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By: HuffPost; Paige Smith

If you’re starting to feel glum, listless and irritable this time of year, you’re not alone. The days are shorter, holiday bills are piling up and the winter blues are in full swing.

According to Josh Klapow, a clinical psychologist and co-host of the radio show “The Web,” the winter blues are generally characterized by a lack of energy and feelings of irritability, sadness and apathy.

Dr. Marc Leavey, a primary care internist at Mercy Medical Center in New York, says that “some [people] are just more sensitive to the seasonal changes that trigger the winter blues,” like colder temperatures and fewer daylight hours. Klapow says the blues can also surface due to lack of activity, changes in your diet or exercise routine, holiday stress, financial concerns, sudden loss or family issues.

It’s important, however, not to confuse the winter blues with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Klapow said the winter blues are less severe and more time-limited than SAD, symptoms of which may include sadness, irritability, disrupted sleeping, changes in appetite, hopelessness, difficulty concentrating, loss of interest in enjoyable activities and suicidal ideation.

“This medical condition, while it may be triggered by the same environmental conditions that lead to the winter blues, is much more serious, and deserves professional attention,” Leavey said.

If you feel down, hopeless or blue this winter, Leavey says it’s best to consult a medical or mental health professional before self-diagnosing. “Check with your physician [to] be sure that it is only the blues and not a significant depression,” he said.

If you confirm that you’re not dealing with SAD, but just a bout of the winter blues, there are some easy ways to turn that mood around. Try these expert-backed strategies to get back to feeling better:

1. Expose yourself to natural light every day

The winter blues may put you in the mood for good old-fashioned couch hibernation, but Leavey said it’s crucial to get outside and soak up some natural light, however weak it may be.

Natural sunlight “helps to regulate your sleep-wake cycles, which can be thrown off during times where there is less daylight,” Kaplow said. That light can help facilitate the production of serotonin in the body, which in turn can help elevate your mood, he explained.

Make a point to spend at least 20 minutes outside every day, even if the weather is foul. Walk to work in the morning, eat lunch in the outdoor courtyard or use your coffee break to stroll a few blocks to a cafe.

2. Prioritize sleep

Sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns are linked to feelings of depression, Klapow said, which is why he recommends logging seven to eight hours of quality sleep each night — no excuses.

“The restorative nature of sleep and a regular sleep cycle helps to stabilize your mood,” he explained.

3. Move every day for at least 15 minutes

It’s easy to skip the gym during the winter months, but Klapow said exercising can have incredible outlook-enhancing and energizing effects. Preliminary research backs this up: A study from the journal Pain Medicine found that even 10 minutes of exercise can help improve your mood and reduce feelings of anxiety.

If you can’t schedule an hour-long sweat session, carve out 15 minutes for push-ups and jumping jacks before your morning shower, a quick HIIT routine during your lunch break, a brisk afternoon walk or an evening yoga flow.

4. Brighten your bedroom and office

Adjusting your immediate surroundings can help balance your emotions and alleviate the winter blues, Leavey said. If you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, try adding a source of naturalistic artificial light to your bedroom. A dawn simulator, for example, works on a timer to gradually brighten your bedroom and has been shown to reduce feelings of seasonal depression.

Next, revamp your workspace. If you can, move your desk closer to the window so you’re exposed to more natural light. If that’s not possible, install a sunlamp to brighten your dim office cubicle — it’ll recreate the feeling of natural light and combat harsh fluorescent bulbs. Another tip is to bring some fresh greenery to your space: Research suggests that proximity to indoor plants may help lessen psychological and physiological stress.

5. Examine your daily diet

“The type of food you eat impacts your energy levels, sleep and immune functioning,” Klapow said.

Pastries for breakfast or a stop at your favorite fast-food joint may bring you instant comfort, but regularly consuming these items can worsen your physical health — and may even have negative long-term effects on your mental health. Research shows that fast-food consumption is linked to a higher risk of depression, as are alcohol consumption and sugar from sodas and desserts.

That doesn’t mean you need to completely abandon your favorite treats this winter, though. Make small changes by trying to cut back on processed items, swap your soda for water, limit your alcohol consumption and incorporate whole grains and veggies at every meal.

