Maybe you’ve been too busy organizing your notebooks for the new semester, but the season of winter is here. For some of you, that means hot cocoa, the opportunity to wear your cute knit hat, and general jolliness all around. But for others, it means the return of unwanted feelings like depression, pessimism, and exhaustion.

It’s normal to feel a bit less enthusiastic about life when the freezing cold weather starts to make walking to class a serious chore, not to mention a safety hazard (I have slipped on ice and fallen on my ass in front of people waaay too many times). But if you think your case of the winter blues is more intense than your friends’, you might have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD is a mood disorder believed to be caused by the lack of sunlight during the winter months. Read More »

I love the Fall in Michigan.

I love the way the leaves go from boring green to bright and beautiful reds, oranges and yellows. I love it when I can start to see my breath outside and I have to wrap one of my grandma’s homemade scarves around my neck. And I am absolutely obsessed with apple cider and donuts at the Cider Mill.

But as I sit here at 5:00 PM on a Monday and look out on a street that is pitch black, cold and dreary, I can’t help but feel the pangs of seasonal depression start to sink in. I don’t want to leave my house. I don’t want to leave my bed. I just want to sit, eat and watch TV.

It’s awful. And it explains why I always gain five pounds every winter. It also explains why there is a large and permanent butt print in my couch cushion. And why the guys at the Thai delivery place up the street know my name already.

So, this year I am trying everything I can to avoid my winter blues. In my quest not to retire to the couch (with a giant bag of Dark M&Ms) this winter I have been doing some research and have found some surefire ways to stay happy this winter:

Bring on the Light: One reason people get a little down in the dumps in the winter is because there is less sunlight during the day. Doctors agree that the best way to lift your sagging spirits is to simply get some more light: open the curtains as soon as you wake up, go for a walk, etc. Even a short amount of natural light (even on a cloudy day!) will put some pep in your step naturally.

Hit the Gym: One of the hardest things for me to do in the winter is get to the gym. Why go out in the cold to work out when I can cover my fat with oversized sweaters and sweatpants? Well, it turns out that getting exercise is one of the best ways to feel better on a dreary winter day. Those endorphins will get your body pumping and feeling great for hours to come. Bonus: a good workout will also warm you up! Read More »

Matt Pond PA: Sunlight

From the album Last Light. Buy it here.

When I miss a meal, I am struck by fatigue and hunger pangs which combine to create an awful mood and severe desperation to eat anything I can get my hands on.

When a Breatharianist misses all three meals, every single day, they don’t flinch.

The last time Michael Werner, a 58-year-old German professor has eaten was six and a half years ago. He survives solely on liquids and sunlight, which he claims provide him with all of the nutrients and energy that he needs.

Sound a lot like starvation or anorexia to you? Yeah, me too.

Despite my intial repulsion, Werner and Breatharianists (also called Light Nutritionists) worldwide claim that their method of life is both natural and healthy.

Michael Werner, a doctor of chemistry, has an average body weight and believes that the key to his unusual diet lies within his mindset. Dr. Werner even goes so far as to claim that those starving in Africa would be able to survive on sun and liquids alone if their minds were not conditioned to believe that they are going to starve without a steady supply of food.

Despite Dr. Werner’s repeated justifications of Breatharianism, I find it hard to believe that millions of starving people in Africa would be frolicking in the sun and carrying on normal lives if they only decided to not be hungry anymore. I’m sure people that have been starving for years have been able to build up some type of mental tolerance against their hunger- and obviously it isn’t keeping them alive. Read More »