It seems that we all feel some pangs of the winter blues. But SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is an even more profound psychological condition that can really wreak havoc for some in the winter months. While this condition is not fully understood by doctors, it’s thought to be related to the amounts of melatonin and serotonin in your body.

If you feel like you’re feeling SAD or just seem to be in a bit of a cold weather funk, here are few practical steps you can take:

Phototherapy:

Research shows that more than 80 percent of those treated with bright light exposure experience relief from their SAD-related symptoms. People who were exposed to bright (10,000 lux) fluorescent light for at least 30 minutes per day showed improvement in two days to four weeks.

Recent studies suggest that SAD sufferers can receive the same benefits by walking outdoors for an hour a day. Even on overcast days, natural sunlight provides enough light to help alleviate symptoms.

Exercise:

Several studies at Duke University suggest that exercise plays a key role in recovery from depression as well as prevention of relapse. Since SAD responds to the same treatments that have been successful in relieving other types of depression, the results of these studies are relevant.

In one study, researchers found that patients who engaged in brisk exercise for 30 minutes three times weekly were just as likely to experience a decrease in their depressive symptoms as patients who were treated with medication only. Researchers then followed participants for another six months, and found that those who exercised were unlikely to experience a relapse. Only 8 percent of the exercisers became depressed again. Patients who exercised and took medication relapsed at the rate of 31 percent, and those who took medication had a 38 percent relapse rate.

If you don’t already exercise regularly, try incorporating a brisk 30-minute walk into your day three times each week. In addition to mitigating depressive symptoms, this level of activity contributes to overall physical well-being, especially cardiovascular health.

Sources of Steps: author Dawn Williams

Okay, so I’m writing this from firsthand experience. I’m very ill with a flu. When I first realized I was coming down with it, I became very frustrated. I have work to do! I have people to see and places to be. This flu was going to cost me. (Little did I realize that that very attitude may have lead to my illness in the first place. We all try to squeeze so much into a day, that our immune system often pays a price.)

On the first day - the worst day - I realized I could do nothing. And I mean literally nothing. I tried to work but my focus was not there. I was too preoccupied by my own nagging physical discomfort. When I stopped trying to work, I realized that while I was sick, the day was mine, to do as I pleased. Of course, it was rather limited. I slept and read and sipped tea.

But the nice part? I never saw a day go by so slowly. The day ambled instead of feeling condensed and compressed. I had a chance to simply watch a day go by. Sounds like a crime in our day and age! We’re not supposed to watch a day go by! We’re supposed to be running, moving, shaking, doing.

So, though I was quite ill, it was one of the most relaxing days I’ve had in a while.

The next time you’re ill, think of it as a strange treat. An opportunity to watch a day go by. And remember, you can do that same thing when you’re not sick!

Here come the holidays, like a giant tidal wave. You can run but you cannot hide! Is there a way to navigate these life landmarks without feeling bowled over?

Sure. It requires simplifying. A few posts ago, we discussed the idea of not overdoing it with gifts this year and figuring out some alternative ways to give.

Since Thanksgiving is a few days away, what can you do to simplify?

1. Be genuinely thankful. Wake up in the morning and spend ten quiet minutes giving thanks for all that is going well in your life. Even if you’re experiencing an extremely challenging time, there are always things for which to give thanks. Think small. Be thankful for a good cup of coffee. A hot shower. A good, old movie that made you cry, The clean, crisp air.

2. Don’t overdo it. It’s become almost tradition to overdo it on the holidays - eating until we’re ready to burst. For the sake of others on this planet who have none, try not to stuff yourself to the gills. Respect your body’s limit. Take a break. Drink water. And wrap up every leftover. Give it to friends or charities who may need some extra. (I have some young college guys who live down the street - they’ll love the extra turkey this Friday!)

3. Make genuine connections. This one may be the hardest. Some of us don’t have “perfect” relations with our families so holidays can be trying and draining. This year, try to move past some of your internal walls. Listen to people with a little more care, extend yourself, be warm, be kind, be grateful for the ways they’ve contributed to your life. In short, give back!

