My Heart to Yours

With the dark days of winter upon us, it’s not unusual to feel blue from time to time. Decreased exposure to sunlight can make it difficult to wake up in the morning, think creatively or even perform easy or enjoyable tasks.

Add to that an increase in sluggishness, lingering anxiety, and an insatiable craving for carbohydrates, it’s easy to see why many people dread these shorter, colder days of the year.

For some, cabin fever can lead to a case of the winter blahs. For others, the effects characterize a type of depressive disorder.

Research shows that the winter blues and its more severe counterpart, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), affect some 15 million people in the U.S. alone. Symptoms often begin in October or November, climax in January or February, and subside in March or April.

Although the winter blues are not as severe as long-term depression, they can impact the way a person thinks, reacts and handles everyday challenges. Someone with a more serious case may feel hopeless, helpless and even ponder suicide. What’s more, SAD weakens the immune system, increasing vulnerability to infections and other illnesses.

Additional symptoms include:

Desire to avoid social contact
Inability to tolerate stress
Decreased interest in sex and physical contact
Loss of self-esteem
Headaches, body aches and abdominal pains
Causes of Seasonal Affective Disorder
The medical community recognized SAD in 1985, and research on causes and treatments hasn’t let up since. Of course, if you have a history of depression, you are high risk. But what else do doctors say about this sometimes-debilitating disorder?

Unstable levels of melatonin and serotonin. During the day, our body produces serotonin, a neurotransmitter responsible for mood, hunger and sleep. The pineal gland produces melatonin, a hormone responsible for our drowsiness at night. But on those dark winter days, there isn’t always enough sunlight to trigger the production of serotonin.
Short days, long nights. The body’s internal clock is disrupted; it doesn’t know when to sleep or wake up if the sun sets at 4 p.m.
Location, location, location. If you live in a northern state where a string of cloudy days and months is commonplace, your chances of feeling SAD increase.
Gender differences. Women are four times more likely to suffer from the condition than men, yet experts suspect that men may simply underreport or cover up their symptoms.
Young adulthood. It is proven that nearly 25 percent of college students across the country suffer the effects of winter blues. While SAD is relatively uncommon in those younger than 20, it does affect some children and teens.
Beating the Winter Blues
There is no cure for SAD or the winter blues. But, like depression, you can learn to manage it. Current treatments include psychotherapy, medication, and light therapy, which involves exposure to a special type of light box.

Many preventative measures can also help curb the symptoms. Exercise, a well-balanced diet, stress reduction, and an increase in the exposure to natural light are all effective self-help methods.

Still, don’t be afraid to consult a professional to discuss the condition and its symptoms. After all, physical and emotional well-being is definitely worth the effort.

Philippians 4:6-13

Paul certainly had plenty of reason to feel anxious. Sitting in a Roman prison, he didn’t know if he would be released or put to death. Writing to the believers in Philippi, however, he urged them, “Be anxious for nothing.”

Anxiety and its companion, worry, do their best to immobilize believers. People are anxious about the future; they are anxious about events that haven’t happened but could happen. Anxiety causes physical problems. Anxiety makes people fearful and distressed.

So what can believers do about their anxiety? Paul gives the answer, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” When we give our anxiety to God, He replaces it with His peace that “surpasses all understanding.” God’s peace is beyond comprehension because it makes no sense—the circumstances seem to require anxiety, but instead we feel God’s peace. When we feel anxiety rising, we should turn to God in prayer. He will give us the peace He promised.

I had a client commit suicide about 8 months ago. He was a very successful business man with a great personality. He left behind a wife a three children-17, 8, and 5. I ran across this website tonight and thought of him.

Survivors of Suicide

• Forgiveness acknowledges the hurt
• Forgiveness releases the offense and the offender
• Forgiveness relinquishes resentment
• Forgiveness is an act of grace

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A single 30-minute walk on a treadmill can give a temporary emotional lift to patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, the results of a small study suggest.

Researchers found that among 40 men and women recently diagnosed with major depression, those who spent just a half hour on a treadmill reported a short-term improvement in energy and emotional well-being.

Though a single workout is not the answer to clinical depression, the researchers say, exercise could offer depressed patients a way to give themselves an emotional boost.

“If you can go out and walk and get the recommended amount of exercise, then it might help you manage your symptoms on a day-to-day basis,” said lead study author Dr. John Bartholomew of the University of Texas at Austin.

Past studies, he explained in an interview, have shown that regular exercise can help treat depression over time. But the new findings show that “you don’t have to wait” to start getting some benefit, he said.

