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Why are the holidays so hard for those with mental health difficulties? Caren & Rob talk about ways to help and some resources to support you through the holidays.
#holidays #holidaysandmentalhealth #mindingyourmentalhealth
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0:00
here and welcome to minding your mental
0:02
health I'm here with my co-host and Son
0:05
Rob Glasser hey Rob how you doing
0:08
too bad well that's good because we like
0:11
to talk about the topics that shape
0:13
mental health today and we teach the
0:14
importance of inclusion and share why we
0:17
should be kind so whether you're here
0:19
live or on replay we love you let us
0:22
know where you're tuning in from right
0:23
below so believe it or not the holidays
0:27
are arriving like now oh my gosh so we
0:32
thought it would be a great topic right
0:34
to talk about Mental Health
0:35
and the holidays so what you got over
0:37
there Rob
0:39
I hate that no I'm just kidding
0:41
um well like so many people
0:44
um not only is it the end of the year
0:45
but you know things that they like
0:47
savings time uh the winter brings on
0:50
darker days and less light all of those
0:54
things already can cause a switch in
0:56
your mood right
0:58
um adding to that things like the
1:00
festivities so to speak as some people
1:02
call them
1:04
um can cause that mood to damper even
1:07
more
1:08
um whether it affects your Daytime
1:11
Nighttime every time every time we are
1:15
going to go over from North Shore uh
1:18
which is a university health system uh
1:20
they wrote a quick little article about
1:23
how it how it can affect uh the the mind
1:28
um as they mentioned as I already said
1:30
because of the time difference and
1:32
because of how things change you're
1:34
already in a mindset of oh crap I'm
1:37
losing hours I don't want to do anything
1:39
add on to that the fact that you're like
1:42
oh crap it's also the end of the year
1:45
just kidding
1:47
um so they put down some ways to feel
1:50
good now the first few are things that
1:52
generally are going to make you feel
1:54
better no matter what they say avoid
1:57
things like processed foods avoid too
1:59
much alcohol or any stay hydrated get
2:03
your fill of physical but also get your
2:06
sleep as well
2:08
these are General things that you and I
2:10
talked about before right and we'll
2:12
probably talk about again but it's
2:14
important to note because as doctors
2:16
have said if you don't have the right
2:18
rest you don't have the right activity
2:20
you're not going to feel too high
2:21
whether it's physical or emotional
2:24
whatever the case may be right now they
2:27
recommend a few things to do first
2:29
before bed and then a few ways to combat
2:31
sad which we're going to talk about sad
2:33
in a minute so a few things to do before
2:35
bed shut off those Electronics
2:38
but that's so I know right we just now
2:43
for me it's funny because before bed
2:45
before I take a shower I'm on the phone
2:46
we do have a phone in the room strictly
2:49
for an alarm but otherwise
2:52
um that's about it go to bed during the
2:55
week and weekend actually during a usual
2:58
time so the other day we talked about
3:00
routines and how a lot of people like to
3:03
go to bed early between 8 30 and 9. so
3:06
if you can stick to a general time the
3:08
better you're going to feel the more
3:10
habit it's going to build and before
3:12
long you won't even know the difference
3:14
right they say aim for seven to nine
3:17
hours now I know there's always that up
3:19
and down thing some people can do less
3:20
some people do more don't actually do
3:22
too much because the more you do the
3:24
worse you actually feel they say right
3:27
and if there's different kinds of sleep
3:28
right there's REM sleep there's deep
3:30
sleep there's light sleep right and I
3:32
didn't actually know that until I looked
3:34
at my Fitbit and it tells me how
3:36
terrible I sleep it literally tells me
3:38
that I deep sleep for three minutes how
3:40
sad is that Apple tells you that you
3:43
suck at sleeping apparently
3:45
um
3:46
so seven to nine now it depends on you
3:48
guys some doctors will agree some won't
3:50
if you get a good chunk of sleep
3:53
whatever it is to you do that right
3:57
obviously you don't want to make it too
3:58
short but you want to make it long
4:00
enough where you wake up and you're more
4:02
or less refreshed okay I feel good and
4:06
lastly they say as soon as you wake up
4:07
look out the window see something that's
4:10
light our blinds right now open up so
4:14
the first thing we do see I mean it is
4:16
actually still darker in the morning but
4:18
more or less a few minutes after we see
4:20
the sun
4:21
that's cool yeah so those are General
4:23
things so of course all we've talked
4:25
