November 22, 2024 • 17 mins
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Unlock the secrets to a brighter and warmer winter as we navigate the challenges of combating the winter blues for older adults living alone. Drawing inspiration from Nordic countries, known for their resilience through long, dark winters, we'll explore how light therapy, cozy LED lighting, and bringing nature indoors can transform your home into a sanctuary of warmth. Discover alternatives to traditional Scandinavian saunas that include hot baths with Epsom salts and essential oils, each designed to nurture your well-being and create a comforting atmosphere.
Join me, Esther Kane, as we journey into the world of light therapy and community engagement, encouraging you to connect and grow during the colder months. We'll delve into the benefits of light therapy products and highlight the importance of participating in online clubs and classes. These activities offer not only a boost to your mood but also an opportunity to discover new passions and friendships. Subscribe now for more insights on enhancing your quality of life, and let's emerge in the spring feeling rejuvenated and refreshed together.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Aging in Place
Directory podcast.
I'm your host, esther Kane.
Today we are going to talkabout the weather Right now,
(00:24):
those winter blues.
Now that the days are a bitshorter, darkness comes around
4.30, 5 o'clock and it can get alittle stir crazy sometimes
with the colder weather, darkerweather.
So we're going to be talkingabout how to beat some of those
issues, especially if you're anolder adult at home or if you're
(00:48):
living alone.
What can you do?
All right, before we get intothat, don't forget to subscribe.
Whether you're listening tothis on YouTube I mean on
podcast or you're watching thison YouTube, or you're watching
this on YouTube, don't forget tosubscribe so that you can get
notified when a new episodecomes up, which it does every
(01:10):
single week.
All right, so I thought well,why not look at what countries
that experience very long, darkwinters?
What do they do?
What are their traditions andhow do the people there combat
these traditions?
The weather.
So I looked at Finland, norway,greenland, canada and Iceland
(01:35):
and I looked to see what is itthat the culture there supports?
How do the people there Finland, I think, year after year ends
up listed as the happiestcountry in the world.
I think that that makes me wantto move there, but they are
long, cold, dark winters, so I'mnot sure.
(01:56):
But I'm going to talk aboutsome of the things that they do
that we can incorporate or youcan incorporate into your life.
And the first one I'm going tostart with I think is pretty
common it's light.
So the very basics of fightingdark, cold winters or even just
long nights, you know, when itdoes start getting dark at 430
(02:19):
and doesn't get light againuntil almost 8 am, light is very
important.
So during the day you want toopen your blinds, you want to
move your seating furniture oranything you know dining
furniture as close as you can tothe windows and you want to
invest in light therapy boxes.
If your house naturally is verydark Maybe it's surrounded by a
(02:43):
lot of trees and you want tocreate a sense of coziness,
especially in your seating areas, be watching TV, reading, doing
crafts and you want to do thatby layering your space with warm
light sources like LED candlesand lanterns.
(03:04):
You want to use battery-poweredlights for safety versus
candles.
It's just too easy when youhave that cozy kind of
environment to fall asleep, andyou never want to fall asleep
and have a candle lit.
So you want to avoid candles,so you want to, I avoid candles
(03:25):
and just use LED candles andlanterns and then mix them with
reflective surfaces like mirrors, in order to double that glow
and that creates that sense ofcoziness in your area.
Now, of course, if you're doingreading or crafting of any kind
, you're going to need much morelight than that cozy kind of
(03:48):
light.
But having that you knowfeeling of layering with
blankets and layering with softlight and a cup of hot chocolate
or coffee or tea is such a niceway to slow down and enjoy
these types of days that keepyou indoors.
(04:08):
I'm going to talk about thatconcept later on at the end,
which I think is a beautifulconcept that all these countries
embrace, and we don't do thatmuch of that here, at least in
the US.
All right, the second thing Iwant to talk about is nature.
We all know there's no secretthat nature plays a very huge
(04:31):
role in overall well-being.
That's why it's alwaysencouraged to get out even if
you just get out onto your frontporch, backyard patio, anything
to breathe in that fresh air,for as long as you can, of
course, weather permitting.
But it's more than just thefresh air, it's the greenery,
(04:55):
it's just the overall well-beingthat nature tends to give all
of us.
But of course, you can't alwaysget out every day, so you want
to bring it in.
So, bring in, have pottedevergreens, or, you know,
branches arranged in vases thatcan mimic the outdoors.
