Seasonal Stress And Anxiety Have Some People Dreading The Holidays
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The holiday season is upon us, it's a time many people look forward to all year.
But stress and anxiety, along with the time change makes many people not so cheerful.
As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, there are things you can do to deal with pre-holiday blues.
We lost an hour last week with the end of daylight saving time.
"Getting up in the morning in the dark, going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, not good," Patricia Daweruderman said.
Pschologist Jennifer Hartstein said our bodies produce more melatonin as it gets darker which makes us feel sleepier earlier. Our bodies also lose out on Vitamin D from the sun.
"Get out into the light when it's there, and if you have a hard time you're at your job 9 to 5, and you just can't get outside you can get a light box very easily from Amazon," Hartstein said, "Like 20 minutes a day in the morning right when you wake up can actually help boost your Vitamin D levels and help really boost your energy."
Taina Marrero has adjusted her schedule to get more light.
"I try to wake up earlier, go outside, go to the botanical garden in the Bronx," she said.
Some people find the holiday season exhausting long before the celebrations even begin.
"There's Christmas lights up in my neighborhood already, it's not even Thanksgiving," Ellen Gross said.
Dr. Hartstein said it helps to slow down, manage expectations, and don't expect everything to be perfect.
"Take pressure off, create some rules within your family. This is what we're going to do, we're going to limit it to this amount of gifts," she said, "Figure out how to find the enjoyment piece of it, not the stressful perfection piece."
Peggy Bailey said with all of the attacks throughout the country it's hard to celebrate the holidays.
"Everyday it's a new tragedy, being so sad for one event, and then another event happens," she said, "You're happy for your own little family, but the whole world is our family."
If you're feeling the blues even after the holidays into January, it might be time to talk to your doctor about it.