about so far are things that we know
4:27
right you know you want to limit the bad
4:28
stuff keep up with the good stuff now
4:30
sad otherwise known as seasonal
4:33
affective disorder is basically what you
4:36
call depression or uh anxiety for those
4:40
around certain Seasons you can get it
4:43
from other Seasons some people when
4:45
summer comes it happens some people in
4:47
the spring comes however because of the
4:49
temperature because of the light change
4:52
winter seems to be the 90 time right
4:55
most people do it now I learned about
4:59
that recently and I think I actually
5:00
have that I talked about my therapist
5:02
says it makes sense so while the rest of
5:05
the year it's generalized for the season
5:07
it's seasonal lucky me right so I get 12
5:10
months of just different anxiety like
5:12
you come by it honestly Dad has it too
5:14
so there you go oh fine I can blame him
5:18
um all right so what do you do when you
5:20
have that so people with sad often
5:23
extreme have trouble with sleeping so
5:25
again the first thing they say maintain
5:27
a regular schedule go to bed wake up as
5:32
similar as you can right yesterday you
5:34
talked about how no matter what you do
5:36
you're up at 4 or 4 30. that's just what
5:39
happens if that is you and you notice
5:42
that it's not really changing your
5:44
function cool take advantage of it
5:48
you know and I laugh about it I wish I
5:51
could sleep longer but at the end of the
5:53
day I'm up and I get more work done
5:56
between four and eight than most people
6:00
do in their entire day and that's
6:02
because it's quiet so I happen to like
6:04
that not Everyone likes that I know that
6:06
hey you know it works and it works every
6:09
now yeah number two we're going to talk
6:11
about this a little bit later but light
6:12
therapy so I'm going to talk about it
6:13
right therapy basically mimics what you
6:16
would be getting outside through a
6:18
device and a few minutes we'll go over
6:20
that next up um if antidepressants
6:23
aren't your thing CBT that's actually
6:26
what I do so I thought this was a great
6:28
one because
6:30
what it does is you kind of put yourself
6:34
in the scenarios as to why what who and
6:38
what is happening inside again not
6:40
everything is a perfect solution but if
6:44
you can do the things and in my case
6:46
what do I do I keep myself occupied so
6:48
whether it's meditation spending time
6:52
with my wife doing videos with you
6:55
whatever the case may be CBT has taught
6:58
me that my solution process is doing
7:01
things that I enjoy right and for those
7:04
who are watching and going but what does
7:05
that mean CBT it's cognitive behavioral
7:08
therapy and it and it works it really
7:12
does work so just put that in your your
7:14
hat somewhere it's cognitive there you
7:16
go
7:17
um another one they recommend regular
7:19
exercise you won't have to ask me twice
7:22
I do it pretty much three times a day
7:24
whether it's physical stretching
7:26
meditation right do something to move
7:28
you take a walk many people do walk I
7:31
look outside my window people walk up
7:33
and down it's a thing only takes about
7:36
10-15 minutes maybe go around your block
7:39
you're good lastly and we're actually
7:41
going to talk about one of these two
7:42
aromatherapy
7:44
um essential oils not only are they good
7:46
for you know the head if you got a
7:49
headache or something but depending on
7:52
the scent it helps you there so we put
7:55
up the link on there if you guys want to
7:56
read the whole article um if you guys
7:58
are in the area where that is I don't
8:00
think that's from California if you're
8:01
in the area check them out they probably
8:03
have some resources as well right but
8:07
speaking of those things how about we
8:10
share
8:10
some that we do I know you want to start
8:13
you want me to go ahead and start I'll
8:15
piggyback on you okay so if you are not
8:19
up to the clinical things and that might
8:21
be a little too much for you there's
8:22
probably stuff around your house
8:24
including the people there that you
8:26
might enjoy to make you feel better so
8:29
the first thing for me biggest thing is
8:32
quality time so whether it's me and her
8:35
just watching TV whether we're eating
8:39
whether we're playing a video game it
8:41
doesn't really matter what we're doing
8:43
quality time is the name of the game and
8:45
I think that's the name of the game for
8:47
many of people right
8:49
um but around the time and you know she
8:51
knows specifically my my issues with
8:53
this time of year so it's good to have
8:56
the support system it's good to have the
8:57
person so what I would suggest is if
9:00
maybe this is new to the other person
9:02
let them know what's happening give them
9:04
you know let be like hey this is why X Y
9:07
and Z happens around
