Autumn Has Arrived
A lack of sunlight, particularly during the winter months, can have a very negative impact on the health and well-being of certain individuals, namely me. As an animal I would bulk up for the summer and sleep for 5 months. Oh to be paid for that. Instead I light fires in the hearth and stock up on chocolate and red wine. With Autumn beginning, BBQ season has certainly passed us by although unlike last years idea that never turned to fruitition I am determined to have a winter BBQ on one of those clear sky days in December and invite everyone around so we can wrap ourselves up warm, huddle around the hot coals and contemplate hibernation.
My body clock has already started to feel the constriction. Usually I would go to sleep at midnight and now it's around 11 O'clock. Instead of 8 hours sleep I now need 9 and I am starting to sleep in on Saturday mornings now instead of getting up slightly later than my normal time and potter about - it's just too cold for that kind of thing.
One good thing I enjoy at this time of year is conkers and there is a tree in our backgarden that I have started to reap the harvest of following the tale end of a hurricane that hit us last weekend ripping a few branches from the tree and throwing the spiky green shells to the ground.
If you have an ideas on how you perk yourselves up over the winter months let me know and I'll try them out.
See you tomorrow folks.
posted by Phil @ 6:48 pm
5 Comments:
You could try Light Therapy. This involves spending up to 4 hours per day sitting two to three feet away from a specially designed light box that requires a minimum dose of 2500 lux. Oddly enought its not available on the NHS, but im sure you could find a good deal on ebay :-)
I bought a Lumie Bodyclock last week (a "dawn simulator" alarm clock), and so far it has been absolutely fantastic in getting me out of bed, even though I am now getting up at 7am (two hours earlier than normal) and it is still dark outside. It feels like I am waking up naturally, rather than being ripped out of sleep at the crack of dawn. I think this will make mornings a lot more bearable for me as winter draws in.
As far as I know, the dawn simulator has a similar effect to light therapy, although at a much lower level. Might be worth a shot!
I've asked management to look into getting these:
http://www.sadbox.co.uk/products_prices/daystarfullspectrum.html
It's effective and cheap so I'll let you know if they buy it.
I friend of mine bought a sun lamp recently and the last time I saw him he was looking pretty close to sunburnt!
I'm sure he wasn't as bad as those girls who are practically orange.
Eugh!
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