How to Beat the End-of-Summer Blues

As everything, this summer has come to an end. Schools and offices are reopening and we are left with the End-of-Summer Blues; but, in every ending there is a new beginning!

Below are some tips on how to beat the End-of-Summer Blues, but remember to always check on your mental health, which is as important as your physical one. Speaking to someone, doing yoga regularly, connecting with our spiritual side is very important to live a peaceful and happy life.

1. Re-evaluate your goals, and set new goals

Just a couple of months and this year will be over! How fast has time passed!

You might feel overwhelmed thinking about the goals you chose for the New Year which is a common feeling that overcomes everyone. By December we start creating our resolution list and feel like we have to stick to it the whole year but that’s not true.  

A considerate part of our daily stress is related to this constant pressure that we have been conditioned to put on ourselves.

Re-evaluate your goals is the first thing to do to live a healthy and fruitful life. Analyse the past months to improve your routine and choose what is really important for you now, choose what aspects you want to focus on and improve.

Remember, don’t push yourself too much, these goals have the aim to motivate you, not to make you feel bad about those that you didn’t manage to do.

1.Family-time.

During Summer, with the kids at home, we get used to spending more time with the family, and, once winter comes, we might feel particularly emotional thinking about all the time spent together. But with Covid, spending almost one year at home with family, makes end-of summer even more blue!

Even though during the rest of the year it is more difficult to do something together, due to there being less time to dedicate to family activities, it is important to organize periodical games, movie nights or trips with them. (just deciding what to do and when is a big part of the family time it self)

This will soften the back to school routine and keep the family united and engaged in each other’s lives.

A cool thing to do all together is to write a family diary.

One night a week, or month, or whenever suits your family timetable better, you could drink a cup of hot chocolate, tea or any other hot beverage, while eating your favourite snacks and just talking about your past adventures, all the holidays you have spent together and in the meantime someone will write them down.

Another great activity to do is make a family photo album, like one of those big old family albums with a lot of pictures glued one on the other and writings and drawings all over the pages. These two activities can be done at the same time creating some sort of family journal with pictures but also a lot of writing.

There are many things that can be done, the only thing to do is choose one and start this tradition!

2. A Healthy Diet

Another important aspect of our lives and directly connected with our mood, therefore our attitude towards life, is the food that we eat.

Comfort foods are things that bond you to your emotions and will help you beat the Blues:

• Dark Chocolate, perfect companion for every food, like on porridge (I personally recommend chocolate-apple combo, it’s delicious!)
• Plant-based food, as it offers the essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals
• Turmeric tea, if you are a tea person or don’t feel like drinking coffee, turmeric infused tea is an healthy and calming companion during the blue days
• Saffron, this might be tricky to find, lucky we sell it! Coyne Healthcare Felix/Affron is the perfect mood lifter and supplement buddy to accompany you during the winter months.
• Vitamin B12, rich in lentils, dried beans and spinaches
• Vitamin D, rich in mushrooms, yogurt, orange juice and egg yolks

There are many ways to include these foods into our diet.

Check our social media for some exciting and delicious recipes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthybuzzireland/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthybuzz.ie/

3.Plan something to look forward to

For many people Summer = Travel, and now that Summer is over you might think that even the travel part is.

The best part about travelling, either alone, with family or some friends, isn’t just to knock off work and the routine, is going somewhere new and being able to do the things that you like.

Who said that “to await a pleasure, is itself a pleasure “? - Well, whoever they were, they were right.

The whole period that goes from choosing where to go, what to do, with who and actually going is the best! Even if you are having a bad day at the office or start to lose motivation, just the thought of that trip, or whatever activity it may be, helps you to deal with anything!

So, write down a list of places you would like to visit, alone or with the family, even places that are on the other side of the earth or just a one-day trip somewhere, it doesn’t have to be a trip, it can just be a concert or a visit to a garden or country fairs, it doesn’t matter!

4.Plan ahead, buy an agenda

One of the causes of the End-of-Summer Blues and stress is the sudden amount of things to do. Especially after the holidays, where we relax and stop, for a breath, to think about work and the day to day things.

As a result of this, when we come back home we feel overwhelmed by all the things that we have to do, the meetings that we set before leaving, the kids going back to school, organising what to buy, and especially now that there are many promotions, like the End of Summer Sale on our website or the countless ones on school and office supplies, allowing us to buy durable goods at a cheaper price, sport practice, all the madness that our routine was.

Keeping up with everything is exhausting and it surely won’t help our already blue mood. The only way to survive is to keep track of all of our errands; to do so you could use the agenda on your mobile phone or, if you believe in the old fashioned way, note down things in a notebook.

Having an agenda allows us to have a visual representation of our life (extremely useful for who has a visual memory), making it easier to organise all our errands.

To make things easier, and for some people funnier, you could create a legend and associate every aspect of your life with a colour and/or symbol.

For example, you could use light blue for your work meetings, yellow for your kid (if you have more than one you could use one colour per child), orange for the gym, etc.

All of these things, apart from helping you to put order in your life, will distract you from the back to routine craziness.

There are many ways in which to organise yourself, choose the one that you like the most and use it.

5. Vitamins and Supplements

Winter is coming, and with it also all the winter-typical illnesses, like the well-known flu or the Strep Throat.

Cold weather really tries our immune system, and in a time like this having to stay at home for these illnesses is extremely frustrating and depressing.

Ergo is essential to periodically take the vitamins and supplements that are lacking in our immune system and lower the chances of catching something.

Some of the most used vitamins and supplements in winter are:

• Vitamin B
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• Iron
• Zinc

All the vitamins and supplements above (and more) are present on our website.

Consume them responsibly.

https://healthybuzz.ie/search?page=7&q=vitamins*%20and*%20supplements*&type=article,page,product

6.Exercises to improve your physical and mental health

That’s why we are suggesting these exercises that can be done both alone, taking some time for ourselves, or at home with the whole family.

• superman exercise - lower back muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and abs
• bicycle crunches - rectus abdominis, hips, and obliques.
• squat - gluteus maximus, hip flexors, and quadriceps
• lateral legs lift - outer thighs, the gluteus medius and minimus
• chest press (with or without a Dumbbell) - pectorals, deltoids, and triceps
• skull crusher (with or without a Dumbbell) - the triceps brachii

And don’t forget to stretch!

Coming back from the holidays and starting with the old-new routine is never easy, the important thing is to have a positive attitude towards it and reminding ourselves that Christmas Holidays are only 3 months away.