You want to even create anindoor garden with herbs like
(05:19):
mint or thyme or basil.
You know the fresh scents dowonders for your mood.
And, hey, they are functionaland pragmatic for cooking, which
is an excellent activity to doduring the winter.
You want to, you know, createthose nice thick, hot stews.
(05:43):
You know, maybe pull up recipesthat your mom used to make
during winter days, unless, ofcourse, you grew up and lived in
south florida, which there areno winter days down there, but,
um, or maybe parts of arizona aswell no, I think even the
southern arizona has some winterbecause of the desert.
(06:03):
But anyway, bringing natureindoors is an excellent way to
boost your mood and your overallhealth and well-being.
The next thing I want to talkabout is, of course, exercise.
But people in Iceland and andfinland and canada, and even, I
(06:25):
think, switzerland and they innorway, they do, um, they add a
layer of another activity totheir exercises, um, and that is
saunas.
Now, not ever.
It's not a common thing here inthe us I'm not sure about
canada actually but it'sdefinitely quite common over
(06:48):
there in the Norwegian area.
So you can do all kinds ofthings like a virtual reality
kind of workout, a dance party,kind of game online with your
computer, be it Wii or any othertype of game, gaming, toy, a
(07:10):
tool.
But saunas are a littledifficult to.
Not everyone's going to be ableto incorporate a sauna into
their home.
But you can mimic it by a hotbath.
If you can safely get in andout of a bathtub, you can put in
Epsom salts.
Of a bathtub you can put inepsom salts, use essential oils
(07:34):
like eucalyptus and combine allof this with, you know, some
nice light, cozy therapy, like Ispoke about earlier.
And then, when you're done withthe bath, put on those PJs and
step outside for five minutesand get that, you know, cold,
invigorating air on you, if youcan do it safely.
(07:57):
It's something that a lot ofpeople in northern areas, even
in Siberia, do in order to, youknow, boost up their health,
that contrast of the hot saunaand the cold, cold weather.
Of course you don't have tostay all five minutes if you
(08:18):
can't take it.
You know, one minute, twominutes is fine, but it's such a
nice, invigorating, healthything to do.
I think it seems to be, atleast because the average age of
the length of life in in thecultures in those Norwegian
(08:38):
countries is longer than youknow quite a few other countries
, certainly the US for sure.
Okay, the next thing I want totalk about that a lot of the
Nordic countries participate induring these long, dark winters
(09:03):
is socializing.
You know, isolation obviouslycan be very easy to be isolated
during the winter, especially if, especially if the weather is
so bad you can't get out becauseof the snow and all of that.
But nowadays, with the Internetavailable and all kinds of
video type of transmissions, wecan cut that down with FaceTime
(09:28):
and Zoom and all kinds of toolsthat we can share with others,
you know.
So, whether it's just havingconversations with others or
participating in actualactivities with others, you know
you can host a virtual craftingsession.
I know that there are cookingclasses that are conducted over
(09:50):
Zoom, poetry classes, you know,learning multiple languages, all
kinds of things that you can doand continue with on a regular
basis all year long, but it'sespecially helpful if you can't
get out in the weather.
Helpful if you can't get out inin the weather, but um.
(10:14):
So a lot of the nordic country,they have this constant,
continuous tradition ofcommunity working together,
being together, but not justsitting around being together.
It's usually around a project,whether they're cooking meals or
baking for a charity, or, youknow, creating crafts or working
on woodworking, anything at all, you know even fixing up each
(10:34):
other's houses, anything at all.
To get together.
It's not just sitting aroundgetting together, it's being
together on a particular project, which I think creates much
more than just getting together.
It creates an actual sense ofcommunity and teamwork and being
part of your littleneighborhood community area.
(10:59):
The next thing I want to talkabout is cozy, creativity and
rest.
One of the things that theNordic countries embrace,
especially in Finland, is theyembrace slow, intentional
activities during these months,during the winter months.
It's, you know, things likeknitting or woodworking, or, you
(11:22):
know, putting together puzzles,anything that allows for focus
without the stress.
So this is a way to rest, torest your body, to rest your
mind.
You know they in finland, theycelebrate the darkness, um, as
an excuse really to slow downand to recharge, which I think
(11:45):
is something that a lot ofcultures, or at least our
cultures here, don't tend totake advantage of.
