Our first winter in Utah two years ago was quite hard for me to adjust to. We had some terribly cold weather (to me) and I felt myself drifting toward depression as we hadn't seen the sun for over a month. I frantically looked at my husband mid-January and told him we HAD to go visit my family in Arizona that next long weekend. We did. We loaded the car and made the 12 hour drive down to the warm Arizona sun. The highs that weekend were in the low 70s and we spent the afternoons at the park with my children and their cousins. Glorious sun!
It made me wonder why the heck we moved to Utah! Oh yeah...that thing called "a job."
I was so sad to return to the gloomy overcast skies in Utah after that weekend. Shortly later my doctor found I was deficient in vitamin D3. Vitamin D is something you get from the sun. I realized that my "breakdown" and intense desire to head to Arizona was quite medically based.
I have since implemented a serious regime of taking care of myself during the winter months. I try to keep walking outside (for as long as possible). I am not too proud to say that I have become a "mall walker" on days that are too wet and dreary and snowy to brave the outside. I also open the shutters to my windows every sunny afternoon to try to find a spot to read for a few moments and absorb some of the suns glorious rays. Vitamin D3 has become one of my important supplements for a couple of years now. I've got to keep these winter blues away!
#winterblues #vitaminD3 #SAD #keeping healthy
This is so interesting to me because I'm just the opposite. I LOVE the winter and the snow and the cold and the "gloom." I get irrationally grumpy if winter doesn't act like it is supposed to and we have temperatures that are too high. haha! Summer is my least favorite season...my body doesn't handle heat well.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I'm not surprised. As I have read up on SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) it happen to people both during the summer and during the winter. Interesting, isn't it?
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