It’s finally happening! One way to put the spring back in your step is getting easier. And all it requires is opening the door and stepping outside.
The last day in February, was the loveliest day here for a long time. The sky was blue, the sun was glorious and we took the dog for a long walk over a 3000 year old Iron Age hill fort with spectacular views across the area we live in, south of Bristol in the UK.
Boy, did I ever need to get outside! Too much sitting at a desk and not enough exercise and sunlight for too long do not make for feeling good.
Apparently we spend more than 90% of our time indoors.
Frankly I think that feels more like 190% to most of us at the moment.
So if somebody told you there was a health supplement you could get for free that would literally put the spring back into your step, leading to stronger bones, a healthier immune system, better sleep patterns, being more alert and having more energy – and Just Feeling More Cheerful – you’d be in the front of the queue to pick some up, wouldn’t you?
Well, it’s right there outside – at least some of the time!
The sun.
I know we don’t get much of it in the UK, but when we do, we need to get out in it.
Everyone should try and achieve at least half an hour outside everyday. Go for a walk or a jog. Take a skipping rope and go outside and do a series of skips. (I think I’m going slightly mad, 8th March 2021). Go and count the trees in your nearest park by walking from one to another. If you work at a desk, take a break when you get stuck, or when it’s lunchtime and go outside.
Just do it. Every day.
You may well find you come back to your desk with a solution to what you were stuck on, or a better angle on a non-work problem, as well as feeling more energised and cheerful.
Even when it’s cloudy you still get daylight on your skin.
Sun on your skin activates the pathway that makes vitamin D – which is vital for stronger bones, a healthier immune system, better sleep patterns, being more alert and having more energy – and, as previously advertised – Just Feeling More Cheerful!
And the physical activity involved in getting outside will get your whole system moving and help all of you. The worst problems are at least put on hold by going outside and looking out around you – so you will probably come back feeling better.
It has been shown that those who spend more than 30 minutes a day outside on clear, sunny days in spring see an increase in memory mood and flexible thinking styles. (Apparently, staying inside on such lovely days had the reverse effect – what a surprise!)
And as you can see from the pictures, spring has definitely arrived where I live. Over here in the northern hemisphere that means longer days and more light, more birdsong and a huge growth in green as all our trees gradually burst into leaf. As the plants photosynthesise, it also means better air quality. And as nature goes into production and reproduction there are flowers in bloom to make us smile and baby animals jumping with joy and life.
Plus apparently even those of us not making babies become more creative in the spring! Spring is not just the season which has the best effect on our mental health if we go outside into it. There’s more: the sunny weather can actually change the way we think and make us more receptive to new ideas and information.
35 minutes a day isn’t much.
You can make it part of your life if you plan it in like an appointment!
The outside is waiting for you!
And if you are feeling you could do with a springboard into a bouncier you, think about trying homeopathy.
Here are three short stories of clients who have found that homeopathy has literally put the spring back into their step.
Tammy, 23, cleaner. Lower back pain and anxiety.
Tammy was one of those people who really do like to keep things clean, so her job was tailor-made for her. Until she developed excruciating lower back pain.
She had never tried homeopathy, but was recommended to me by a friend. Tammy was ready to try anything which might help!
Tammy had a history of back pain having fallen downstairs as a child, and she thought the recent bout might have started with her wearing a pair of “bad shoes”. The pain was excruciating, and she was desperate for it to stop. Any jar at all, such as if her little dog head butted her, made her cry with pain. She was unable to work – which was a serious problem, because cleaning was her only source of income. The pain was better for warmth, and unusually for back pain, she felt better lying on her stomach.
I put all of this together, and prescribed her Hypericum – which changed everything. The back pain improved hugely and Tammy could go back to work.
And she said she just felt inexplicably happy:
“Walking my dog I just felt good about life and everything. I can’t explain it – it felt as if I was on anti-depressants. Everything felt brighter.”
Tom, 51, a busy executive with a stressful job. Joint pain.
Tom used to run a lot of marathons, but had developed joint pain that was really slowing him down. The joint pain had been around for 10 years but over the last year it had got bad enough to slowly sap his ability, and his desire, to run.
Tom was getting concerned about his joint pain, and a friend recommended me, so he decided to give homeopathy a try. Tom was a real family man, loved being outside in nature, especially with his dogs, and was a bit of a night owl.
I prescribed him Medorrhinum, which fitted him beautifully, and a month later his desire to exercise had come back and he was running again after more than a year’s break.
Plus he felt better in himself, was sleeping better and his digestion had improved too!
“I hadn’t realised so much had improved, but now you’re asking the questions I realise there have been a lot of positive changes – as well as the fact that I am now running again.”
Meg, 83, retired landscape architect. Sciatica
Meg loved to be outside working in her garden or going for local walks. Then after a period of intense worry, for no reason she could identify, she developed excruciating sciatica. It was completely debilitating and much, much worse for being cold.
It was in the middle of a cold spell in February that the sciatica started, so Meg was spending a lot of time glued to the radiator to manage the pain. Away from the radiator she was almost completely incapacitated and sometimes could hardly manage to get across the room.
Meg, a long-term client, tended to worry about things quite a bit and liked her house to be well looked after, so I prescribed Arsenicum album, which matched this, the worry she had been through, and the need for heat to manage the pain, and the sciatica got better and better.
“It’s amazing. I can’t believe the difference. It was so painful at times I could barely move – and I was getting exhausted by it. But it got better and better with the remedy and the pain has now all gone, which is just wonderful!”