You know we're always on the go, go, go, and it's a wonderful
way to rest up and to to getready for the months that you
are busy going and moving andactive.
(12:05):
So take advantage of thingslike you know, maybe planning
the following year, journaling,you know putting together a
vision board, maybe you knowplanning some trips.
You know, take advantage of theslow, natural rhythm that these
months you know give you.
(12:27):
I think it's one of the reasonsthat Finland is always rated as
one of the happiest, if not thehappiest country in the world,
year after year after year, andit's probably why their life
expectancy is much longer thanat least here in the US.
All right, the last thing is, II think, the most fun, at least
(12:50):
for me.
I'm a big foodie, but the lastthing is food and rituals for
the soul, for the mind, for thebody.
So nourishment, I mean food, issuch an important part of every
single culture and traditions.
So take advantage of it.
Take advantage of the wonderfulwarm foods that we all enjoy
(13:13):
during the winter all thesquashes and the pumpkins.
And when I was in some of theNordic countries on vacation,
lots and lots and lots of fish.
Almost every dish and everymeal had some kind of fish.
And then take breaks.
You know, take breaks withcoffee or tea.
(13:34):
It's just slowing down andenjoying that warm drink, that
beautiful, hearty.
You know stew or meal of.
You know a light meal, um, Ithink fish is so much lighter
than a lot of meats that we tendto eat so and then combine that
(13:55):
with some calming.
You know led candle lights andsoft music.
Um, you know watch a lot ofhumor.
You know comedy, comedychannels you know Tom Papa and
you know the comedian SebastianManiscalco and Fluffy and anyone
else that you find that givesyou that sense of laughter and
(14:19):
joy in your life.
You know, read wonderful booksthat fill your soul and make you
want to just be the best personyou can possibly be.
I really think that this time ofyear, what I love about it more
than anything and it is myfavorite time of year is really
that it does force you to slowdown.
(14:40):
It does force you to be indoorsand enjoy yourself and your
activities and to make yourselfthe better person that we're all
striving to do every single dayAt least.
I think it's important to dothat.
So take these tips.
(15:01):
I hope that these tips help youto beat those winter blues.
If you do need light therapy,look on Amazon or any other
place online to see what lighttherapy type of products that
they have.
Incorporate them in your house.
Get into some activities.
Enjoy the online communities Ifyou can't get outside, enjoy
(15:26):
the online communities that youcan get into clubs, classes,
anything at all and, who knows,you may end up finding a new
aspect of yourself.
You may end up, you know,emerging in the spring as a
brand new person who knows.
All right, I want to thank youso much for listening.
(15:48):
I hope you enjoyed the podcastand YouTube video and I guess I
will see you next time.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Bye.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Aging in Place
Directory podcast.
I'm your host, esther Kane.
Today we are going to talkabout the weather Right now,
(00:24):
those winter blues.
Now that the days are a bitshorter, darkness comes around
4.30, 5 o'clock and it can get alittle stir crazy sometimes
with the colder weather, darkerweather.
So we're going to be talkingabout how to beat some of those
issues, especially if you're anolder adult at home or if you're
(00:48):
living alone.
What can you do?
All right, before we get intothat, don't forget to subscribe.
Whether you're listening tothis on YouTube I mean on
podcast or you're watching thison YouTube, or you're watching
this on YouTube, don't forget tosubscribe so that you can get
notified when a new episodecomes up, which it does every
(01:10):
single week.
All right, so I thought well,why not look at what countries
that experience very long, darkwinters?
What do they do?
What are their traditions andhow do the people there combat
these traditions?
The weather.
So I looked at Finland, norway,greenland, canada and Iceland
(01:35):
and I looked to see what is itthat the culture there supports?
How do the people there Finland, I think, year after year ends
up listed as the happiestcountry in the world.
I think that that makes me wantto move there, but they are
long, cold, dark winters, so I'mnot sure.
(01:56):
But I'm going to talk aboutsome of the things that they do
that we can incorporate or youcan incorporate into your life.
And the first one I'm going tostart with I think is pretty
common it's light.
So the very basics of fightingdark, cold winters or even just
long nights, you know, when itdoes start getting dark at 430
(02:19):
and doesn't get light againuntil almost 8 am, light is very
important.
So during the day you want toopen your blinds, you want to
move your seating furniture oranything you know dining
furniture as close as you can tothe windows and you want to
invest in light therapy boxes.
