Photo by Nihan Aydin.

It’s the “most wonderful time of the year” and depression is rampant. Between the early darkness, family drama and financial stress that goes along with shopping season, many people find their mood taking a turn for the worse. Here are some tips for feeling better:

1. Exercise
Depression diminishes motivation. But getting off the couch can make a remarkable difference in your emotional resilience. Exercise literally changes the chemicals being made in your brain and how well those chemicals work. It doesn’t have to be intense and it doesn’t have to be very much. Even a brisk walk will help lift the clouds.

2. Get some sun
The winter’s lack of light makes lots of people feel low. The effect isn’t new—it’s been described since the 1800s. These days there’s a name and a cute acronym for it: seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

Adding light can help. Outdoor, natural daylight is best, especially in the morning. But many companies also sell light boxes that researchers find really do help—even for summertime depression.

Photo by Nathalie Dulex.

3. You are how you eat
Author Michael Pollan said it best: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Scientific research all over the map supports this. An October 2009 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported that a Mediterranean-style diet reduced depression (in addition to its well-known heart and anti-cancer benefits). They found that fruits, nuts, beans and fat from fish and olive oil all helped beat the blues.

Filling up with fresh fruits and veggies also has another happy side effect: reducing your exposure to mood-busting sugar and processed foods.

4. Up the fish oils
The long dark winters in Iceland don’t translate into high levels of depression there, and scientists think the reason is in the high-omega-3 fish the locals consume.

For people who are depressed, researchers have found significant improvements in mood after just two weeks of therapy with fish oil.

How does it work? The omega-3 oils reduce depression-causing inflammatory chemicals and improved cellular function, all of which make a happier brain.

5. Feed your microflora
The first-line prescription therapy for depression is a drugs that increases serotonin availability in the brain. Looking at the body as a whole, most serotonin is found in the gut, where it helps signal the movements needed to promote digestion.

We’re designed to make a lot of serotonin ourselves, with the help of foods and the healthy flora in our guts. Supporting that flora with probiotics—found in foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, live yogurt and miso—can help make more serotonin available to the whole body, including the brain.

Like fish oils, probiotics also reduce inflammation and oxidative stress that influence depression.

6. Try flower essences
Having flower essences on hand can offer a quick pick-me-up, or support long-term healing. Take four drops as needed, or four times daily in a little water over the longer term. They don’t interact with any other medications and the only possible concern is a tiny amount of alcohol.

Try Star of Bethlehem for dealing with grief and trauma. Sweet chestnut helps deep, dark despair and hopelessness. Pine relieves guilt. And willow helps when you feel resentful or sorry for yourself. For some sunshine in a bottle, try the Solstice Sun environmental essence from wild Alaska.

7. Read up
While there’s no substitute for talking with friends or professional counselors, reading can help you understand what’s going on and offer suggestions for helping yourself. Try “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross, or “Depression Free, Naturally” by Joan Larson.

This psychologist-recommended website links to articles about natural health and a variety of mental health issues.

8. If you need help, get help
Sometimes the blues are transient, and simple home fixes like these are all you need. But if the darkness persists, remember that you are not alone. Naturopaths and psychologists are an important part of getting better.

If you’re battling the blues this holiday season, be sure to take some moments out to take care of you! And please share your own suggestions for beating the blues in the comment section.

Dr. Orna Izakson, ND, RH (AHG) is a naturopathic physician, herbalist, gardener and writer. She specializes in respiratory issues, mood and women's health at Celilo Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by Bonguri.

There are 2 reasons I’m writing this article.  Firstly, vitamin D has been all over the news as the latest nutrient whose RDA  has come under great scrutiny.  The other reason being that it is almost 140 degrees (60C) here and I wouldn’t step into the sun if you paid me hence I believe I am – ironically – lacking in D3 activation.

Dietary vitamin D is unique in that it is not actually a vitamin and would be better classified as ‘pro-hormone D’.   We can thank Sir Edward Mellanby for the mishap in nomenclature going back to 1919 when the first notion of vitamin D being activated by sunlight was established.  In our closest attempt to imitate plant photosynthesis, when sunlight strikes our skin a series of chemical reactions takes place and vitamin D is converted to a hormone called cholecalciferol (D3).

Semantics aside, vitamin D is fat soluble so your best food sources are from animal fats; fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), egg yolks, butter, liver, and full fat milk.  Now the reason I bring this up is that the quality and quantity of saturated fats has greatly decreased since the low-fat-spandex-aerobics craze of the 80’s (apologies for the mental imagery).  Sure, foods are often fortified with vitamin D, but this process of refining and then fortifying creates anything but a whole food product.

Historically the primary evidence of vitamin D deficiency has been rickets and bone development in children.  Generally speaking this was treated with either direct sun exposure, or light boxes designed to provide adequate levels of UV light sparking the chemical conversion to D3.  I seriously doubt that historical D deficiencies were due to a dietary lack of vitamin D as our ancestors consumed very adequate portions of saturated fats (which we are now learning are not the evil doing artery clogging grease they were once thought to be).  Now with the RDA slowly rising it really makes me wonder whether part of the reason is that we have severely cut off our supply of raw materials, namely high quality, organic saturated fats.  Of course no matter what, you need 15 minutes of sun exposure per day to activate the dietary vitamin D (get outside when your done reading this!), however I believe that the diet which we were designed allows us far more flexibility and that if we want to talk RDA of vitamin D then we really ought to start by looking at the poor, fear based dietary recommendations which have permeated the Western world for a few decades.

If there is an omnivorous animal eating and living in its optimal habitat out there which suffers from vitamin D deficiency then I stand corrected.  Eating whole animal foods (which does not include boneless, skinless, fat free, corn fed, cage bred chicken breast) provides a large amount of precursors which are then converted to D3 with the sunshine.  Our obsession with sunscreen is obviously a problem, but we’re not reptiles – we shouldn’t be spending hours laying in the sun to begin with.  We have to balance the necessary 15-20 minutes of sunscreen free sunshine a day (more if you have darker skin) and the increased risk of skin cancer (if your going to spend hours in the sun get a fur coat like all the other mammals).

Do you know how the RDA was established? The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) set the AI (adequate intake) levels assuming NO vitamin D was being synthesized in the skin through exposure to sunlight.  This was back in 1997 and since then we have seen the RDA climb from 200 IU’s upwards.  The new official guidelines from the IOM won’t be released until May 2010 but until then they are recommending 400 IU’s for kids under 10.  The chairman himself, Dr. Frank Greer, takes 1000 IU”s of vitamin D a day which is an ideal dose for adults.

What it does for you:

• Increase energy
• Lift mood
• Regulate calcium & phosphorous
• Increase immunity
• Increased bone health
• Prevents cancer

It really isn’t very difficult to get vitamin D into your diet if you are allowing yourself consumption of whole animal fats, here are some examples:

• 1 Egg yolk 25 IU’s
• 3 oz can of sardines 230 IU’s
• Liver
• Cod liver oil (make sure the product has not had the natural vitamin D stripped out and a synthetic version put back in)
• Yes, of course all those fortified foods

It is then very easy to activate the vitamin D with 15 minutes of sun a day

• frisbee
• nothing – 15 minute sun bath
• walk, jog, stroll
• cup of tea outside
• tai-qi, qi-gong
• come on, you don’t really need me to list these – get outside!

In an effort to simplify RDA’s, statistics, news, mixed information, and the numbers:  Whole foods & some sunshine – Doctors orders.

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.