9:09
October to December or whatever the
9:11
months are right right but that's number
9:14
one I think quality time is the biggest
9:16
thing and it doesn't have and like I
9:18
said it doesn't have to be anything
9:18
anything
9:19
um doing just sitting right and being
9:23
you know I don't know I think you'd
9:24
agree with that right I I would and
9:26
again this is like we always talk pick
9:28
the one that works for you so we're
9:30
going to give you a bunch of different
9:31
choices of things that you can do
9:33
um and pick the one that works I do
9:35
agree quality time spending time with
9:37
our loved ones spending time with you my
9:39
you know Dad and and my friends it it
9:42
kind of takes you away from that oh it's
9:44
the holidays and it's too much too much
9:47
noise too much every everything right I
9:51
like to make cookies and I like to bake
9:53
bread and I like to you know make
9:55
brownies and things so that's what I do
9:57
during the holidays I kind of get into
10:00
and I make a potato pancakes vodkas for
10:03
Hanukkah and I don't know about the food
10:05
right but for me it gets my mind off of
10:07
what I don't want to be thinking about
10:09
out and I'm focused completely on what I
10:11
do want to be focused on in this case
10:12
it's cooking and baking
10:16
all right well since I brought it up
10:17
before since yeah um we are big on
10:21
candles it actually came out of a date
10:22
box that we got
10:24
um I'm not sure what it's supposed to
10:25
smell like but it's pretty good
10:28
um or uh we got this from you I know
10:30
from the box you had uh aromatherapy I
10:33
think this is lavender if I'm uh correct
10:35
right and it's something simple you
10:38
light it you scent it you do whatever
10:41
um I really now
10:43
I would say put this in a small place
10:46
because we put it in a bigger area and I
10:48
lost the scent probably about two
10:49
minutes after I put it down right but
10:51
when you put it close enough to you and
10:54
you can feel it whatever and lavender I
10:55
know helps with with sleep as well but
10:58
scents are good now it's got to be the
10:59
right scent not every candle is going to
11:01
work for you but
11:03
you know this is a free candle okay
11:05
we're free and it lose your mind it
11:07
soothes your body you lit you smell it
11:09
and you just go ah and I think what
11:11
we're talking about is setting the stage
11:13
so that we are comfortable so if setting
11:16
the stage for you is lighting a candle
11:18
or putting on a diffuser I have a
11:20
diffuser that runs most of the days and
11:21
it turns colors too so it's kind of cool
11:23
you know I plug it in but I turn music
11:26
on Maybe music is the thing that's going
11:28
to soothe your soul during this time
11:31
right so I totally want to suggest that
11:35
um what kind of activities do you do Rob
11:37
all right well
11:39
first up uh journals this actually came
11:42
out of a date box as well I think the
11:43
same one is this
11:45
um and these are always fun to do they
11:47
have quotes they have questions uh this
11:50
one is if you can magically turn back
11:52
the clock what would you do
11:55
um some of them are oh here you go if
11:58
money grew on trees I'd buy you what
12:00
that's a good one
12:02
um so this is a fun thing to do now
12:04
something that I came across uh two
12:06
things I did are boxes you can make so
12:09
this one I made for Krista this has uh
12:12
special memories that we've had whether
12:13
it's from wedding whether it's from
12:15
dates and this is great for any time of
12:16
year this is something that you can open
12:18
up uh you put some pictures in you put
12:20
some jewelry you put some whatever and
12:23
this is really really fun I think now
12:27
you got your mason jar now this one I
12:30
love so this is the blah day box you can
12:32
tell I made it myself and it says open
12:35
to feel good I made my guy have little
12:37
googly eyes down there so all I did this
12:39
was actually a box from an alternate
12:41
universe event that I did before and I
12:43
just threw a bunch of stuff in here that
12:45
I would want or she would want when
12:48
you're not feeling so high whether
12:49
physically or mentally
12:51
um a puzzle book uh a regular book maybe
12:54
a a game maybe a toy
12:58
um
12:59
sky's the limit and I think this is good
13:01
for most people or almost everybody
13:02
because you get to pick what you do I
13:07
love that idea yeah now I would be amiss
13:10
if I did not put in my most favorite
13:11
thing in the world from the back of me
13:13
but when I really feel down I got my
13:16
toys uh this little guy it's Snorlax
13:18
sleeping and I also have oops
13:21
keep you sleeping she got me both of
13:23
these they're adorable off of off of
13:25
Amazon noise
13:26
but really you know
13:28
dumb thing is simple
13:29
