seasonal affective disorder

The importance of light

One month in quarantine. There is light at the end of the tunnel with the Covid19 insanity and seemingly as some experts say there are some medications in the works (see Vox post). There are many side effects with some people, and individual differences with treatment (I do not want to talk vaccine as the nature of this disease transforming into subtypes is very concerning), and confusion of symptoms see blog post by Paleohacks.

Until then it’s important to keep up with keeping healthy in these seemingly “dark” hours, remember to follow the rainbow after the storm. Keep building immunity, walk daily at least 20 minutes in your home (loved this 15 minute video), on sunlit days at a distance, in your neighborhood away from that screen! With or without your pet or kids. Slow or fast, just keep it up!

You can see, learn, and run into amazing nature! Even people you know !

I am running-walking more despite the fact I have more online work staying up later, as we all lose our patience, gaining a few pounds /kilos! As each year we picked our chamomile — that wonder herb that can be even used as an antiseptic eye compress (see Spring pickings). This time closer to home as all are cleaner due to less traffic! It’s amazing to see how nature should be. We all need to do immunity building and social (physical) distancing.

A Poppy for your thoughts…

Sunlight makes our world function as it is important for plant photosynthesis, it increases our melatonin (the brain hormone Serotonin goes up and is important for mood and sleep), increasing doses of vitamin D for better health! Those of us who suffer from seasonal affective disorder understand this well. Some who do get enough light may need special lamps in darker winter months. And as experts recommend it’s the “blue light” that matters in light therapy.

Do you also know that sunlight disinfects? It is a Greek term called heliotherapy so it’s a good idea to hang out your clothes (even your shoes sole side up), sleep blankets, comforters, and pillows for a natural “bug killer”. My good ER doctor friend in the frontlines (🙏we pray for her!) and also has her own site healthyselfhealthyworld, uses it for her gear as we know those are sometimes scarce and it can be a risk.

I find myself doing leg exercises as I’m on hold for a half hour or more for calls or online purchases — it doesn’t work people, and no I cannot wait for one week for supermarket orders ! So take the risk with your “gear” (mask and gloves, antiseptic!) …. in the evening listen to immune building music 🎵 as it seems to work for many and that light from your candle can be a great source of inner peace and a “heavenly place” to pray or meditate.

Find your inner peace


These two weeks millions around the globe celebrate(d) Easter (Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox one week apart). As Jesus once said “I am the Light of the World” at no other time have we needed our faith — regardless of one’s religion — as prayer and meditation are beneficial to the brain and the development of neural synapses and emotional stability and expression.

Absolutely loved my friend Isabelle’s photo inside her apartment in Austria for Easter! It reminds me how city living especially needs strategic placement of real or artificial light.

One blogger talked about her experience in quarantine with a view of the NYC Empire building lit up red to symbolize the heartbeat 💗 of the city and keep people going in this Covid19 pandemic (Beautybeyondbones Easter post for 2020 on NYC’s Beating Heart).

Keep writing my friends to spread that light to the world.

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Favorite Fall Comfort Food?

What is your Fall Season “comfort food”?
One of my breakfast comfort foods is oatmeal (boiled with water, bit of milk). Even better in times of “low energy“ adding some extra vitamins with pumpkin seeds, cranberries, some goji berries and a bit of maple syrup …yummy!

Breakfast, start your day with energy

Wikipedia defines comfort food as something of nostalgic nature from our childhood usually that makes us feel “cared for” and indeed a hot breakfast around cold Fall and winter days makes us feel better. A reminder that “all that falls” could be your mood and a bit of seasonal depression so do something, be active, put on that warm cuddly sweater and make something good for yourself !

I absolutely love this “Autumn Sonata” by Igor Krutoy (Fall music compilation)

What is your comfort food ?

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” Albert Camus, French philosopher, journalist and Nobel winning Author of The Plague a novel of poignant questions of the human condition.

Seeing red signs? color, nature, and signs

One of my students was interested in seeing what adjectives we associate with colors and how our mood is potentially are affected by color in the short or long-term. Her project truly reflects both nature (certain colors calm while others excite us neurologically) and nurture (what we see, hear in our culture reflects our perceptions).

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Red Moon — photo by Bill Coast (c) 2018

There is an entire ‘color psychology’ out there and many articles written like this one : Color Psychology: Does It Affect How You Feel? (VeryWellMind, September 2018). A while ago I had posted about the “Dark Moon….” and last summer there was a “Red Moon” citing starting late July through more recent weeks in August.

As leaves and seasons change to Fall-Winter our vegetables and fruits become deeper oranges and reds like vitamin C- rich pomegranates, cranberries, or Beta-carotene pumpkin pickings from the fields.  We eventually have these part of our Thanksgiving tables (if you are American) or your pumpkin soup like this great pumpkin-ginger recipe by my favorite ‘food revolutionist‘ and British chef, Jamie Oliver. Jamie’s TedEx talk about obesity in America and dietary changes around the world is still current today in our attempt to curb over-eating and eating food that is neither good for us or our communities. We love comfort foods to pep up our moods but let’s consider what we put inside our body today.

The month of November starts with health issues including Alzheimer’s Awareness, Diabetes Awareness, Tobacco Awareness and COPD month, and we end up thinking about all our extra calories after eating our turkey dinner. Perhaps our need for extra food is part of our packing up for our natural winter ‘hibernation’ as some may also suffer from seasonal affective disorders? There is a SAD test you can take today to determine if you indeed suffer from this disorder, consider environmental changes like diet and ‘light treatment’… again on the issue of colors — yellow, blue, red… ergonomics research on firetrucks has proved that lime yellow is a safer color than red, yet we seem to be stuck on the former as our preferred color of firetrucks around the world. Old habits die hard, including our own health literacy habits. Red is an ‘excitable’ color it makes sense that fire alarms are still red, and the red ‘do not smoke sign’ is just as common. I personally think Starbucks has the best line on its “thank you for not smoking” sign reminding people about maintaining the coffee’s smell and taste —  simply brilliant!

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