Are you experiencing the holiday blues this season? If so, you're certainly not alone. Holiday blues happen in November and go through the beginning of the next year. This is different from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and MDD (major depressive disorder). If you already suffer from SAD or MDD, then this can exacerbate the holiday blues. Please take care of yourself, especially this holiday season.
Symptoms of the holiday blues:
-When you no longer get joy out of the activities that usually bring joy
-Not getting enough sleep and/or inability to sleep
-The zoning out behaviors= gambling, shopping, overeating or overindulging in alcohol/drugs
-Wanting to self-isolate
-Feeling inadequate, anxious, irritable
Tips for caring for your mental health (Combating depression):
-Exercising regularly is essential for peak mental health. Go for a walk or run an errand. Get out of the house. You may not feel like getting any exercise but afterward you will be glad you did. If it's too cold to exercise outside you can always find ways to work out at home. There's Youtube yoga, climbing your stairs and even lifting canned goods.
-Eating healthy food regularly - keeping blood sugar levels stable helps stabilize mood
-Minimize sugar, caffeine. These substances wreak havoc on our immune system, sleep patterns and moods.
-Learn to say, “no.” This is a great time to practice having healthy boundaries. People may be more understanding since it's such a busy time for us all.
-Try to implement new holiday traditions if the old ones are no longer available. Covid has shut down a lot of our normal activities but we can still find ways to celebrate the holidays.
-Be around people. Isolating yourself magnifies depression. Go serve someone, whether in your neighborhood or in a soup kitchen.
-Find time to take care of yourself. Does that look like 20 minutes alone in your car? Will you need extra support at family dinner? Look out for yourself and show yourself that you have your own back.
If you have thoughts of harming yourself in any way, please reach out to a loved one, someone you trust or call the national suicide prevention hotline 800-273-8255. Help is always available.
If you’re grieving the loss of someone you love this holiday season, please know that you will get through it. Feeling sad is to be expected; this is not what we’re talking about this episode. We will discuss grief in a future episode.