Give back to yourself as well. One technique I’ve mastered? The holiday break! Go for a walk after dinner alone. Go sit with yourself in an empty room and breathe. Take a few minutes to read a book. Break from the pack and reconnect with yourself, even if its for a short period. (This one makes a big difference - trust me!)

Listen - the holidays can be beautiful times but they’re no walk in the park. Its up to you to change the unspoken rules and make them work for you. And it doesn’t take much.

According to some recent research, introducing some negativity into your thinking may not be as bad as you think.

We’ve often heard how important it is to count our blessings. But imagining that those blessings never existed in the first place may be a quicker path to happiness.

How?

According to a new series of studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (PDF), positive thinking may not be the way to go after all: Instead, you’ll be better off imagining what your life would be like if one of the positive elements of your life didn’t exist at all.

In one of the studies, some subjects were asked to write for 20 minutes about what might have happened if they’d never met their significant others: Say you’d signed up for a different major in college, you hadn’t gone to that party, or you never bothered to attend the matchmaking dinner at a friend’s house that led you to your spouse. Other subjects were simply asked to reflect upon those blissful beginnings, sharing the stories of how they found their partners.

You might expect that a walk down memory lane to the start of a new love would brighten anyone’s mood—and it did, to some extent. But the researchers found that the subjects who were asked to “subtract” their partner from their lives and consider an alternate reality came out of the experience feeling far happier than those who had shared their true stories.

This seems contradictory to conventional wisdom, in which we are taught that showing gratitude for all we have can increase our happiness. But in a Scientific American article, Sonja Luubomirsky, a psychology professor at UC Davis and the author of The How of Happiness: A New Guide to Getting the Life You Want, suggests that the “subtraction” model used in the new research is still a form of showing appreciation for our lives.

“How else do we strive to appreciate the good things in our lives… if not by implicitly imagining what life would be like without them? “ she asks. “To be grateful for our eyesight, we imagine what it would feel like to be blind; to appreciate our next-door colleague, we contemplate what our work days would be like if he resigned.”

Lesson learned? Counting your blessings may work more effectively when you imagine your life without those blessings in the first place!

Source: Gimundo

Forgiveness is more than just an action or a concept. We all know how powerful it feels when you let go of the anger or attachment of pain when we’ve been hurt by someone’s actions. A higher love takes us over. A deep sense of relief is felt.

But did you know that there are some very practical aspects to forgiveness as well?

According to the Mayo Clinic, here are some other perks to genuinely forgiving and letting go:

Researchers have recently become interested in studying the effects of being unforgiving and being forgiving. Evidence is mounting that holding on to grudges and bitterness results in long-term health problems. Forgiveness, on the other hand, offers numerous benefits, including:

• Lower blood pressure
• Stress reduction
• Less hostility
• Better anger management skills
• Lower heart rate
• Lower risk of alcohol or substance abuse
• Fewer depression symptoms
• Fewer anxiety symptoms
• Reduction in chronic pain
• More friendships
• Healthier relationships
• Greater religious or spiritual well-being
• Improved psychological well-being

As the Swine Flu epidemic increases, we must give pause to the people who have been affected as well as the animals who we continually mistreat around this planet of ours.

That’s why hearing about George Nolan’s story is such positive news. George Nolan used to an avid deer hunter. Not anymore. Not since he met Baby.

Baby was found last spring by the Nolan family in the Michigan woods near their house. He had been abandoned by her mother. The Nolans run a wildlife rescue center and took her in without a thought. Now a connection has to forged that is both kind and touching.

Take a moment to check out this video:

Marcus Marcus, Young Founder of Save the Sharks

As Marcus Marcus puts it so well on his Save the Sharks website:

“One day last autumn I had a day off from day school and went to the water museum, Aquaria, with my mum. Right then there was a school group on a study trip and I sneaked in to listen to the guide.