6. Spend time with friends and loved ones

“Emotional light” ― that is, connecting with other people ― is just as critical as environmental light when it comes to eliminating the winter blues, Leavey said. “Plan activities, be with people [and] try not to sit at home alone and curse the darkness.”

Klapow underscored this point, noting that social interaction can serve as a buffer against depression-like symptoms, since being around others helps keep your mind and emotions engaged.

That doesn’t mean you need to make lunch plans every day, hit up all the holiday parties or host a weekly game night if you’re not up to it, though. Social connection of any kind is valuable and helpful, Klapow says, so do what feels comfortable for you.

7. Cut yourself some slack

When you’re struggling with the winter blues, you might feel energized one day and super low the next. This is normal. Shaming yourself for how you feel is only going to make you feel worse.

“Give yourself permission to have both good days and bad days during the [winter] season,” Klapow said.

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By: Real Simple; Marty Munson

How do you want to look and feel by this time next year? If your goal is to be thinner, happier, or healthier, you can achieve it just by making small adjustments to your lifestyle. See how, over the course of a year, tiny changes can have a surprisingly big impact.

If You…Lose One Pound a Week

Next year: A pound-a-week loss seems so minimal, and yet think about it: At that rate, you’ll be 52 pounds lighter in a year. But if you are overweight, you don’t have to drop 52 pounds to be healthier: Losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can improve your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugars, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that can reduce your risk of big-trouble diseases, including cardiovascular disease (still the number-one killer in the United States) and diabetes (which currently affects more than 25 million Americans).

If You…Take a Lap Around Your Local Big-Box Store

Next year: If once a week you take a turn around the inside of a mega-store before you begin shopping, you’ll walk 12 extra miles over a year: That big U shape you trace by walking the outermost aisles of the average big-box store adds up to an extra quarter-mile of walking each time.

If You…Take the Stairs

Next year: You will have burned double the calories you would by riding the elevator. A 160-pound woman would burn about 4,940 calories a year—1.4 pounds—if she took three minutes to briskly climb the stairs every workday (carrying 1 to 15 pounds of stuff with her). That stair habit could burn the equivalent of 11½ Hershey bars. On the flip side, standing in an elevator for three minutes barely burns 10 calories, for a total of just 2,480 calories over a year, not even enough to torch a pound (to do that, you’d have to burn or cut out 3,500 calories).

If You…Cut Out One Cookie a Day

Next year: You will have eliminated 21,170 calories. That’s enough to drop six pounds. Cut more, lose more, of course.

If You…Use Oil Instead of Butter

Next year: You may have reduced your risk of heart disease by 19 percent in a year’s time. In a review published in PLOS Medicine in March 2010, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health noted that drop in risk when they analyzed research on more than 13,000 people who swapped out saturated fat (that’s in butter, as well as red meat) for polyunsaturated fat (in soybean oil and canola oil) for at least a year.

If You…Cut Out a Few Hours of TV Time

Next year: You may have slashed your risk of an early death. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2011 found that people who watched TV for six hours a day had shorter lives—by about 4.18 years—than people who didn’t watch TV. In fact, the researchers say that every hour of TV watched after the age of 25 reduces life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. But TV itself is not the culprit: It’s sitting for prolonged periods that can shorten your life. In a 2010 study, in the American Journal of Epidemiology, women who logged in some six hours of sitting time during their nonworking hours were 37 percent more likely to die earlier than peers who sat for just three hours over the course of a day (outside of work). Sedentary men, meanwhile, were 18 percent more likely to die earlier than their more active peers, according to the study. It’s possible, the researchers say, that sitting could suppress enzymes involved in the metabolism of fats or may somehow indirectly affect cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, and other markers of health. Going to the gym daily isn’t enough to change the stats: The key is to find ways to stand and move more during the day. Some experts recommend getting up from your chair every 30 minutes or less.

