Lafleur

Ah, winter! Days are short, skies are often grey, and the cold makes us want to sleep till spring. Result? Winter blues!

Beat the gloom with these seven tips. We promise that they’ll help bring back your energy and your smile!

1. Focus on the positive. Instead of repeating “I hate winter!”, turn the thought into “I have an idea for enjoying winter.” Act on your idea, whether it involves visiting a festival (see our five recommendations), lighting up your home with candles or learning a winter sport.
    
2. Eat right. To keep your morale on an even keel, it’s recommended that you eat three meals a day and drink plenty of water. Since protein is a factor in your energy levels, try cooking hearty and wholesome meals, such as these five recipes created by the chefs at Lafleur.
    
3. Exercise regularly. Exercise is a proven method to help boost your energy. It also relieves stress and is believed to raise our levels of serotonin, among the so-called “happy hormones”.
    
4. Treat yourself. Break the routine from time to time by planning an activity to brighten up your winter. Consider a day at the spa, a week-end getaway with friends, or even a trip to a sun destination, budget permitting.
    
5. Make peace with winter. Practicing a winter sport can become so addictive that you’ll be looking forward to next January! Take up skiing, cross-country or downhill. Act on your lifelong dream of learning to skate. Go tobogganing with the kids. Why not delight the family with a weekend of ice fishing and outdoor fun?
    
6. Get enough sleep. In winter, it’s normal to want more sleep, but our schedules often prevent us from doing so. Avoid those periods of fatigue by getting at least seven to eight hours of shut-eye per night, and by going to bed and getting up at the same times whenever possible. A regular sleep schedule helps keep you peppy and alert.
   
   With its short days and scarcity of sunlight, winter throws off our biological clocks, sometimes causing problems that include depression, chronic fatigue and insomnia. One recognized treatment is light therapy, where you can “fill up on light” by exposing your skin to a bright lamp that reproduces the sun’s rays.
   
   The how-to of light therapy
   • Buy a “full-spectrum” type lamp, available at drugstores,lighting stores or medical supply stores. You’ll need a lamp that produces an intensity of about 10,000 lux. To compare, light intensity in a brightly-lit office doesn’t exceed 300 to 500 lux. Avoid lamps that generate UV rays.
   • Choose a lamp that lights a space large enough for you to go about your daily activities, such as making meals, reading, and working, while keepingthe light on your face at all times.
   • Expose your face to the full-spectrum light once a day, preferably in the morning, from early September until spring. The recommended exposure time is 30 minutes for adults and 15 to 20 minutes for children and adolescents.
   • You can also get a dawn simulator, an alarm clock with a lamp that imitates the sunrise and slowly illuminates your bedroom, helping you awaken gradually. Because simulators do not produce high-intensity light, they’re not considered light therapy. However, these devices are recognized for relieving symptoms of insomnia and seasonal affective disorder.
   To learn more, visit PasseportSanté.Net (in French)