Tag: sad

Something that has finally helped me with my insomnia and my SAD too!

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in lifestyle, Mental health

For a few years I’ve seen the lumie lights advertised and I thought with the fact I’ve basically not had more that 4 hours sleep a night at maximum for a year that I was willing to try everything. If you’ve followed my blog for a while you’ll of seen I used sleep masks, ear plugs, white noise, oils, pills, sedatives, sprays, scents and lots more. Basically you name it I have tried it and it hasn’t worked. In December I had enough with the house move stress that has caused me immense stress and I just couldn’t sleep so I asked for the lumie light alarm clock for my birthday. It’s pretty expensive for a alarm clock but at the end of the day I would pay anything to sleep again. So James brought it for my birthday and I was so excited to try it. I’ve now been using it a few weeks so can give true review now.

So basically the light/ alarm clock is used to create the lighting of a sunset and then a sunrise in the morning with your alarm. You can use the light as a calming light or a bright light in your bedroom too. It goes from white to yellow, orange and red. Or you can turn the light off and have the time only on it. You can personalise the wake up and sunset to you with the brightness you’d like, how long you want it to take to come on or turn down and you can choose your sounds. There is 5 sounds for waking up I choose birds, there is also 5 sounds for sleeping I choose white noise, crickets or thunderstorms. My favourite is crickets.

So I’ve got myself into a routine with it. I always go to bed about ten thirty or I am too awake to try. I set my sunset for half hour and have it go from a bright white to red. The sunrise as it happens makes me feel sleepy and I yawn the crickets sound help send me to sleep too. I normally fall asleep with it or just a few minutes after the sunset is finished and the room is lit a dark warm red. once you’ve set your sunset for the first time all you do then is press a button and it does it every night for you! The same with the alarm. I set it for half an hour so half hour before it slowly fills the room with a sunrise and then at 7:30 plays the sound of birds I wake up with that and the room feels warm and lovely and lit when the room used to be pitch black and dark.

I’ve personally found it has helped me to calm down and although not every night do I fall asleep at the same time as the sunset I am never up as late. The best thing is the sunrise setting has allowed me to wake up in the morning and feel more energised. I start the day on a positive instead of in a dark miserable day. For once I don’t mind a alarm. I also try to set my alarm for ten minutes before Elijahs awake just so I can wake up slowly. My mood has significantly improved since I received this and would recommend to anyone to try. Obviously some things work for others and don’t just like oils work for some people and not me but I can say even if it doesn’t help you sleep the wake up in the morning is so nice and calming and if you wake up in a good mood it’s better then miserable you haven’t slept much and woke to the darkness!

If anyone’s interested this is the clock I have:

Like a flower the sun helps my mental health

by Charlie-Jane, posted in Mental health

It may be the fact it’s beginning to feel a bit more like summer and although we can’t sit in a beer garden or eat al fresco at a restaurant we can do it at home. We still are lucky enough to be able to go out for our one type of exercise a day if we wish too and that allows to enjoy some of nature’s absolutely glorious beauty for absolutely free!

Now it may be the fact that my body’s finally absorbing some of the vitamin d it so badly needs or just wanting to experience the outside world a bit more and spark my curiosity. But I feel a bit healthier. I feel a bit a bit more untuned into my body and my emotional needs. I feel when I need a break and sitting in the garden for a little bit can make me feel a lot better then sitting inside. I feel the sun helps more than the rain clouds and although I burn like bacon I enjoy being dry as a raisin as apposed to drowned like a rat. I’m enjoying the suns morning glow lighting my living room and bedroom each morning it feels a bit brighter and happier under the warm sun. It’s helping my heating/lighting bills and my soul.

I’m enjoying watching elijah running around playing around in the garden. I never thought we’d have a garden and here we are homeowners with a garden who would if thought! We enjoy running around after each other when we go for walks. I’ve always enjoyed photography so love to take photos of nature and of my family. It really helps me focus on the pretty things and takes my mind of the rubbish. I enjoy looking back on those photos and enjoying the beauty and memories brought back by them.

The days are longer with the sunshine and we don’t feel a need to go to bed earlier or rush to get inside from the garden at night. It feels nice to enjoy reading in the garden with natural light instead of slumped on the sofa under a lamp!

Although I still struggle with my mental health and still have days I feel so overwhelmed I do find the sunshine really does help me personally. It may not help everyone because it’s not a cure, it’ll never cure me. I’ll still be sad when the sun shines and sad when it rains but that’s life. Some days are better then others. But sometimes the sun does make me feel better when it hits me be it inside under a window or outside in the garden.

Do you think the sun helps you sometimes?