy
•    Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
•    Social withdrawal
And if that sounds like you, you probably have more than a case of the winter blahs. So find thee some sunshine, some sun lamps, or a good doctor. 

Personally, I like to use my blahs as an excuse to curl up in front of the fire with hot tea and the books I’m judging for the RITAs, but I wouldn’t turn away a cruise to a tropical isle right now either. (probably the reason I wrote my Mystic Isle books!)

Once I finish with this box of books, though, I’ll need new reading material because winter is a hundred years long. What is everyone else reading? Anything good?

Or better yet, how do you get rid of the blahs?