touching and feeling right
13:32
um I yeah I joked earlier I was like I I
13:34
like doing the dogs but I'm not going to
13:36
bring them in because they're going to
13:36
eat the cat food right but then you know
13:38
that's the thing too it's the thing you
13:40
have to hold to love to cuddle to soothe
13:44
you to see you so that's
13:48
that's the the things I have around the
13:50
house that you don't really think about
13:52
and so you use them and you go that
13:54
makes me feel very good right I love
13:57
that and I will say I mean just a caveat
14:00
too it none of this is like the cure-all
14:03
right this is just kind of like the you
14:06
need a quick pick me up do something
14:08
like this at least for the moment right
14:11
it distracts you also it gets you out of
14:14
that headspace of I'm I'm depressed or
14:17
I'm sad or I hate the holidays if you
14:19
shift and do something it just
14:22
because I know we use the word distract
14:24
a lie usually distract is kind of a
14:26
negative thing because you're kind of
14:29
how does this word distraction here
14:31
change versus I'm curious what you're I
14:34
well I'm gonna I'm just gonna guess
14:36
because I I do think that's the right
14:37
word we're distracting our brain from
14:39
thinking overthinking whatever it is
14:42
that we're thinking and when you
14:43
distract it and make it go in a
14:45
different direction you can't help but
14:47
stop thinking about whatever you were
14:50
just thinking now we're not saying it's
14:52
going to go away forever and you're
14:53
never going to think it again because
14:54
that's not that's not true but it's all
14:56
about in the moment distracting yourself
14:58
so I think it's a great word I totally
15:01
think it's a great word
15:03
I was just curious you know put you on
15:04
the spot for a second yeah well you
15:06
always do I so
15:10
my diffuser
15:12
I put music on I have my dog I have
15:14
Christopher who right now wants to leave
15:16
so I'm not going to pick him up but he's
15:18
somebody he's something that I will hold
15:20
on to when I'm feeling a little stressed
15:23
during the holiday time for me it's the
15:25
noise it's the tumult it's the activity
15:29
um I am very much an introvert and which
15:32
makes people laugh when they say that
15:34
you know when I say that because how can
15:36
I be an introvert I'm sitting here in
15:37
front of a camera you know talking to a
15:39
bunch of people but I would rather be in
15:42
my house
15:43
with nobody
15:45
I'm an introvert so put the holidays on
15:48
top of that
15:49
that's that's not good
15:52
now you and I were talking about
15:53
something earlier and you talked about
15:55
light and they're going to use light
15:58
therapy so I'm going to throw that up
16:00
right now um and I'm going to put a link
16:02
into the uh chat as well light therapy
16:06
it's kind of a cool thing guys
16:08
um
16:09
they have done studies and I'm going to
16:12
scroll this right now they have done
16:15
studies that when you sit in front of
16:17
this it's like a white light almost it's
16:19
a UV free full spectrum LED very very
16:23
powerful lights and you can see some of
16:25
them are you know a little pricey but a
16:27
lot of them are like under 50 bucks
16:30
um and I suggest you do that what it
16:32
does is it distracts you it jolts you it
16:35
puts you in a different space
16:37
um and that's kind of what we're talking
16:39
about here right looking for those
16:41
things that are going to help you
16:43
um I really encourage you checking this
16:45
out I put the link in there
16:46
um there's all different kinds and I
16:48
we're not telling you which one's the
16:50
best and which one's not the best um
16:51
your aunt my sister uses a light bar
16:54
during the winter months and it helps it
16:57
helps
16:58
get you out of your you know head so to
17:01
speak
17:03
well some of the uh specs of it uh it
17:06
improves sleep mood focus and energy uh
17:09
bright life has been proven to do all
17:11
that plus more feeling you revitalized
17:14
at the end along with that most of them
17:17
are portable and practical use right
17:20
right so you can either get a tiny one
17:22
that looks like the Kindle or get a one
17:25
that looks like the lamp but either way
17:26
you can fit them in most any space
17:30
whether it's your office whether it's
17:31
your house correct wherever you might
17:33
need this extra yeah it actually always
17:37
thinks about in Alaska there are
17:39
literally months out of the Year where
17:41
they don't get light and I'm wondering
17:43
and actually I think I read somewhere
17:44
that they do have something like this I
17:46
think there's a supplement they take to
17:48
get the vitamin D but think about I mean
17:50
there are places where you don't see the
17:52
Sun for like half the year so it's like