Bartholomew and his colleagues report their findings in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

A number of studies have found that active adults are less likely to suffer depression than their sedentary peers, while some clinical trials have shown regular exercise can serve as a therapy for the disorder — and perhaps be as effective as antidepressant drugs in some cases.

But the immediate effects of exercise on depressed individuals have been unclear.

Patients in the current study were randomly assigned to walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes or spend the time resting quietly in a comfortable chair. All completed standard surveys of mood and well-being before and after their exercise or rest period.

The researchers found that both exercise and quiet rest appeared to boost patients’ mood, helping them feel less fatigue, tension, distress and anger.

But the exercisers reported greater gains in general well-being and “vigor,” the study found.

According to Bartholomew, the quiet-rest group may have felt better just because they were getting out of the house and interacting with others. People with depression, he noted, often isolate themselves and avoid social situations, which can in turn feed the depression.

Experts have speculated that exercise aids depression, in part, through direct physiological effects. For example, physical activity seems to affect some key nervous system chemicals — norepinephrine and serotonin — that are targets of antidepressant drugs, as well as brain neurotrophins, which help protect nerve cells from injury and transmit nerve signals in brain regions related to mood.

But Bartholomew said there may be “cognitive” effects at work. Exercisers in this study, he explained, may have felt a “sense of accomplishment” that lifted their general mood.

One of the challenges to using exercise as depression therapy is that the condition makes it hard for people to find the motivation to be active, Bartholomew noted. But if they can get outside for even a short walk, he said, it could help in managing the daily symptoms of the disorder.

SOURCE: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, December 2005.

Sometimes, life and its troubles seem overwhelming. Maybe you think no one cares. Maybe your life feels out of control. Maybe you had a bad day … or a bad year. Maybe what should be a small problem seems huge.

We care about you. You’re not just a face in the crowd. You’ve found a safe place and someone you can trust. And though we can’t offer “quick fixes,” you’ll find credible advice, practical solutions for today’s problems … and hope for tomorrow.

Check it out.

Stress overload is a contributing factor in most cases of depression. In our hectic, fast paced lives, we are faced with hundreds of choices a day from simple to complex. The demands of deciphering all of one’s choices can become overwhelming, especially if we tell ourselves we can never make a mistake because we must be perfect. Here are a few ideas to help you prevent life from getting the best of you.

1. Take Better Care of your Body- Teach your body how to relax. When you are anxious or in pain, your muscles tighten, your body feels tense, and your emotions are agitated. Use relaxation techniques to help lower your physical tension as well as emotional stress. Some people, especially women, find it difficult to carve out time alone to refresh themselves, whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We tend to be givers and tell ourselves we’re selfish if we make time for ourselves, yet appropriate self love and godly self care is not selfish but essential. It is only when we are healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually that we are best able to give of ourselves to care for and encourage others.

2. Accept Your Limitations- We must accept the fact that we are finite, limited people who don’t know everything, can’t do everything, aren’t perfect, need sleep, get sick and sometimes do wrong. Enough said?

3. Prioritize your Resources- We only have a few resources at our disposal. They are our time. talents, energy and money. We often overspend these resources on things that aren’t important, leaving us with no margins for emergencies or fun. How we choose to allocate our resources not only affect us but also those we love. It is essential that we give some thought to our deepest values and priorities.

4. Learn to get quiet with God- In our time starved, get-m0re-done world, many of us never take a moment to be quiet and still in God’s presence. When we are feeling good, it may seem like a waste of time. When we are not feeling good, our anxious thoughts and emotional turmoil make it hard to get quiet. Meditation and prayer can help us remember what is true and restore a sense of peace when our negative thoughts threaten to overwhelm us.

FDA Warns About ADHD Drug Strattera

The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors Thursday about reports of suicidal thinking in some children and adolescents who are taking Strattera, a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co. announced that a black-box warning will be added to the drug’s label in the United States. Such a warning is the most serious that can be added to a medication’s label, and similar warnings will be added to the drug’s labels in other countries. The company said a study showed instances of suicidal thinking were rare.

In a statement, the FDA said it “is advising health care providers and caregivers that children and adolescents being treated with Strattera should be closely monitored for clinical worsening, as well as agitation, irritability, suicidal thinking or behaviors, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of therapy or when the dose is changed.”

Eli Lilly said it provided the FDA results from Strattera clinical trials of 1,357 patients that found five youths taking the medication reported having suicidal thoughts, while none of 851 patients taking a placebo reported having any. One young person taking Strattera attempted suicide, but survived, company and FDA officials said.

There was no evidence of increased suicidal thoughts in adults taking Strattera, which also goes by the generic name atomoxetine, the Indianapolis-based company said.