There are those of us for whom the impending time change (don’t forget, November 1, we fall back!) comes with an extra-double special level of anxiety.
We can feel cranky or get downright mean: how dare that sun disappear from the sky so early. Really, 4pm and it’s dark?! You might feel more lethargic than usual, or wonder why your pantry is suddenly stocked with any and every carb imaginable and all you want to do is eat it all and sleep.
Those are only the lesser evils of falling back an hour.
Other, more intense feelings, like depression can also arise. So now is the time to start planning for what you can do to stave off those almost-winter blahs. Prescription drugs are definitely not for everyone — and the caveat here, as you can imagine, is that for serious conditions, seek immediate professional help and don’t take anything, natural or synthetic, without asking your doctor first.
St. John’s Wort is a safe alternative for dealing with mild to moderate depression, according to Natural Health magazine. Before you rush out to up your happiness regimen, keep in mind that you should not combine it with any other antidepressants or SSRIs (selective sertonin reuptake inhibitors) because that can lead to deepening depression due to an overload of sertonin. It can also mess with your birth control, so ask your doctor..
The optimum way to take it is in a liquid, alcohol-based tincture (900 to 1,200 mg a day).
So fire up the sunlamps if you want, take a brisk walk, get some St. John’s Wort and some funny movies in your Netflix queue and celebrate — instead of dread — the soon-to-be shorter days!
[Via NaturalHealthmag.com]