reading & read | cmr

When Your Body Gets the Blues by Marie-Annette Brown and Jo Robinson

So I got a little down, see, and thought that maybe I should research, care about myself, do a little "self discovery." That means I got to reading a few books. The first one I tried and read about the first 10 pages before deciding I wasn't dumb enough to read it. I didn't like how she wrote, I didn't like what she had to say in the first 10 pages. I'm not an infant trapped in a woman's body. I'm a woman who wants loving like an infant. This book was called Women Who Think Too Much and don't get it unless you want to think that you're unreasonable. I'm not unreasonable. So I skipped it.

I then got this book from Borders (as I was working that night) called Depression: The Way out of Your Prison. It seemed informative at first. Then I looked at the chapter listing. The entire thing is about what your prison is, how you got to your prison, what it means, and there follows a three page chapter on leaving the prison. I read about 90 pages of the book and got fed up. she focuses a lot on depression for Christian woman (she is, by no means, a Christian--but then, neither am I and therefore, I found I the book irrelevant to me). She claims depression has nothing to do with chemicals or biology. That it is a prison women build around themselves for security from fear. I can believe it to an extent, but not a far enough extent that I'd read the entire book.

I then fell upon a book I read about in Self magazine and heard about again on NPR. When Your Body Gets the Blues and score. I found something.

This book is great. It taught me that I'm not necessarily depressed, but I am certainly moody. MOODY. I become irritable, I become anxious. Sleeping is hard. Being nice is hard. Being pleasant and companionable is HARD. For two weeks, I've been following the LEVITY program advertised in the book. It requires only three things.

1). Walk for a minimum of twenty minutes a day, five times a week, outside.
2). Go outside at least 20 minutes a day for light
3). Take vitamins.

It has helped me tremendously. Online, I found a journal chart to keep track of my moods on every day, how much light I got that day, how much walking I did. You notice a pattern from month to month, based on your walking/light, vitamins, and your own menstrual cycle. I more easily recognized my good moods (which is so hard sometimes!) and also recognized when I was about to become irritable.

Last week is the best week I have had in ages! I felt so great!

I found the LEVITY supplements online for $8.99, they contain the main six ingredients recommended for everyday on this program (the book outlines what each vitamin is for, why you may not be getting enough of it already, etc.) You can buy them from the website for $14.99 plus shipping and handling, but if you can get them for $8.00 plus s/h, why not do that? You can find them here.

I recommend this book. It was a fast read, interesting, instructive, and based on many research studies.

posted by christen roberts @ 2:54 PM