The school children were mostly giggly and fighting but I stood near the guide so I could hear properly. He explained how a sickening number of sharks are captured to have their fins cut off to make shark fin soup.

I got really angry. On the boat back from Djurgården I decided to save the sharks.

My dad is a web designer and he has helped me make this website.

Here, I want to collect members for a really big shark club called “Save the sharks”. Everyone who wants to protest about the killing of sharks and the eating of shark fin soup should send in their name to my club.

Soon to be translated into a fourth language, the site contains a page where people can add their name to an already 20,000-strong list of protesters from 58 different countries. His recently launched facebook group has also gathered over 1,000 members.

So what are you waiting for? Help the kid realize he can make a difference and, most importantly, help the sharks!

To add your name to the petition contact:  Marcus Marcus, President, savethesharks.info@gmail.com, Save The Sharks Club, www.savethesharks.se

According to some scientists, yes indeed…and scientists aren’t known for their romantic side!

A group of scientists from Stony Brook University studied the scans of brains of new couples and partners who’d been together for 20 year and compared the results.

More specifically, the scientists measured the chemical reactions of each person’s brain when viewing a photo of his or her partner. In many cases, the reaction was stronger in those who’d recently started their relationships. But interestingly enough, close to ten percent of the long-term couples showed the same results, reflecting that same passion as twenty years ago.

“The findings go against the traditional view of romance – that it drops off sharply in the first decade – but we are sure it’s real,” Arthur Aron, one of the researchers, told the Times Online.

At first the researcher believed the couples were exaggerating their emotions but changed his mind after performing the study. “This is what the brain scans tell us and people can’t fake that.”

The researchers have nicknamed the lucky long-term couples “swans,” in honor of another animal that mates for life.

Positive News for "Swans"

Acclaimed artist and widowed wife of John Lennon, Yoko Ono is also a staunch supporter of autism research.

Ono unveiled an original mural entitled Promise which will be auctioned off in support of Autism Speaks and the 2nd Annual World Autism Awareness Day. This seven-foot mural currently is on display at the United Nations in New York City and will be auctioned for an autism charity.

Promise is comprised of 67 jigsaw-like pieces which will be broken down, signed by the Ono and auctioned off. The money raised will go to the charity Autism Speaks. The unveiled work is already missing two pieces. But Yoko hopes all 67 pieces will be reunited once a cure for autism is discovered.

“Once the solution for autism is discovered, we will see the sky shimmering in its original beauty, with no holes,” she explained.

If you’re like me, it’s hard to just walk by trash carelessly strewn on the ground.

I live at the Jersey shore and my daily walks end up being “littered” with picking up other people’s trash. Cigarette butts abound. Styrofoam bubbles. Coffee cups. Beer and soda cans. It’s difficult for me to understand the people who create the mess and almost equally challenging to understand people who just walk on by. It’s ALL of our business, so bend over and pick up!

The Ocean Conservancy recently stated that nearly seven million pounds of debris was collected during a single day last year from the world’s seas, waterways and shorelines.

According to the group’s report released Tuesday, nearly 400,000 volunteers scoured about 17,000 miles of coastline, river bottoms and ocean floors during its 23rd International Coastal Cleanup in September.

Cigarette butts topped the list of trash collected with more than 3.2 million. That’s followed by about 1.4 million plastic bags. Volunteers also collected 26,585 tires, enough for 6,646 cars - and a spare.

The next beach worldwide cleanup is Sept. 19!!!!

Top 10 debris items found worldwide during the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup in September 2008:

Cigarettes and filters, 3,216,991

Plastic bags, 1,377,141

Food wrappers and containers, 942,620

Caps and lids, 937,804

Plastic bottles, 714,892

Paper bags, 530,607

Straws and stirrers, 509,593

Cups, plates, forks, knives and spoons, 441,053

Glass bottles, 434,990

Drink cans, 401,412

Source: (CBS/AP)