If your house naturally is verydark Maybe it's surrounded by a
(02:43):
lot of trees and you want tocreate a sense of coziness,
especially in your seating areas, be watching TV, reading, doing
crafts and you want to do thatby layering your space with warm
light sources like LED candlesand lanterns.
(03:04):
You want to use battery-poweredlights for safety versus
candles.
It's just too easy when youhave that cozy kind of
environment to fall asleep, andyou never want to fall asleep
and have a candle lit.
So you want to avoid candles,so you want to, I avoid candles
(03:25):
and just use LED candles andlanterns and then mix them with
reflective surfaces like mirrors, in order to double that glow
and that creates that sense ofcoziness in your area.
Now, of course, if you're doingreading or crafting of any kind
, you're going to need much morelight than that cozy kind of
(03:48):
light.
But having that you knowfeeling of layering with
blankets and layering with softlight and a cup of hot chocolate
or coffee or tea is such a niceway to slow down and enjoy
these types of days that keepyou indoors.
(04:08):
I'm going to talk about thatconcept later on at the end,
which I think is a beautifulconcept that all these countries
embrace, and we don't do thatmuch of that here, at least in
the US.
All right, the second thing Iwant to talk about is nature.
We all know there's no secretthat nature plays a very huge
(04:31):
role in overall well-being.
That's why it's alwaysencouraged to get out even if
you just get out onto your frontporch, backyard patio, anything
to breathe in that fresh air,for as long as you can, of
course, weather permitting.
But it's more than just thefresh air, it's the greenery,
(04:55):
it's just the overall well-beingthat nature tends to give all
of us.
But of course, you can't alwaysget out every day, so you want
to bring it in.
So, bring in, have pottedevergreens, or, you know,
branches arranged in vases thatcan mimic the outdoors.
You want to even create anindoor garden with herbs like
(05:19):
mint or thyme or basil.
You know the fresh scents dowonders for your mood.
And, hey, they are functionaland pragmatic for cooking, which
is an excellent activity to doduring the winter.
You want to, you know, createthose nice thick, hot stews.
(05:43):
You know, maybe pull up recipesthat your mom used to make
during winter days, unless, ofcourse, you grew up and lived in
south florida, which there areno winter days down there, but,
um, or maybe parts of arizona aswell no, I think even the
southern arizona has some winterbecause of the desert.
(06:03):
But anyway, bringing natureindoors is an excellent way to
boost your mood and your overallhealth and well-being.
The next thing I want to talkabout is, of course, exercise.
But people in Iceland and andfinland and canada, and even, I
(06:25):
think, switzerland and they innorway, they do, um, they add a
layer of another activity totheir exercises, um, and that is
saunas.
Now, not ever.
It's not a common thing here inthe us I'm not sure about
canada actually but it'sdefinitely quite common over
(06:48):
there in the Norwegian area.
So you can do all kinds ofthings like a virtual reality
kind of workout, a dance party,kind of game online with your
computer, be it Wii or any othertype of game, gaming, toy, a
(07:10):
tool.
But saunas are a littledifficult to.
Not everyone's going to be ableto incorporate a sauna into
their home.
But you can mimic it by a hotbath.
If you can safely get in andout of a bathtub, you can put in
Epsom salts.
Of a bathtub you can put inepsom salts, use essential oils
(07:34):
like eucalyptus and combine allof this with, you know, some
nice light, cozy therapy, like Ispoke about earlier.
And then, when you're done withthe bath, put on those PJs and
step outside for five minutesand get that, you know, cold,
invigorating air on you, if youcan do it safely.
(07:57):
It's something that a lot ofpeople in northern areas, even
in Siberia, do in order to, youknow, boost up their health,
that contrast of the hot saunaand the cold, cold weather.
Of course you don't have tostay all five minutes if you
(08:18):
can't take it.
You know, one minute, twominutes is fine, but it's such a
nice, invigorating, healthything to do.
I think it seems to be, atleast because the average age of
the length of life in in thecultures in those Norwegian
(08:38):
countries is longer than youknow quite a few other countries
, certainly the US for sure.
Okay, the next thing I want totalk about that a lot of the
Nordic countries participate induring these long, dark winters
(09:03):
is socializing.
You know, isolation obviouslycan be very easy to be isolated
during the winter, especially if, especially if the weather is
so bad you can't get out becauseof the snow and all of that.
