A change of seasons can bring unsettling changes in our moods, eating habits, sleep patterns and even our sense of self.
Luckily, since we always know the next season is coming we can plan ahead and adopt some strategies that will set us up for success - no matter the weather and activities.
🛏️ Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule:
Even as the days get shorter, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule can help regulate your body's metabolism, including affecting the hormones that regulate appetite and stress as well as glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
🍽️ Keep Regular Mealtimes:
Consistent meal times can regulate energy levels as the shifting light from shorter days impacts us.
🗒️ Continue with Normal Daily Activities:
Try to maintain your usual routines for exercise, work, and other activities, even if you need to make minor adjustments due to weather or daylight changes. Routine is calming to the nervous system and brain.
🏃🏿♀️➡️ Stay Active:
Physical activity produces endorphines, hormones that elevate energy and mood.
🙂 Do Things you Enjoy:
This may seem like a no-brainer, but often the chores and must-do's edge out the activities that make us feel relaxed or happy. Seasonal activities like hiking, camping, joining a book club or taking a cooking or baking class can really improve your outlook on life.
💆 Take Care of Your Body:
Give your body what it needs to adapt. Consider red-light therapy, massage, yoga, dep breathing or mindfulness practices to regulate your nervous system and reduce stress.
🌟 Seek Professional Help:
If you find you are experiencing persistent mood changes or having a hard time with the seasonal transition consider seeking support from a counselor or therapist.
💯 Plan for Success:
Your brain doesn't differentiate between an imagined experience and a "real" one, which is great news. Often seasonal transitions are perfect times to plan for a new level of achievement. What do you want to accomplish or release before the end of the year?
💫 Journal and Mindfulness Prompt:
Take a few minutes to sit with what you want on a consistent basis.
- Write it down to engage your kinesthetic system.
- Read it out loud to engage your auditory and language centers.
- Take a few deep breaths to create calm and shift out of your normal brain activity into a more receptive state.
- Think about what you want; imagine what it looks like, sounds like, how if feels when you reach your goal.
- Imagine it is already done.
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