Summer is a time for spending time outside in nature walking, exercising and relaxing. We all have an element of SAD within us and require a dose of sunlight to pick us up. There is increasing evidence that just a few minutes of real daylight, looking up at the sky each morning is important to enable us to turn off our night time hormones, Melatonin, and our day time neurotransmitters including Serotonin which we all need to keep us going.
Spending more time in nature is important too. Walking on the ground and the bare earth rather than concrete helps restore our electrical balance. This regular 'grounding' and forest bathing will aid our immune systems and general well-being.
Summer is an opportunity to boost our Vitamin D levels too by exposing more skin to sunlight for at least an hour each day. Vitamin D has many functions including keeping our immune system healthy. It is hard to lose weight if our Vitamin D levels are low and if we wear sunscreen or cover our skin up from sunlight, our primitive brain works on the premise that it must be winter, a time to hibernate as food supplies will be low until the spring. Low Vitamin D levels can signal the body that we need to hang on to every calorie until spring, hence the difficulty in shredding those excess pounds.
My tips therefore for getting the maximum health benefits out of the summer season are to open the curtains every morning and take a look at the sky and to get outside in the fresh air and sunlight exposing skin carefully with a suitable sun protection product that does not contain harmful parabens that can be absorbed through the skin.
If you still feel a little flat and lacking in energy and want to lose a few pounds, book in for a few sessions of 'tapping' or EFT. You may find it beneficial and it's a technique that can be easily taught and and be done at home. Also, if you're interested to learn more about summer supplements that can be taken and how EFT can help with food cravings then I look forward to meeting you.
Wishing you all a lovely summer from Dr Kate Shapland