Beating the Winter Blues

It’s that time of year again. The holiday season, or as some like to call it, winter. Either way it affects your emotions. Mostly people lose interest in school and are focused on Christmas break. Some love to cuddle up with their significant other while watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. Some enjoy tolerate the multiple library trips they take as finals inch closer and closer. Some just love all the great warm clothing. (I mean, come on, so many cute scarves and boots!) But for some of us who normally are content with life, depression can be sneaky.

You’re probably thinking, “Me, depressed? Nah, I’m just not super excited like everyone else.” And I may or may not be talking to you personally, but I know I’m not the only one out there. See, about a month ago I started to feel, nothing. I was numb. I continued to go through life, having laughs here and there, but it never really meant anything anymore. I would smile forcibly. I started sleeping about 12 hours a night. I didn’t want to do anything. Life just wasn’t living up to my expectations. Nothing was making me genuinely happy. After talking to a friend I knew what I had to do.

I set up an appointment with our counseling services and met with a psychologist. Turns out there’s this thing called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Essentially it’s just depression that comes around during the winter, though it is possible to get it during other seasons. Anyway, there are a few ways to cope with this until it goes away, or at least until Christmas and all the presents make you happy.

1. Get just enough sleep. Around our age a good amount of sleep is somewhere in between 7 and 9 hours. Yes, I know you have a busy schedule, but I bet if you got off of Facebook, Reddit, and/or Pinterest, you’d find the time.

2. Work out. Once again, I know, not much time. I used the same excuse. But once finals are done it should be easy to find 45 minutes a few times a week to do some cardio and strength training. (Girls, trust me, you won’t bulk up like boys).

3. Eat healthy-ish. It’s understandably too much to ask for completely healthy eating from a bunch of poor college students. But, it shouldn’t be too hard to lay off the late night snacks, especially if you’re spending those hours sleeping. (:

4. Play! Just go outside and run around like an idiot. Try to get kicked out of Wal-Mart. Fly a kite. Just act like a child. It’ll alleviate stress.

That’s about it. Sleep. Exercise. Eat right. Play. Go forth and be happy.

uploaded by stashabella on Flickr