Is it me or is it becoming more of a struggle getting up in the mornings as the month goes on?

The alarm goes off, and thus begins the daily battle between the sleepy warmth of the duvet luring me back to sleep, and the constant and slightly offensive snooze button alert as it tries to convince me that despite the darkness outside the window it is ‘apparently’ 6.45am.

October is a strange month. I think it’s both my very favourite and my least favourite month all at the same time if that’s possible.

The wonder of the month is the return of some of my favourite things- putting the log burner back on again, making batches of butternut squash soup, hot chocolate, scarves, leaves….I could go on. But with it also comes the giant house spiders that decide annually to create an arachnid highway across my front room carpet, the increase in colds and bugs that seem to be unleashed upon us all with the change of temperature and then of course, there’s the dark. The dark that each week steals more of the daylight as we head through the month, shortening our days, limiting our activities and making us hibernate to the cosiness of our homes.

For those of you who struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), I know that this time of year can feel particularly challenging as serotonin levels drop with the decreasing daylight hours. For some great advice and info about this ……[Insert a link]

But even for those of us who don’t struggle with a diagnosis of SAD, the move into the darker months can have a profound impact upon our energy and wellbeing levels. You could find (like me) that you’re just feeling a bit slower and more sleepy, that getting up seems harder and requires more effort than it did in August, and perhaps you’re wanting to turn in for bed earlier in the evenings. Maybe you can sense a small drop in your mood as you begin to socialise less and summer days already seem a dimming memory.

Melatonin VS Serotonin

Well, there’s a good reason for feeling this way. As the daylight hours dwindle our inner Circadian Rhythm changes in response, producing higher levels of the sleepy hormone Melatonin as way of telling us that it’s dark therefore time to be a sleep. In addition, as we spend less time absorbing Vitamin D and producing Serotonin from the sunlight, we can find our energy and mood levels can begin to lessen and we feel less energised to go out, socialise or just do activities that require significant effort. So what can we practically do to help our inner seasonal clock as we head into this season?

Hack into your Endorphin and Serotonin hormones

So, this October I’ve been taking part in the Surfers Against Sewage dip-a-day challenge, swimming along my local coastline each day and attempting to raise awareness of water pollution WHILST also at the same time arming myself with some of the hormone boosting tools I need to head into the dark seasons. For me, there’s something about the icy cold waters that somehow makes me feel alive. As I launch myself into the salty ocean, my breath almost catches in my chest, I take those first few strokes in an attempt to rebalance may body temperature, then gradually, my breath and pace starts to slow and my senses come to life- the sound of the waves, the feel of the water on my skin, the smell of the seaweed. The ocean has also wonderfully always been my thin space to feel closest to God, I find myself chatting to Him as I battle the elements and get moved around by the currents and I just tangibly sense His presence and know He is near me when I’m all alone out there. It’s my happy place (even in the rain).

But, it’s also the post, internal glow of wild swimming that I feel afterwards and that I carry with me into my day. It reminds me of the Ready Brek ads from the 80’s with the glowing bodies wandering around. I feel almost light headed with happiness and find myself bathing in the post swim endorphin/serotonin glow well into my day.

Now, there are probably many of you reading this (rightly so) who may think I’m a bit bonkers and you couldn’t think of anything worse than plunging yourself into cold water at 8am or pm (as high tide would have it) as part of your day, and that’s absolutely understandable.

But it could be helpful to think through a few ways that you could make a concerted effort to hack into your happy hormones this season as means of helping your body navigate the seasonal changes.

Spending time with friends, exercising three times a week for 45mins, creating art, eating spicy food, scheduling in good times of rest and relaxation doing the things you enjoy- are ALL ways you can boost your endorphin levels. At the same time try to give your Serotonin levels a helping hand as they weaken in the autumn, try to spend as much time outside as you can- take a walk in your lunch break (ideally without sunglasses), go for a cycle or even a nature walk in the rain. You can even try to eat food that are high in Tryptophan ( a pre-curser to the production of Serotonin) such as fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and even dark chocolate.

Do please come and say hello if you’re heading to NYMW, we’d love to meet you on the Youthscape stand.

Take care and happy Autumn hormone boosting!

Laura and the Headstrong Team