Having a brain injury causes periods fatigue. If I can’t control it, it gradually changes my mood. My thoughts become foggy. I get headaches and my day-to-day routine eventually goes to dust.
I have had seasonal effective disorder since a very young age and I had to learn how to help myself during the darker, colder months. Now, as a young adult, I can even judge when it’s going to happen. I start noticing symptoms in early October and they gradually get worse. Having a brain tumour definitely doesn’t help! Where you live in the world can affect the time of year you might be affected.
Here I some suggestions that help me manage SAD
Regular Routine
For me, having a regular routine is very important. On the days when I am not feeling good, I force myself to stick to it. I now know it will make me feel better in the long run.
I will always try to get up at the same time, have a shower and then have breakfast. If I want a sleep in, I just go to bed earlier the night before. I will also try to do my exercise and eat at the same time each day.
I do try and stick to a bedtime routine. Due to the position of my tumour in the pituitary gland, sometimes I just don’t feel tired. However, I will always make sure I get up at the same time and if I feel very tired, I will take short naps throughout the day.
Awake To Light
As mentioned above I do really struggle getting to sleep. That is why I have a black out blind in my bedroom. I need light by day but darkness to sleep.
The downside of a blackout blind is that it prevents natural light coming into my bedroom to help wake me up. I generally find natural light is not enough on those dark winter cloudy days. In the morning I use a wake up light alarm clock that gradually gets brighter over time. Once I am awake, I get out of bed straight away and turn on an additional SAD light, open my blinds and listen to some music, while getting ready for the day. I use a brand called Lumie and find this really helps me.
Nutrition
Nutrition has always had a massive impact on the way I feel. The trouble is, all I wanted to do when I had the winter blues was hibernate and eat sweet, starchy foods. I wanted to try and get more energy but then I wouldn’t feel hungry for proper meals. It became a vicious cycle. When I was younger I use to fall foul snacking on unhealthy things. Now I know, all it did was make me feel worse.
It was only over a period of time I learnt how to control my cravings. I made sure I was eating three healthy meals a day. I eat healthy snacks and asked my parents to stop buying unhealthy food. I knew if I saw a chocolate bar in the cupboard my will power alone would not be enough.
Think hard about what you are eating. Make a food plan and stick to your shopping list. Don’t be a victim of all the cheap processed snacks and food you can buy!
Stay Active
During the winter it is even more important for me to stay active. If I don’t feel like going to the gym, I will still make sure I exercise. I love taking the dogs for a walk, doing some stretching, running, swimming, cycling, sailing, windsurfing and more. What is in important is I that I do something I enjoy.
I used to force myself to do hard physical activity in the gym, even when my body was exhausted but I realised this wasn’t the way to a healthy lifestyle. I was already feeling tired so it just made me feel worse. I realised my fitness would gradually come if I enjoyed what I was doing. A pattern fell into place where I wanted to do more. I still want to get fitter but who doesn’t?
We all want what we can’t have straight away; we can’t expect a change overnight. It is much better to make gradual changes over months instead of days. Exercising releases endorphins and will help the way you feel. It is really important just to do something, especially in winter.