Avoid Holiday Depression:
Natural Remedies For a Happy Holiday
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by Suzanne Glover
Holiday depression isn’t something that’s “all in your head.” It’s real and there are many factors that can contribute to having a case of the “Christmas Blues.”
If you’re feeling a bit sad this season, you’re not alone. Depression statistics show depression is running rampant among children, adolescents, women, men and the elderly. So, who does that leave unaffected? Martians, I suppose.
In other words, many people already feel depressed without the additional pressures of the holiday season. Combine holiday stress and depression with the dark winter months and, voila, you have a recipe for feeling pretty anxious through the holiday season.
Some of the factors that can contribute to holiday depression are:
1) Financial pressure from gift buying;
2) Social pressures to overextend oneself and attend obligatory parties;
3) Lack of social network leaving a sense of loneliness and worthlessness;
4) Self expectations to “keep up” and go past realistic expectations;
5) Too busy to eat well, sleep enough and exercise at all.
Here’s what to do about it:
Depression Natural Remedies
How to Deal with Depression Physically:
1) The first thing is to simply give your mind and body some support to help it feel better before you ask it to find the energy and courage to do the mental things that will help you take charge of your time this season.
GET SOME LIGHT: Light therapy has been proven to help with depression and since winter is the main season for seasonal affective disorder, ask your doctor how much light to use to help your mood. Bringing in more light can elevate the photonic energy inside your body and this alone can give you more energy (and a sunny disposition) to handle holiday schedules.
GET SOME NEGATIVE IONS: How much better do you feel when you’re by the ocean? There’s a theory that high-density negative ionization therapy can help with depression and the ocean sends out lots of “negative ions.” So, if you
live near the ocean, make it a weekly ritual to take a drive and soak in some negative ions. If you don’t live near the ocean, find a negative ion generator for your home or office that is capable of producing high-density negative ions and see if it calms you down.
GET A MASSAGE: Regular massage increases blood flow and helps tone muscles, not to mention you feel like a wet noodle when you come out and don’t seem to care about holiday shopping. I’ve found massage to be a great way to “get my body moving” when I’ve experienced melancholic depression and have been too depressed and tired to exercise.
MEDITATE: Meditation changes the “channel” of your brain from depression to feelings of inner peace. Done often enough and you can soon “stay in the zone of calmness” even when you’re in the midst of shopping madness. And if you don’t have the time to learn how to meditate, use a “touch-of-a-button” brainwave meditation to “change your channel” fast.
HOT AND COLD HYDRO-THERAPY: This is one of my favorite natural remedies for depression. If you live near a hot springs, you can jump from the hot springs to the cold springs and get your blood pumping and help release toxins, including toxic emotions. Or, if you have a hot tub at home, you can warm up in the tub and then rinse off with the cold water from the hose for a minute. But the easiest way to do this is to sit in “as hot as you can take it” bath water for a minute, and then stand up and shower with cold water for a minute and repeat several times. Of course, the cold water dilutes your hot bath water, but you only need to repeat this a few times to feel exhilarated and is especially good for post holiday depression when you need to get some energy going for the new year.
ACUPUNTURE FOR DEPRESSION: This is by far the easiest thing on the list for feeling better because it allows your body to become more balanced on an energetic level. No matter how tired I am, I always feel better and have more energy after seeing my acupuncturist and life just seems to fall into place.
Yes, these physical means for beating depression take time, but the funny thing about taking time to give back to your body is that your body has more energy to give to you and all of a sudden everything that was overwhelming seems to get done quicker because you have energy and focus with which to accomplish holiday tasks.
More on beating holiday depression…
