ADD in adults can make getting through the winter – especially a winter with the kind of weather we’re having this year – a real challenge. Dr. George Sachs, PsyD, understands that better than most. He is an acknowledged leader in ADD/ADHD treatment in NYC. He is also living with ADD as an adult.
ADDitude Magazine offers adults with ADD helpful tips in how to keep depression at bay and avoid getting mired in ADHD procrastination. In How to Survive Winter Weather with Adult ADHD, Stacey Turis offers a number of suggestions that have helped her survive the long, cold months of winter.
To stay happy, active, and productive in winter time, she recommends:
- Make your home cozy. “If you have to be stuck inside, you need to feel good about where you’re spending your time,” she says. Instead of overhead lighting, she suggests using table lamps. “But make sure you choose bulbs that are warmer and more yellow in color, not the over-stimulating blue or white colors.”
- Stimulate your senses. Burning essential oils – she likes warm, spicy scents such as cinnamon, orange and clove – that have a strong, positive effect on mental health. “I carry essential oils with me at all times for that reason,” she says.
- Eat the right comfort foods. “There’s a good reason we turn toward comfort foods in winter. Most of them are generally high in fatty acids, which gives us a nice little serotonin boost. We desperately need it because we have less exposure to the sun’s natural serotonin-boosting rays. I love a good bowl of mashed potatoes, but the carbs in the potato knock me out five minutes after I leave the dinner table. I like to mash cauliflower instead: same effect, less simple carbs, easier on the ADHD brain.”
- Take vitamin D. “It’s that simple,” she says. “It’s sunshine in a supplement.”
Do you have strategies that help you navigate the short days and long nights of winter? Let us know what works for you. And, if nothing seems to be working, remember that ADHD treatment in NYC is available at the Sachs Center, a preeminent center of therapy and neurofeedback for ADHD as well as ADHD testing.