17:54
winter
17:55
all the time
17:57
um so this kind of thing is probably
17:59
used more often around the world than
18:02
you and I even think yeah
18:04
um and again you know if you don't you
18:05
know if it doesn't work for you that's
18:06
cool but take a look I mean you know
18:08
check with check with your medical
18:10
providers they might say the same thing
18:13
um but they're pretty cool I mean I
18:15
might even grab one I know last year you
18:17
told me about it I was like ah right now
18:19
I'm looking at it I'm like okay maybe I
18:20
do
18:21
um so there's other ways though that we
18:23
can feel good during the holidays and
18:24
how about you know there's studies that
18:26
say when you give
18:28
it makes you feel good so during the
18:30
holidays that's why I bake cookies
18:32
that's why I make bread because it's I
18:35
don't eat it all
18:36
clearly I don't eat it all but I I give
18:39
that I made I make homemade gifts right
18:43
and I give and I think giving makes us
18:46
feel good would you agree
18:48
yeah I mean anytime you can help someone
18:50
do something or give or volunteer
18:57
whatever word you want to use
18:58
[Music]
18:59
um
19:00
it's probably the easiest and it's a
19:02
free resource because usually the
19:04
person's down the street next door
19:06
exactly
19:08
um
19:09
yeah I think you said most of it so so
19:13
um we'd love to hear from you whether
19:15
you're you're watching live right now I
19:17
see we have people on if you're watching
19:18
live or you're on on I was going to say
19:20
on Memorex that's the old joke if you're
19:22
on repeat or a replay let us know what
19:25
you do over the holidays does it affect
19:26
you do you go into the holidays saying I
19:30
don't want to go into the holidays and
19:31
when you do go into holidays is there
19:33
something that you do to help yourself
19:35
going through the holidays
19:38
um I want to throw up something right
19:39
now we introduced it last week and that
19:43
is the let me get rid of this for a
19:45
second
19:46
that is the finding your passion
19:50
ebook and what we love about this so
19:53
much and I'm going to put up the link
19:54
because you can just go there it's
19:56
absolutely free go to minding your
19:58
mentalhealth.com this is an ebook about
20:00
finding your passion and there's a bunch
20:02
of steps on you know we say them you say
20:05
to somebody I don't know what my passion
20:07
is how am I supposed to follow it I have
20:09
no idea what it is well this book
20:11
actually will help you Rob and I put
20:13
this together we hope that you enjoy us
20:14
let us know what you think
20:16
any last minute thoughts I mean here's
20:19
literally the holidays are right around
20:20
we're good Halloween is two weeks away
20:22
or a week and a half away oh
20:24
uh any last thoughts about getting
20:28
through the holidays
20:30
um I mean I think we'll throw up some of
20:32
the numbers in a minute and stuff like
20:33
that but um
20:35
you know
20:37
um
20:39
I don't know I mean I I'm not you know
20:41
I'm not the one to tell somebody else
20:42
how to or how not to per se right
20:46
um but if you are concerned if you have
20:49
a question if you want to chat whatever
20:53
just find someone and do it with
20:55
um
20:57
you know whether it's through you know a
20:59
company like uh National Institute of
21:01
Mental Health or Nami or whoever right
21:03
it doesn't even have to be one of them
21:05
it could just be your your parents your
21:08
spouse your dog I mean whoever you want
21:10
to talk to uh maybe not your dog they
21:13
can't talk about but they still make you
21:14
feel good
21:15
um you know just talk
21:17
um
21:19
but yeah and if it and if you need extra
21:22
help go check out NIMH National
21:25
Institute of Mental mentalhealth.gov at
21:28
the end
21:29
um also Nami very well known I mean I'm
21:31
sure you've heard this um National
21:33
Association of mental illness and that
21:36
is at dot org check that out we also
21:39
encourage you to go check out the 988
21:43
number again holidays are here and if
21:45
you are struggling You are not alone I
21:48
know Rob says all the time reach out to
21:50
him on Twitter he's there reach out to
21:52
me you know and that's really we're here
21:55
people are you know people needing
21:56
people and that's where you know we
21:58
can't cure you we can only just be there
22:00
to be an ear and to listen but if you
22:03
need more than that 988 call that number
22:06
and they will make sure that you get to
22:07
the right area
22:10
we love doing these shows I hope that
22:13
you love them as much as we do we want
22:15
you to what go out give somebody an
22:18
awesome day we'll see you next time on
22:22
minding your mental health have a great
22:24
day everyone bye-bye
#Mental Health
#Anxiety & Stress
#Depression