How to fight the urge to hibernate this winter
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The days are shorter, the temperature is dropping , and just like so many other animals in the wild kingdom, we humans can easily find ourselves possessed with the urge to hunker down and hibernate. So why are we suddenly quicker to find contentment in Netflix and baked goods than in socializing, just when socializing is most expected of us?
Ravi Shah, M.D ., assistant professor of Psychiatry and medical director, Psychiatry Faculty Practice Organization at the Columbia University Medical Center, says one of the reasons our FOMO quickly devolves into FOGO is how the lack of daylight messes with our circadian rhythms.
“It helps to look toward people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) for the answers,” says Shah. “The most common time SAD begins to hit is right around daylight savings . The amount of light starts to drop significantly a few weeks before, and some people start to feel it then, while others will feel it a few weeks after. That extra hour in darkness just makes it worse. Even if you don’t have SAD or a depressive history , some people can just feel mildly lethargic or tired while this is happening. There’s a clinical word for it, anhedonia , which means a lack of interest in pleasure.”
Mind you, this is also when the holiday season and all its revelry is in full swing , which complicates things. “Though people can feel lethargic, they still also feel like they’re supposed to be out at holiday parties, and shopping, and getting ready to be social,” says Shah. “This is tricky for people. It can be something of an ego blow to understand that your inner feelings aren’t going with what’s expected of you.”
IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S YOUR CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
Shah says this might have to do with a disruption in your circadian rhythms , which affect your whole body’s natural timing. “Natural daylight decreases, which affects melatonin secretion. Melatonin is a natural hormone secreted by pineal gland in brain,” Shah explains. “During the evening, there’s a melatonin peak which tells you it’s time for bed. If all that shifts earlier on you, you’re going to get this signal it’s time to wind down at 5 or 6 o’clock, which is too early in society. And if a party doesn’t start until 8 pm, you can see why people might not want to go.”
HOW TO RESIST THE INSTINCT TO HUNKER DOWN
So, even with the skies working against us, how are we supposed to rally? John Sharp, M.D ., psychiatrist on faculty at Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and author of " The Emotional Calendar: Understanding Seasonal Influences and Milestones to Become Happier, More Fulfilled, and in Control of Your Life ,” says we just have to push through it. He recommends making evening plans and committing to them in advance — be it the gym, errands, book club or a rendezvous with friends — instead of heading home to hibernate. “If you do go home, make it cozy and enjoy a homey activity, such as cooking, reading, or watching something you enjoy,” says Sharp.
Besides, if we could just push through the initial reluctance to come out of our caves, Shah says we might change our minds. “We really push for the idea of behavioral activation — let’s get out and do the things that you normally would want to do, even if we aren’t feeling like it,” says Shah. “Often, if you get 15 minutes into it, your brain will remember you like to socialize or be with friends and family.”
And if that still doesn’t work, consider using a light lamp (the kind SAD folks sometimes use) for 20 minutes in the morning. “The data behind them is strong,” says Shah. “It works on your brain cells. If you were in a room asleep with the lights off and I walked in silently, you’d know why because you have photoreceptors on your eyelids. The light has an effect on your brain.”
Consider it a sun supplement until the days get longer.
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It's getting used to the cold that is the hardest part for me. Going out at 5 pm in the dark and cold just makes you want to forfeit the idea.
But once I am out, I am glad to be doing something.
How about you?
(People from Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California are forbidden to participate in this discussion...... Kidding!)
Being from Arizona, when I was in the Navy, this desert rat spent six months out the year for four years in McMurdo Station, Antarctica in the late 80's. Antarctica is literally the coldest, windiest, and driest place on Earth! All precipitation freezes before it ever hits the ground. Not to mention the 24 hours of daylight in the summer months really messes with one's sleep habits!. The coldest I ever experienced was -98 degrees below zero in the month of September. That did not take into account the wind chill factor! Heavy and extreme cold weather gear was in order. Ever since then to this day, I have always functioned better in cold than heat. I defy anyone to tell me about cold weather....
after 4 yrs in 120 degree desert (australia) the heat is not even a problem....
but getting meat from the cold section of the grocery store makes me shiver, I need to bundle up...
80 degrees is a chilly day for me... LOL
Spent many years in the Colorado mountains where snowshoes were what you put on for a walk to the store.
Seems all one needs these days is lightweight hiking boots.
Out here in the west it doesn't snow anymore.
The ponds I used to skate on here in my youth no longer freeze over even a little bit.
Built a new 1/2 acre pond but in four years it hasn't had but a skim of ice.
Even if I had never heard of anthropogenic global warming, I'd suspect a problem.
I work outside all day during many winter days. Coldest experience was a few years ago. I installed insulated skirting around a house so they could thaw out the pipes that had frozen. It was -30 and we were outside all day then too. Went to the truck for lunch intending to warm up, but we decided to just gobble our lunch and get back out there because we could tell that if we warmed up we wouldn't go back out again that day. There was so much ice hanging from my beard by the end of the day, that the weight of it pulling on the beard actually hurt.
The poor guy I hired only got that one day of work from me. He never complained and thanked me for the one lousy, brutal day of work. Fortunately for guys like me who only hire people temporarily when we need a hand, there are a lot of desperate people out there, good workers who really do want to work, but have a hard time finding enough.
But what if I don't want to push through?
Maybe we're meant to hibernate.
I can identify with many of those.
“ Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” ~ William S. Boroughs
Me, also. Thank you. I bookmarked the link.
I just go to bed around 8pm that way when 4am rolls around I’m ready to get up. Those early hours between 4 and 7 are my favorite part of the day.
You go to bed at 8 and get up at 4? Is that out of habit? Discipline? Neither? Both? After taking care of my parents for the last several years, I have found myself unable to sleep more than a few hours a night. Even now that they are gone, I'm stuck in the same sleep pattern. I'm considering pharmaceuticals...
I don’t know I just went with how I felt and then it became a pattern.
Good luck getting back on schedule after the hardships you’ve been through recently.
Same here, I sleep from about 8 until 3.
OMG, I am the whole other side of the clock. Go to bed around 2. Sleep till 9 and I sleep like the dead.
I can't participate but it's will be 80 degrees and sunny here today...
May the bird of paradise lay an egg in a spot where you least expect it.
LMAO, I'll be a watchin' for that egg, Sister.
At least my dogs, thriving in freezing temperatures, won't be infecting me with sand fleas.
Sand fleas, there's no sand fles out here bro...
Hang twenty.
OMG, too funny and cute.
A/noon...Cold, dark, snow...??? You are in the wrong country...
Sun, blue sky, sand, surf the smell of BBQ's in the air....Ahhhh....It's light here at 5.30am and dark 9.30pm..Hibernate!!...never...Happy New Year to you all as the New Year will be here in less than 7 hours...I hope 2019 is a good one for you all...Ahh the lazy hazy days of summer...
Animal abuse! At least you didn't weight it down with moose antlers and a grass skirt.