FEBRUARY 2021 Newsletter
Blowin’ in the Wind…
I hope everyone is feeling hale and hearty through all these long winter days. It’s the time of year when people get the mid-winter blues. For some folks this can be severe. When you add in the isolation of COVID, one overcast day seems just like another overcast day – gloomy. I read an article that said the best antidote to the doldrums is sunlight and exercise. Well, unless you’ve got one of those full spectrum sunlamps, there’s not much you can do to increase your time in the sun if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
Exercise is something we can all partake in (even in a modified fashion). Find something you enjoy and DO IT! Walk, run, bike, swim, do yoga, armchair aerobics, gardening, whatever it is you like. Exercise stimulates your brain and releases those “happy hormones”. Exercise in the sunshine and you get a double whammy.
In addition to exercise and sunshine, spending time outside has other benefits. A Japanese researcher named Qing Li has detected substances called phytoncides which are particles that trees and plants release to help them fight diseases. When we spend time in a natural setting, we breath in these phytoncides. These particles have been shown to reduce stress hormones, help us improve our mood, and help us to relax. Tree huggers rejoice!
In Northwest Arkansas, we can take advantage of another method of beating the blues – wind therapy. In the Netherlands, people practice uitwaaien – literally exercising in the wind. Uitwaaien is thought to be a way to clear your mind and reduce stress by focusing on releasing the bad air and taking in the good air. Think about a time when you’ve gone for a walk and the air is calm or stagnant. Now think about a time when the wind was blowing and maybe you had to lean into it a little. Exhilarating, right? That is the mindset behind uitwaaien. Sounds simple enough.
I think I might give it a go. First, I’ll stick my head under the grow light I use for my plants (do I need sunscreen?). Next, I’ll take a brisk walk around the block, pick up the sticks in my yard that were blown down recently, and fill up the birdfeeders which the squirrels have been busily emptying. While I’m on my deck breathing in the phytoncides, I’ll lean out over the rail into the wind, close my eyes, and imagine I’m Kate Winslet with Leonardo DiCaprio on the prow of the Titanic. I can almost hear the flute music as I raise my arms high into the wind and Celine Dion belts out “Near, far, wherever you are…”. May be so much woo-woo, but I feel better already!
Until next time…
…Sue
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