Blue Monday

Well, all of that excitement and frenzied activity is over for another year. Yes, that’s right you’ve survived Christmas and New Year’s Eve. That traditional time of year when we over-spend and over-eat. If you’ve not spent it with your family, you get to hear about everyone else spending it with theirs. Is it any wonder that January the 23rd is officially the most miserable day of the year? The days are still dark, short and soaked in drizzle and for many of us it’s a long journey to spring.

Perhaps this is why the January blues can be tough to shift. If things aren’t going very well anyway, then this time of year can feel like a real burden. Mulling over things in the past or feeling overwhelmed by the future can become a day-to-day activity, and far from the enjoyable start to a new year people hope for.

So what can you do about it? Well, why not see if you can take up a new activity? The government has been going on about the physical benefits for years now, but did you know that half an hour of exercise a day is enough to release natural chemicals in your brain that act like anti-depressants? If you can make this exercise social (walking the dog with a neighbour, or joining a local walking group or team), then the benefits to your mood start to get better and better and better. There are lots of sports teams out there looking to make up their numbers, but not expecting you to be a super-star. Why not search the internet for something close to you? Greenwich Healthy Living Service’s ‘Get Active’ campaign has lots of information about local opportunities: www.greenwichhealthyliving.nhs.uk

If all this talk of being more active and meeting new people seems completely unachievable, then it might be possible that your difficulties go beyond a seasonal slump. Maybe the January Blues has brought to your attention a more long-standing problem with how you feel. If that’s the case, then you are not alone. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year. Luckily there are many methods of treatment out there that have been shown to work. The most effective of these is known as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (or CBT for short). It’s a type of treatment that looks at how people are thinking, and the things they are doing, that might be maintaining their problems. If you are looking for treatment based on CBT principles, CBT itself or counselling, you don’t even have to go to your GP. You can access this for free by calling 020 3260 1100 (if you live in the borough of Greenwich). The NHS has set up services all over the country looking to improve access to psychological therapies that work. If beating the January Blues is taking a little more out of you this year, you lose nothing by asking for help.

Joe Ryan

Monday the 23rd of January is supposed to be the most miserable day of 2012. People may begin to feel lower around this time of year given the lack of light, the poor weather, the long wait until Christmas 2012, money worries and the possibility of having already failed in overly ambitious New Year's Resolutions.
 
Here are some tips to help Beat the Blues this January....
 
1. Make the most of the daylight: Make sure that you are in some of the limited light even if it is only 20 minutes in your lunch break. An alternative is to invest in a SAD lamp to help boost mood. Think that the days are now beginning to get longer not shorter!
 
2. Exercise: Plan when you are going to exercise and have a back up plan if the weather is poor e.g. exercise classes that are free for Greenwich residents check out http://greenwichhealthyliving.nhs.uk/
 
3. Goal setting: ensure that you set Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-limited goals for your New Year's Resolutions. If we don't set SMART goals we can set ourselves up to fail. This can make us experience self critical thoughts about ourselves which can make us feel low.
 
4. Challenging self-critical thoughts: Ask yourself "would I think this about my friend if they were in the same situation as myself?". Often you will find that you would not be as harsh to a friend, learn to be kind and compassionate to yourself.
 
5. Social support helps to buffer stress: Just because Christmas and New Year are over does not mean that socialising needs to end. Plan to make dinner with friends or have a DVD night in. This ensures that you still see friends yet manage to keep costs down.
 
Still finding things difficult? If you live in the borough Greenwich Time to Talk can help! Give us a call on 020 3260 1100.

Frances Corrigall