3 Little Changes for Reducing Daylight Savings Moodiness

Now that much of the nation has turned the clock back one hour, it is important to be aware that your body and its clock might experience an increase in moodiness.  This, in turn, can lead to eating more food (that leads to weight gain), withdrawing from social activities and losing sleep.  

Michael Terman, the director of the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center, believes that less light can be “depressogenic.”  

Rather than give-in to "Daylight Savings Time Downers," consider implementing three little changes into your regular routine that will have big results:

Be Social.  Getting out and being with others will immediately “lift” your spirit.  But you can’t wait for people to invite you out.  Plan ahead -- two or three activities per week -- where you will be with other people: non-profit volunteering, indoor activities such as a weekly bowling league, or “closed” small group meetings with familiar faces.

Exercise Often.  Exercise releases endorphins--which make you feel better during and after the activity.  "My clinical impression is that regular aerobic workouts can markedly lift depressed mood in about 33% of patients," says Terman. "But if they don't keep it up, they quickly crash." Ideally, if you find an exercise partner who will meet you at the gym or at your house to workout together, you will be less likely to cancel your exercise and more likely to stay committed to the routine of working out (and enjoying its benefits), even when you don’t feel like it.

Breathe Deeply.  Besides the immediate distraction that concentrated deep breathing provides, there is also a physiological effect upon your vagus nerve:

“The vagus nerve is a very complex and widespread nerve that not only lowers heart rate and can lead to more relaxation, but also has branches that go to the face and [voicebox]," says Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at Miami University.  “Under stress, the heart beats faster and blood pressure rises. The vagus nerve sends the opposite message.”


Begin today to make these 3 little changes so you can make it through the next few months with less moodiness!


Be encouraged,


Becky