Winter Wind Down: Taking Care & Being Present
5 minute read.
It's been a long winter and spring is finally within reach. Here are tips for thriving over the next few weeks. Not to mention, this guide can offer you a boost regardless of the time of year.
Slow down, take care, and rest
If you feel more tired than usual through the winter months, it may not be indicative of anything “wrong,” but rather a natural process encouraging you to conserve energy. Exposure to cold temperatures has been shown to increase metabolism, which makes us require more sleep and sustenance. All that to say, the cold winter months may ask you to slow down, take care, and rest. Of course, in our fast-paced and distracted culture, this can be difficult to hear!
In The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, MD and Daniel Maté, the authors argue that much of what’s considered “normal” in our fast-paced culture, perhaps, shouldn’t be. Our culture praises workaholism, “grinding,” and self-abnegation. As a result, we often overlook signs from our body in order to continue working. With the right boundaries and in the right circumstances, things like work pressures, multitasking, and social media can foster meaning and purpose in our lives. However, without boundaries, we may become lost in our phones/screens and frantic activities, and, ultimately, split off from our bodies, gut feelings, and the present moment.
Consequences of a distracted mind
When we’re disconnected from ourselves, it’s more difficult to pay attention to our stress levels and the consequences of suppressing stress can be significant. Acute stress can have positive benefits as a necessary reaction that helps maintain our physical and mental integrity; however, ongoing, unresolved, and unchecked stress floods the system with stress hormones. Over the long term, such a hormonal surplus can make us anxious/depressed, suppress our immunity, promote inflammation, impair essential cognitive and emotional circuits in the brain, and elevate blood pressure as well as increase blood clotting, which raises the risk for heart attacks/strokes.
Practicing mindfulness
One of the antidotes to disconnection is what’s called mindfulness, which is a state of active, open attention to the present. It’s described as observing thoughts, feelings, or sensations with acceptance and without judgment. Such a state can often seem daunting! After all, it’s asking us to potentially challenge survival strategies and do something different than how the majority of us spend our lives - disconnected from ourselves.
If possible, I recommend working on building your mindfulness skills with a mental health professional who can walk you through different mindfulness strategies that fit your unique needs. Some may benefit from mindfulness strategies that don’t focus so much on what’s happening internally, but externally. For example, can you notice how it feels to hold something like a stone in your hand? What’s the temperature of the stone? What’s the texture of the stone?
For many of us, we work through feelings of distress, hunger, fatigue, etc. by ignoring and hoping they go away. Something like chronically ignoring hunger cues can lead to health issues. Whereas, when we’re able to listen to our hunger cues and feed/care for ourselves, we inevitably build trust and harmony within ourselves. There’s no real way to escape our built-up stress or suppressed emotions-but mindfulness supports us in sitting with them/through them.
Mind-body connection
There is a link between a person’s thoughts, attitudes, personality traits, and behaviors, and their physical health. This is called our mind-body connection. While we’ve long understood our emotions affect our bodies, we’ve only recently begun seriously exploring how emotions influence our health and longevity.
Maté writes about how we live/die better when we practice listening intuitively to our mind-bodies. How do we do this? To begin, one question to ask yourself may be: “What bodily signs have I been overlooking? What symptoms have I been ignoring that could be warning signs, were I to pay conscious attention?” A body scan is a mindful practice of scanning your body to notice what is present, whether it be pain, tension, or neutrality. It can support feeling more connected to your mind-body. If you were to check in with a body scan, what would you find?
Seasonal affective disorder (“SAD”) & Vitamin D deficiency
While it’s in the realm of “normal” to slow down during the winter months, there are conditions that may cause exhaustion, such as seasonal affective disorder (or “SAD”) and/or vitamin D deficiency. SAD is a type of depression related to changes in the seasons, and typically begins and ends around the same time every year. Most commonly, SAD symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, wearing away your energy and causing moodiness and/or irritability. These symptoms will often resolve during the spring and summer months. It is also possible, however less common, for SAD to induce depression in the spring or early summer months and resolve during the fall or winter months.
Another thing to look out for is a possible vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D increases our absorption of needed nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. We mostly get our vitamin D from food and sunlight. Most of us with vitamin D deficiency won’t notice any abnormal symptoms. However, if you notice you’re exhausted/fatigued, your bones/muscles hurt, and/or you’re not sleeping well, these may be indications of something abnormal in your body, such as a deficit amount of vitamin D. Whether due to SAD or any other reason, if you would benefit from support, Evergreen Counseling & Wellness offers counseling and wellness services tailored to you.
Healing through conscious awareness
While you slow down through the winter months, it may be additionally beneficial to find things you enjoy and want to say “YES” to, for example, expose yourself to sunlight, engage in enjoyable movement/yoga, learn to eat in a satiating way, or practice good sleep habits/hygiene.
If you find you feel more tired than usual throughout the winter months, consider this as my sincere invitation for you to pause and listen to your mind-body. If it’s available to you, try to find ways to incorporate realistic and proper rest/rejuvenation. Our mind-body wants us to pay attention, but we’ve become well-rehearsed in doing something different than this. Our mind-body is not our enemy but wants us to heal.
If you need more support and/or are considering therapy, please call Evergreen Counseling & Wellness for a free 15-minute consultation at (215) 323-4244.
Hi, I’m Lexi!
I’m a licensed clinical social worker at Evergreen Counseling & Wellness. Read my bio to learn more about me and how I may help to provide support on your path to wellness.