But nowadays, with the Internetavailable and all kinds of
video type of transmissions, wecan cut that down with FaceTime
(09:28):
and Zoom and all kinds of toolsthat we can share with others,
you know.
So, whether it's just havingconversations with others or
participating in actualactivities with others, you know
you can host a virtual craftingsession.
I know that there are cookingclasses that are conducted over
(09:50):
Zoom, poetry classes, you know,learning multiple languages, all
kinds of things that you can doand continue with on a regular
basis all year long, but it'sespecially helpful if you can't
get out in the weather.
Helpful if you can't get out inin the weather, but um.
(10:14):
So a lot of the nordic country,they have this constant,
continuous tradition ofcommunity working together,
being together, but not justsitting around being together.
It's usually around a project,whether they're cooking meals or
baking for a charity, or, youknow, creating crafts or working
on woodworking, anything at all, you know even fixing up each
(10:34):
other's houses, anything at all.
To get together.
It's not just sitting aroundgetting together, it's being
together on a particular project, which I think creates much
more than just getting together.
It creates an actual sense ofcommunity and teamwork and being
part of your littleneighborhood community area.
(10:59):
The next thing I want to talkabout is cozy, creativity and
rest.
One of the things that theNordic countries embrace,
especially in Finland, is theyembrace slow, intentional
activities during these months,during the winter months.
It's, you know, things likeknitting or woodworking, or, you
(11:22):
know, putting together puzzles,anything that allows for focus
without the stress.
So this is a way to rest, torest your body, to rest your
mind.
You know they in finland, theycelebrate the darkness, um, as
an excuse really to slow downand to recharge, which I think
(11:45):
is something that a lot ofcultures, or at least our
cultures here, don't tend totake advantage of.
You know we're always on the go, go, go, and it's a wonderful
way to rest up and to to getready for the months that you
are busy going and moving andactive.
(12:05):
So take advantage of thingslike you know, maybe planning
the following year, journaling,you know putting together a
vision board, maybe you knowplanning some trips.
You know, take advantage of theslow, natural rhythm that these
months you know give you.
(12:27):
I think it's one of the reasonsthat Finland is always rated as
one of the happiest, if not thehappiest country in the world,
year after year after year, andit's probably why their life
expectancy is much longer thanat least here in the US.
All right, the last thing is, II think, the most fun, at least
(12:50):
for me.
I'm a big foodie, but the lastthing is food and rituals for
the soul, for the mind, for thebody.
So nourishment, I mean food, issuch an important part of every
single culture and traditions.
So take advantage of it.
Take advantage of the wonderfulwarm foods that we all enjoy
(13:13):
during the winter all thesquashes and the pumpkins.
And when I was in some of theNordic countries on vacation,
lots and lots and lots of fish.
Almost every dish and everymeal had some kind of fish.
And then take breaks.
You know, take breaks withcoffee or tea.
(13:34):
It's just slowing down andenjoying that warm drink, that
beautiful, hearty.
You know stew or meal of.
You know a light meal, um, Ithink fish is so much lighter
than a lot of meats that we tendto eat so and then combine that
(13:55):
with some calming.
You know led candle lights andsoft music.
Um, you know watch a lot ofhumor.
You know comedy, comedychannels you know Tom Papa and
you know the comedian SebastianManiscalco and Fluffy and anyone
else that you find that givesyou that sense of laughter and
(14:19):
joy in your life.
You know, read wonderful booksthat fill your soul and make you
want to just be the best personyou can possibly be.
I really think that this time ofyear, what I love about it more
than anything and it is myfavorite time of year is really
that it does force you to slowdown.
(14:40):
It does force you to be indoorsand enjoy yourself and your
activities and to make yourselfthe better person that we're all
striving to do every single dayAt least.
I think it's important to dothat.
So take these tips.
(15:01):
I hope that these tips help youto beat those winter blues.
If you do need light therapy,look on Amazon or any other
place online to see what lighttherapy type of products that
they have.
Incorporate them in your house.
Get into some activities.
Enjoy the online communities Ifyou can't get outside, enjoy
(15:26):
the online communities that youcan get into clubs, classes,
anything at all and, who knows,you may end up finding a new
aspect of yourself.
You may end up, you know,emerging in the spring as a
brand new person who knows.
All right, I want to thank youso much for listening.
(15:48):
I hope you enjoyed the podcastand YouTube video and I guess I
will see you next time.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Bye.
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