Many of us will be starting to get the winter blues, and for some of us who suffer from SAD it gets worse as the winter months draw in. Interestingly enough for me I have 2 sets of friends, a set who work doing what they love, get outside continuously, and eat a natural diet, and another set who work in stressful jobs, have continually busy lives, drink and eat the standard diet. The difference between the two at times is vast, and I really notice how my friends who do more things outdoors, eat naturally tend to have less of the winter blues if at all.
Our lifestyles keep us away from our natural selves in so many ways, and we have been slowly losing our intuition about how we are meant to be living. Stress is a big factor in our unnatural lifestyles that many us of are living, and this has a huge knock on effect with hormones, and creates chemical imbalances in the body, which then has the knock on effect onto how we feel. It’s interesting in that I was speaking to a external supplier of wellbeing training for the company I work for, and she was stating how it is expected that depression will be the number one factor in days off work for sickness by 2012. Now I have other opinions about what will be happening to everyone by 2012, but the fact is that depression is increasing, and I have been looking at statistics which show that 1 in 5 of us have it during our lifetime.
This increase in depression can in my opinion be only down to the types of lifestyles we are now living, the stress factors, the endlessness of our working lives, the pressure we are put under to perform at high levels with little respite, the busyness that we now have to always be, the constant bombardment of information, in short bursts. This is on top of the lack of relaxation, the lack of general exercise, and the poor nutrition, no wonder really!
In my journey whilst researching depression for a larger article at some stage for my Naturally Healthy Coaching website, I found a number of interesting websites, where I really struggled to find any information on alternative treatments. They would have tabs which say, ‘other treatment’ but then go on to list other forms of medications that were listed. I had to do more searching, and finally on a number of them found they were being either funded or where put together by the pharmaceutical companies. No wonder there were only medications and ‘talking therapies’ as ‘they’ call them placed onto the treatment areas. On one website the way St Johns Wort was highlighted was only that it had contraindications with, strangely enough their medications! Medications should be the last thing people turn to, as depression is often caused in such a way that can be resolved.
When things get too much, I turn to homeopathic remedies of which there are many which help people who have a level of depression, Bach’s flower remedies are something I always have, almost as a first aid kit, in my flat. Most of all I look at the things which are happening in my life, which are potentially triggering it, and start to coach, use NLP and EFT, all of which help to move my thinking into a positive frame of mind, helping me and my clients to see beyond the emotions. Herbs such as St John Wort really do help many people, and don’t forget that if you are getting SAD at this time of year, to invest in a light box, there is much evidence that they work, but don’t use them if you are taking St Johns Wort at the same time.
