Tag Archives: Seasonal Affective Disorder

Comfort Food: Winter Blues, Holidays, & Weight Gain

“Food is a lot of people’s therapy when we say comfort food, we really mean that. It’s releasing dopamine and serotonin in your brain that makes you feel good.” — Brett Hoebel

“Comfort food is the food that makes us feel good — satisfied, calm, cared for and carefree. It’s food that fills us up both mentally and physically. Finding comfort in food is a basic human experience.” — Ellie Krieger

Last night, I turned the clocks back an hour. This morning the sun rose earlier and tonight it will set sooner. Daylight Savings Time is over and regardless of your views on its merits — or not — for me it’s the onset of Living the Mole Life, a season characterized by comfort foods, winter blues, the holidays, and weight gain. I isolate, sleep, and eat more than I do the rest of the year. I basically hibernate and retreat to my hideout. Continue reading

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Living the Mole Life

“…we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you.”  ― Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty

Last night was Halloween, also known as Hallow’s Eve or Samhain, the Celtic festival that bridges fall and winter, when people light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and the darkness. On State Street here in Madison, Wisconsin it was Freakfest. Before we went to bed, we turned our clocks back an hour; it was the last day of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and though we gained an extra hour of sleep, we begin living the mole life again.  Continue reading

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