Managing Winter for Mental, Physical and Community Health

Mental Health:

• Be mindful of your light intake. While the minimal exposure to sun can create depression, hypersomnia and fatigue... the over-exposure to screens can create insomnia, anxiety and hypervigilance. Be sure to put filters like f.lux on your screens, and consider light therapy like red LED or a Vitamin D bed or lamp.

• Tiny Joys. Give yourself full permission to find tiny, frivolous ways to make yourself happy, and make it a purposeful practice to NOTICE what happens. Have a hot cup of tea and really taste it. Spend a few dollars on that silly thing that makes you smile. Turn on the twinkle lights a few hours early. Text someone a stupid meme. Then notice how your body feels when you do that.

• Sensory Inputs. Your brain responds to TOUCH -- and that doesn’t mean you have to go get a massage! Play with smells (I love Eden’s Garden essential oils), warm water or contrast baths or showers, compression belts or self-hugs, drinking warm or cool liquids through a straw, self scalp massage, handling a texture you like or a fidget tool, or rolling your feet on a tennis ball. Find what makes you feel calm, grounded and at ease.

Physical Health:

• MOVE. We’ve created a bunch of 30 minute classes each week, because we know time can be short. But if you just don’t have the option to set aside dedicated workout time to sweat every single day, that’s OK. Take 10 minute walks a few times per day, do some yoga stretches while you wait for coffee to brew or the bath to fill, circle your ankles and wrists while you are helping your kiddo with their schoolwork or (as my friend does!) do 5 squats every time you finish a bathroom break!

• Focus on healthful, nourishing foods. And don’t shame yourself for other “side dishes.” Your brain and tissues need real, whole, live food that came directly from a plant or well-raised animal source. Make the focus of your meals and snacks a whole-food based … and give yourself permission to have a little treat too. Those tasty little joys are a blessing! You’ll want lots of healthy fats, root vegetables and warm, cooked foods and soups during those long cold days.

• Breathe. There are two big components to healthy breathing : biomechanics (how your body moves when you breathe) and blood gas (how much carbon dioxide and oxygen get to your cells when you breathe.) Spend some time on the muscular activation FIRST by activating your diaphragm with straw breathing or loaded breathing.) Then work on the exchange of air by working with even inhale exhale breathing (inhale 3-4 counts and exhale 3-4 counts) also known as square breathing to equalize inhales and exhales with holds of equal length. 

Community Health:

This year I have a little different advice than I usually would, and - please don’t fret - it doesn’t involve Zoom. 

1. Send a handwritten letter or a card through the mail. When I’ve been feeling disconnected and down, getting a card or a tiny gift from a friend always reminds me that I’m loved and held… even from a long way away. (Thank you again, Anna Banana for the face mask!) And SENDING a card is even better. Just the act of writing a few lines or a poem, sticking a stamp and dropping it in the mail feels a little bit like hugging that person.
2. Make a phone call. Like… have a conversation in real time... on the phone. If you’re also totally slammed, make the call while you’re commuting, doing dishes, folding laundry or any other time you can just plug a headset in and chat for 15 minutes. Ask how your human is doing (and don’t let them get away with “I’m hanging in there.”) and REALLY listen to them. It’s an amazing gift for you both.
3. Have boundaries. And respect others’ boundaries. If you’re staying home, “We’re not going out for holidays this year.” is a complete sentence. If someone else turns down an invitation you extend, “I understand and we’ll miss you!” is an appropriate answer. 
4. (If you are reading this NOT in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic … please go enjoy your friends, family, close colleagues and friendly neighborhood barista as much as you possibly can. Smile at strangers. Hug people who need it. Hug people when YOU need it. If you’re struggling to reach out, it’s enough to just send one text to one human today. Remember that we have community-oriented brains, and that we need closeness in order to thrive.)

Winter can get long, especially if you struggle with regulating your nervous system, deal with chronic pain, are a highly nature-oriented human, or are especially sensitive to light. Choose 1-3 of these tools and make a gentle practice for yourself! Keep track for two weeks of what you’ve tried, what works and how it makes you feel. Reward yourself  and notice the positive impacts to help your brain start seeking out this type of behavior!

Be sure to reach out if you’re feeling alone, feeling stuck or just need some ideas of how to break the inertia. We’ve got two weeks of free movement plus a strategy call just for you, and lots of ideas from there!

Big hugs and happy Holidays.