As some of you guys know, I was in London recently & every day I was waking up feeling totally fatigued, depressed & lethargic. What a buzzkill.
For the first few days I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling like that, then I realized it was SAD. For anyone who doesn’t know, SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder & is a mood disorder primarily affecting sufferers in the winter months.
I literally couldn’t believe how much I felt like a totally different person. It was a mixture of very few hours of sunlight, not working out, jetlag, & not being on a normal schedule. It’s like there was wool over my eyes & I had this super heavy energy.
From teaching Pure Barre & Pilates, I became very in-tune with my body, & still have that mind-body connection. Something was off- I could tell. I hopped on Google, started researching, came across Seasonal Depression & realized…this always happens when I travel somewhere that’s dark.
Immediately I went into finding solutions for this problem. One of them was a happy light ( which I immediately bought ), supplementing with St. John’s Wort, dawn alarm ( an alarm that wakes you up with light instead of beeping ), exercise, journaling, aromatherapy, & a salt lamp.
To be honest I didn’t have immediate access to a salt lamp so I kinda forgot about it. After Christmas was over, we went to Gstaad, Switzerland to celebrate New Years. ( Are you guys interested in a post on where to go in London & Gstaad? )
There is the most magnificent spa at the hotel we stayed at in Gstaad- Le Grand Bellevue Gstaad. The spa had all these different saunas & steam rooms…I mean ALL THE SAUNAS…wet, dry, wood, herbal, bio, stone, Turkish, Finnish, infrared, steam- like all of them.
Ironically, they also had a salt room. Basically, you go in in your hotel robe & sit there & stare at this huge salt lamp. On the wall there was a list of all the benefits & on that list was good for mood, & great for depression & anxiety.
So I sat there for 20 minutes, staring at this salt lamp, waiting for it to work it’s magical powers. After 20 minutes guys…I kid you fucking not, I felt 99% better. LITERALLY couldn’t believe it. I was out of my mind over it & almost wrote a blog post right there, on the spot. But I figured I’d wait & do some more research & get access to my own before I talked to you guys about it.
It’s known to lift depression & anxiety immediately, especially for people who live in dark, rainy areas.
You should know it has tons of other benefits too:
♡ natural antihistamine
♡ good for digestion
♡ improves metabolism
♡ reduces stress hormones
♡ lowers cortisol
♡ good for vascular health
♡ balances electrolytes
♡ prevents muscle cramping
♡ supports a healthy nervous system
♡ improves sleep
♡ reduces electromagnetic radiation
♡ reduces static electricity
It’s said that positive ions can really drain your energy, but a salt lamp releases natural negative ions which can bring your energy back up.
You know I love to find a niche, so instead of getting the huge one I got 2 salt lamp night lights. They’re pretty, pink & SO on brand- something you just want in your house. They’re so perfect for my & Michael’s bathrooms & so great for taking a shower at night ( especially when you have eucalyptus hanging from your shower head ). Even better if you want to listen to Tibetan Bowl music while you shower.
It completely calms me down at night & I like to have it on in the day too, especially if it’s cloudy. After using this salt lamp night light situation for the last month, I ended up buying the big square one for our bedroom. Now we sleep with it on for the whole night.
You already know about this tip if you follow my new Instagram account @and.the.skinny.was.like. Be sure to follow if you aren’t already because this account is full of hot tips like this. No B.S. or curated photos, just TSC-approved products that I know you’ll all love.
If you live in a dark, cloudy area & you only ever take ONE TIP from The Skinny Confidential, let it be this tip, ok? It’s life-changing & will take you from feeling fatigued & lethargic to feeling completely normal. Just stare into it for a couple minutes a day & even sleep with it for a calming, pink, warm glow over room- you just can’t go wrong here.
Question for you guys: have any of you experience SAD?
If you like this post you’ll love the one about eucalyptus showers. It goes hand in hand with this post.
I’m off to drink my hot mushroom cacao, read Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis of The Red Hot Chili Peppers & stare into my magical salt lamp.
Hope you guys are having a super productive day.
x, lauryn
+ Don’t forget to eat your salt. Check out this post on Himalayan salt benefits.
++ Stalk my full nighttime routine here.
OK, sounds like I need a salt lamp in my life ASAP!
Angela | BlushandPearls.com
Haha! So agreed!
I have lived in Wisconsin my entire life – the winters are long, dark, and cold. Over the last few years, I noticed it really affecting me. I’ve found that when I take a vacation somewhere warm in the middle of winter, my mood is improved, my body feels better, and I just feel healthier as soon as I step off the plane to somewhere warm and sunny. However, the hard part is coming back from vacation. It’s extremely hard for me to re-adjust to the cold, cloudy, and damp environment again. I’ve found that eating foods from my vacation really helps to hold on to that feeling, but I will give one of these a try!
I have always thought that salt lamps were so pretty, but I never knew they had this many benefits! I definitely need to get myself one! Also, I would love to see a post on London and Gstaad. I have always wanted to go there. Great post!
-Kate Christine
https://daysofkate.com
what does the photo of you with your tongue out have to do with this?
Thank you so much for sharing this. All the best!
This is some really good information about salt therapy. I didn’t realize that it can help you balance your electrolytes and that it is good for your vascular health. That is good for me to know that because I need to get my vascular system in better shape soon.
I appreciate everything you had to share about GPS tracking implementation of trackersbd companey. During the summer, I work as a manager for a summer sales team that works door to door and sells pest control. Our boss had me implement a GPS tracker for all of their tablets that they use and so we could keep a close eye on them. Just like you said, using GPS tracking has really increased their productivity because they know that we can watch them all the time. Thanks for the information!
Ok Lauryn, you convinced me… I’m looking up salt lamps on Amazon right now! I don’t want to go too crazy with price but I’m not sure how to tell which ones are the best quality (aka like how will I know what’s just a painted rock and what’s the real thing)… any tips on how to tell the real from the fake?
This might be a silly question, but do the salt lamps have to be visible to reap the benefits? Does it matter how close it is to you when you sleep?
Thanks for sharing the best ways to get sleep. I’m 53 i barely sleep. I’m so excited to try this!
get your sleep girl!! let us know how you like it
Salt lamps are often claimed to improve the air quality of your home. Thanks for sharing informative content here with us.
What an Great Post. Very interesting topic of the time and I really thrilled to read this. Keep posting such interesting topics.
Sounds Good, I think I need a salt lamp in my house ASAP!
you sure do!