Ways to Deal with the Winter Blues

If you're anything like me, and you live in the Northern hemisphere, you're probably starting to go crazy right now. Even in the South, it's been a bad winter with colder temperatures more snow than usual. Even people who like winter must be starting to get sick of it. So if you're feeling the effects of the winter blues, and starting to be filled with malaise, ennui, or even worse, depression, try some of these tips to help you get through it all (and keep in mind, it WILL be summer again!).

Replace your light bulbs with full spectrum or daylight bulbs. In winter, the lack of sunlight can be one of the biggest factors in making people feel blah, depressed, and unmotivated. Adding some brighter, more sunlight-y light to your home should help with that. Full spectrum/daylight bulbs are specifically created to mimic the light of the sunlight, with a larger spectrum of light (as the name suggests). And yes, they are incandescent and so not as energy saving as fluorescent bulbs are, but if you only use them in the winter when you need them the most, and make sure to turn them off when they're not in use, it's really not a big deal. The relief they can bring will be worth it. You can buy them anywhere that sells light bulbs and they usually cost around the same as regular incandescent bulbs.

Stay active, even when it's difficult. While it may be hard to work up the motivation to go out in the cold and drive through rain or snow to get to the gym, you can easily work out in your own warm, cozy home with some great exercise DVDs or even the fitness channel. While you may not have the equipment you can find at the gym in your home, you can still get a great workout by doing things like aerobics, pilates, yoga, belly dance, hip hop dance, weight training and more with workout DVDs. You can find a really large selection of workout DVDs on Amazon, where you can get them for great prices as well as read reviews and even sometimes watch trailers of the programs. If you do want to belong to a gym, consider going to one with a hot tub and pool. Swimming and then relaxing in the hot tub is a great way to work out in winter, as it really warms you up and almost makes you forget about the snow outside.

Eat lots of warming foods. Spicy foods such as curry is great for cold weather, as is warm, hearty food like soup. Drinking lots of tea and other hot beverages will definitely help warm you up as well. Fresh ginger is great for warming you up, so grate some and put it into a tea ball, then steep it in boiling water for a few minutes. Add honey to create a delicious, sweet, and warming drink. Or try adding some minced ginger to your dinners. It's great in stir fries and curries.

Use a humidifier. Skin, lips, and hair suffer in the winter because of the lack of relative humidity in the air and the drying effects of gas/oil heat, and the sinuses do as well. Sleeping with a humidifier on can do wonders for all of these things. If you go through a ton of lotion, ChapStick, and conditioner in the winter, you should consider investing in a humidifier. They're not that expensive and they really help. You can even keep one in your living room to create a more summery feeling of warmth.

Have a summer-themed party. Put up summery decorations, turn up the heat a bit or use a space heater, turn a humidifier on, make summery mixed drinks like Mojitos and Mai Tais. Invite a bunch of friends and tell them to bring or wear summery clothes. You can even watch a summery movie, like a fun beach movie. Repeat this once a month until winter finally ends.

Shop for summer items. Something about shopping for summer clothes in winter cheers me up. I guess it just emphasizes the fact that it will be summer again, which, within the depths of winter, I sometimes find difficult to believe. So go shopping--if you can't go out, shop online. Buy summery dresses, outdoor decorations/accessories/activities, or whatever makes you feel the most summery. This should cheer you up a bit.

Make sure you have plenty of fun indoor activities. Take up an indoor hobby, such as sewing, painting, knitting, writing, selling things online, animal breeding, piercing, clog dancing...okay now I'm starting to get a little silly. But you get the point. Just find something that's fun to do that you can do indoors on a daily or weekly basis. Even if you're not good at it, who cares? You're looking for something fun, engaging, and distracting, not something that will end up being your life's work. So just pick something you've always wanted to try and have fun with it!