Sepia Prime Woman Digital Magazine December 2013 | Page 18

Nurturing You
Or, if you don’t have the stamina for that, stand at the
bottom of the stairs, turn on some music you like and do
step exercises on one or two steps just to get the heart rate
up. My favorite is dancing. Anybody can do it. Close
the curtains if you have to. But, it is such a great form of
exercising. And, you laugh. Yoga is very simple to do and
is a good exercise and produces endorphins.
5.
Drink Water. Make sure you stay hydrated. The
rule of thumb is to take your body weight and divide by
two. That would tell you how many ounces of water to
drink a day. So, if you weigh 120lbs, you would need to
drink 60 oz. of water a day. When it’s cold outside we
drink less water. We want warm things. But, we still need
basic water.
SPW: Is medication required?
JE:
If the Big 5 I mentioned along with counseling
don’t help to lighten or alleviate the symptoms, it’s time
to consult a doctor for a medical evaluation along with
counseling. I look at medication as being a wonderful
aide alongside the work of counseling. I’ve had clients in
the past, that when they started on medication, decided
to they didn’t need counseling because they were feeling
“better”. That may be true for a small population of
people. We are so quick in our culture to just take a pill for
something and not do what I would consider the healthier
work of examining myself and finding ways to grow
and change to make my life better; counseling helps to
enable that. I have no problem with medication because
I say that it takes the “edge” off. A low dose short term
medication may be exactly what is necessary during the
winter months. There are people who go see their doctor
around September, get their prescription, and are done by
March or April. It’s typically a six month regimen. If you
are going to be on medication, you need to commit to it
for six months minimum. I don’t think that, chemically,
your body has time enough to respond and metabolize the
medication in order to see the benefits with just 2 months.
SPW: You mentioned SAD occurs around the fall season.
Can it happen in the warmer months?
JE: There is less occurrence of SAD in the warmer

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(continued)
months, but sometimes when the weather gets better,
people tend to increase in anxiety. Even though it is not
depression, if you’ve put on weight over the holidays and
now you realized it’s “beach body” time, the anxiety can
go up. Anxiety and depression are bedfellows. Exercising
that I mentioned before can help deter that. Exercising is a
good way to reduce anxiety as well. I’m just a big fan of it
because exercising has such good natural benefits.
SPW: Final thoughts?
JE:
One of the things I want to ask people to consider
is, “When do I know that I need to seek medical attention
for SAD rather than just look at it casually?” At some
point we need to be aware that we have crossed a line and
that we are experiencing far more symptoms. You can
go online and get more specific symptoms of SAD. Once
you can say “Oh I have 8-9 symptoms versus 2-3” then yes
you probably need to see my doctor. Part of self-care is to
put myself in proper accountability with my doctor. We
are not good “armchair” physicians. It is nice to have an
outside perspective that can say “Yes you do seem lower
and when I look at your charts this time over the last few
years,” a medical record is a great way to look for a pattern.
Your doctor may decide you do need to have a six month,
low dose prescription of an antidepressant along with
counseling and the other things we’ve talked about.
Personally I used to dislike winter though I wouldn’t say
I was struggling with SAD. I decided self-care for me
was to pick up some outdoor winter sports. I took up
snowshoeing. So now, when there is a big snow, I am
excited because I’m going to strap on my snow shoes and
go hike at a couple of my favorite Chicago land places in
this beautiful snow and I get a workout. It is a win-win
situation.
SPW: I see. You’ve changed your
outlook or your perspective.
JE:
Absolutely. So, now I don’t
mind winter nearly to the extent
I
did because I decided to get out
and have fun with it rather than
dread it.