Beating the January Blues
Ciarán Ferrin
The nights are long, the days are bitterly cold, the puddles aren’t evaporating, and the wind is unrelenting. January is undoubtedly one of the hardest months for our health. That’s why we’re here to give you some unbeatable advice to feel your best at this time of year.
The outcome of your day all depends on how you start it. Waking up in the morning when it’s still pitch-black outside can leave you not wanting to get out of the covers – and you’re certainly not alone in that! Having a reason to get up in the morning is a great way to give yourself more energy for the day.
Here are some tips and tricks for the morning, to get you through those January blues.
Try not to have caffeine as soon as you wake up, as this might cause a stronger afternoon crash. Instead wait about 90-120 minutes after waking and avoid caffeine from 6pm if you get to bed regularly at around 11pm. This is due to the caffeine’s half-life still affecting your system.
Try and get as much natural light in the morning as possible, about 1 hour is a good rule of thumb, even more if it’s a cloudy day. You might’ve heard similar advice from Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and lecturer at Stanford University, and host of the Huberman Lab podcast. Huberman also recommends many other important considerations for our physical, emotional, and overall health.
Some light stretching or exercise if possible – you can test whether you benefit most from doing this as soon as you wake up, or an hour before you go to bed.
While it’s important to start your day right, it’s just as important to take care of yourself throughout the day as well. Here are a few ways to get yourself through those bitter winter days.
Include some fermented foods in your diet. These are foods which are special because they support overall health such as gut digestion, cognitive function, can increase serotonin (90 per cent of which is produced in the gut) and can kill off harmful microbes. These are foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, yoghurt, certain aged cheeses, pickles, and so on.
Stay ACTUALLY connected – having regular or eventful meetups will help balance your mindset of ‘working hard and playing hard’. However, some of you are introverts, extroverts and some others are a mixture of both, so find your perfect mix!
Laughter, music, relaxing and craic, are all scientifically proven to produce more antibodies, help your immune system kill viruses and tumour cells, as well as increasing your dopamine & serotonin. Laughter really is the best medicine!
Active recovery, such as walking, light stretching, or dancing can all contribute to recovery, getting us ready for tomorrow. Even though it will be dark, and you may just want to go straight to bed, having the determination on the home straight to recover will make your tomorrow even more worth it.
Learning something new, even if you’re doing the same thing every week such as learning an instrument, playing a sport or even doing things in a different way, have all shown to have a positive effect on your mental health.
Control your chemicals, not just your calories. This is one of the most important ones - What chemicals you interact with on a daily basis are the most important and impactful things in your life, literally speaking! Understanding your brain chemistry, what your body wants and needs, what environments you live in, and how they can all communicate with your brain and body will make you feel very powerful. You’ll be able to improve your life by simply controlling what levels of chemicals you are exposed to, and when! A good rule of thumb is to do natural things, as these have proven to be most beneficial for our evolving biology and psychology.
Finally, don’t worry if everything feels too overwhelming, and you can’t do anything that day - everyone has and will continue to feel like that at some point. Take your time to return to your comfort spaces, do what you like to do and not what you think others would like you to do.
If you’re feeling a little hopeless, take those emotions and use them to empower yourself. You will come to learn how much you can endure once you get that momentum going. Don't worry, everyone you see online can improve - they are not perfect, despite what you may think. Don’t blame yourself for everything that is happening in your life - tomorrow is a new day to try new things that may work better for you!
Ciarán Ferrin is a Science and Environment reporter for The Scoop. He has an MSc in Leadership and Sustainable Development and is currently working as a support provider at Ulster University.