If You…Call One Old Friend a Month

Next year: That’s 12 people with whom you’ve rekindled or strengthened your friendship, and research has found that people with stronger personal bonds are 50 percent more likely to outlive their less social peers. There’s no magic amount of phone calls/e-mails/coffee dates that protects you, so if you want to check in with one friend (new or old) every week—or even every day—have at it.

If You…Go to Bed One Minute Earlier

Next year: Going to bed a minute earlier every night for just two months will earn you an extra hour of sleep pretty painlessly (a minute earlier a day for a year would gain you an extra six hours of sleep each night, which we hope is more than you actually need). There are compelling reasons to get those zzz’s (other than less money spent on coffee). Shortage of sleep is associated with a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart problems, a decreased ability to pay attention, increased chances of car accidents, and diminished memory capacity.

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March is National Nutrition Month, when the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reminds everyone to return to the basics of healthy eating. It is also the time of year when the Academy celebrates expertise of registered dietitian nutritionists as the food and nutrition experts.

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign focuses on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. In addition, National Nutrition Month® promotes the Academy and its members to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically-based food and nutrition information. And do they ever know their stuff!!

“Put Your Best Fork Forward” is the theme for NNM 2017 which serves as a reminder that each one of us holds the tool to make healthier food choices. Making small changes during National Nutrition Month® and over time, helps improve health now and into the future. As nutrition experts, Academy members can help guide the public on gradually shifting toward healthier eating styles by promoting NNM activities and messages during March.

We at Clearwater Medical Clinic want to encourage you to visit the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website for amazing information, smart suggestions for food choices depending on whatever lifestyle challenges you are faced with, and living the total body diet lifestyle: http://www.eatright.org/resource/food/resources/national-nutrition-month/national-nutrition-month

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Depression and heart disease frequently travel together. This common observation has generated the myth that depression is “normal” in the heart patient. Buying into this concept, many doctors ignore a heart patient’s depression, focusing only on the cardiac problem. This is a mistake.

Two leading health problems

Clinical depression and cardiovascular disease are the two leading causes of disability worldwide. When they coexist in the same patient, they create a synergy that makes both conditions worse. At any given time, about 5 percent of people in the general population are suffering from depression. Unfortunately, we have more bad news for them. Their depression is associated with increased risk of developing coronary heart disease over time.

How does depression lead to coronary heart disease?

We don’t have a concrete answer to this question, but we have some good leads. Depressed individuals often have unfavorable changes in blood pressure, blood clotting, inflammation and circulating stress hormones, all factors associated with coronary heart disease. In addition, lifestyle factors in the depressed person, including, poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise, increase the risk of developing heart disease.

Whatever the explanation for the association between depression and heart disease, the message is clear. If a friend or loved one suffers from depression, encourage both treatment of depression and a heart healthy lifestyle to ward off coronary heart disease.

Heart patients are prone to depression

As if having a heart issue were not enough, it turns out that 20 to 30 percent of all heart patients develop depression. This startling figure has led many physicians to assume that depression is normal in people with heart disease. After all, they reason, anybody would be upset and depressed to discover he had heart disease. They also assume that the depression will get better on its own with time. But both of those beliefs are wrong. Depression is common in people with heart disease, but it is not normal.

Depressed heart patients fare poorly

Depressed heart patients experience more heart attacks and a higher risk of death than their non-depressed counterparts. After a heart attack, depression substantially increases the risk of having another heart attack and the risk of dying within six months. We see similar trends after bypass surgery. And the worse the depression, the worse the cardiac outlook.

What you can do

Doctors, nurses, and family members may ignore heart patients’ complaints of feeling sad, empty, and listless, often attribute these feelings to the heart problems, and consequently failing to recognize a loved one’s depression. But you can recognize depression. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone with heart disease should be screened for depression with two simple questions:

1. During the past month, have you frequently felt down, depressed or hopeless? 2. During the past month, have you felt little interest or pleasure in doing things?

If you or a loved one has heart disease-newly diagnosed or chronic-see your doctor for help if the answer to either one of these questions is yes. You will be glad that you did.

Reprinted from:

Psychology Today

February, 2012

Marc Gillinov, M.D.

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Take steps today to lower your risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.

