Combating S.A.D. and Getting Through the Holidays Alive and Well

Take care of yourselves and each other.  Come visit me at www.MenAlive.com 

For most of my life the time between Halloween and New Years was a very mixed blessing. I enjoyed the "holiday" season and looked forward to the festivities, but I would always become irritable and depressed. My birthday is on Twenty-first of December, the shortest day of the year, and I would inevitably be sick on that day (and often many days before and after). It wasn’t until recent years that I learned about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and found out there are many things we can do to combat the holiday blahs. I’ve now learned there are six essential practices that have proven most effective.

This approach was developed by Dr. Steve Illardi at Kansas University and is based on helping us attune our minds, bodies, and spirits to the practices that we have evolved to engage. "The human brain has been sculpted by 2 million years of life within a hunter-gatherer context," says Dr. Illardi. "Agriculture has only been around for 10,000 years, and it’s only been since World War I that we’ve become truly toxic," he says. "We were never designed to be so sedentary, so socially isolated."

"There’s a mismatch," he says. Depression is the evolutionary consequence of a person’s brain being out of synch with their social environment. Dr. Illardi feels we need to reclaim the practices that protected human beings for millions of years, but which we have lost in our speeded-up modern world. "I’m not advocating a return to the Stone Age," Illardi assures us. "I want to keep my iPod. I just want us to have the best of both worlds, not to be ignorant of how our technology can sometimes be our own worst enemy.

Dr. Illardi has developed a program he calls Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) and describes the following six simple, yet powerful elements:

1. EXERCISE: Aerobic exercise is a potent antidepressant. Elevate your pulse between 120 to 160 beats per minute for 35 minutes three times weekly.

2. SLEEP: Chronic sleep deprivation puts one at risk for depression; get 7 or 8 hours nightly.

3. SUNLIGHT: The brain needs 2,500 lux for 30 to 60 minutes per day. Spend a half hour outdoors on a sunny day or in front of a 10,000 lux light when it is overcast.

4. EAT FISH: 1,000 milligrams daily of Omega-3 type EPA fatty acids has been shown to relieve depression. It is found in highly concentrated fish oil, also in tuna, mackerel, sardines, lake trout and salmon.

5. SOCIALIZE: Social support helps prevent depression during major losses. Separation from friends and family is a common trigger for depression.

6. THINK POSITIVE: Don’t dwell on repetitive, negative thoughts. Learn to redirect attention to more engaging activities.

To learn more about TLC and Dr. Ilardi’s work you can visit the TLC website

Let us know how you deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and what you do to get through the holiday reason with your mind, body, and spirit in tact.