To help prevent heart disease, you can:

* Eat healthy.

* Get active.

* Stay at a healthy weight.

* Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke.

* Control your cholesterol and blood pressure.

* If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.

* Manage stress.

You are at higher risk for heart disease if you:

* Have high cholesterol or high blood pressure

* Smoke

* Are overweight or obese

* Don’t get enough physical activity

* Don’t eat a healthy diet

Your age and family history also affect your risk for heart disease. Your risk is higher if:

* You are a woman over age 55

* You are a man over age 45

* Your father or brother had heart disease before age 55

* Your mother or sister had heart disease before age 65

What is heart disease?

When people talk about heart disease, they are usually talking about coronary heart disease (CHD). It’s also called coronary artery disease (CAD). This is the most common type of heart disease.

When someone has CHD, the coronary arteries (tubes) that take blood to the heart are narrow or blocked. This happens when cholesterol and fatty material, called plaque (“plak”), build up inside the arteries.

Plaque is caused by:

* Too much fat and cholesterol in the blood

* High blood pressure

* Smoking

* Too much sugar in the blood (usually because of diabetes)

When plaque blocks an artery, it’s hard for blood to flow to the heart. A blocked artery can cause chest pain or a heart attack.

Don’t ignore changes in how you feel.

Signs of a heart attack often come on suddenly. But sometimes, they develop slowly – hours, days, or even weeks before a heart attack happens.

Talk to your doctor if you feel unusually tired for several days, or if you develop any new health problems (like pain or trouble breathing). It’s also important to talk to your doctor if existing health issues (like pain) are bothering you more than usual.

If you’ve had a heart attack in the past, it’s important to know that symptoms of a new heart attack might be different from your last one – so talk with your doctor if you have any concerns about how you feel.

Call 911 right away if you or someone else has signs of a heart attack.

Control your cholesterol and blood pressure.

High cholesterol and high blood pressure can cause heart disease and heart attack. If your cholesterol or blood pressure numbers are high, you can take steps to lower them.

All men age 35 and older need to get their cholesterol checked. You also need to get your cholesterol checked if you have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease and you are a:

* Man ages 20 to 35

* Woman age 20 or older

Get your blood pressure checked. Starting at age 18, get your blood pressure checked regularly. High blood pressure has no signs or symptoms.

Know your family’s health history. Your family history affects your risk for heart disease.

Ask your doctor about taking aspirin every day.

If you are age 50 to 59, taking aspirin every day can lower your risk of heart attack and stroke – but it’s not recommended for everyone.

Eat healthy. Eating healthy can help lower your risk of heart disease. A heart-healthy diet includes foods that are low in saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium (salt).

Heart-healthy items include high-fiber foods (whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) and certain fats (like the fats in olive oil and fish).

Drink alcohol only in moderation. If you choose to drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. This means limiting your drinking to no more than 1 drink a day for woman and no more than 2 drinks a day for men. Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of heart disease.

Get active. Getting active can help prevent heart disease. Adults need at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week. This includes walking fast, dancing, and biking.

If you are just getting started, try walking for 10 minutes a day, a few days each week. Then add more activity over time.

Stay at a healthy weight.

People who are overweight or obese are at an increased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, losing just 10 pounds can lower your risk of heart disease

Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke. Quitting smoking helps lower your risk of heart disease and heart attack. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for free support and to set up your plan for quitting.

Avoiding secondhand smoke is important, too – so keep your home smoke-free. If you have guests who smoke, ask them to smoke outside.

Manage stress. Managing stress can help prevent serious health problems like heart disease, depression, and high blood pressure. Deep breathing and meditation are good ways to relax and manage stress.

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Improve the texture and softness of your skin. Call the Clearwater Medical Clinic & Aesthetics at 208.743.8416 option 5 to schedule an appointment.

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Through the Idaho Immunization Program, we are providing routine childhood vaccines to Idaho children, under the age of 19 years, at no cost or at a significantly reduced cost.

Call us for more information.

For more information about immunizing your child, visit the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare website.

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She is accepting new patients. Call 208.743.8416 to schedule your appointment today!

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