Are You Suffering From the August Blues?

We're about to enter the last week of August, school has started, pools will soon be closing for the season and your vacation time is all used up. Feeling down in the dumps about all the above? Sounds like you have a case of the "August Blues", and it's a legit medical condition.

Every year when mid August rolls around I start to feel a little guilty. I regret not spending enough time outdoors, and I worry that I jipped  my kids out of a lot of summer fun because mommy doesn't like the heat. (In my defense, my 3-year-old doesn't like the heat either.)

It's the time of year where the need to pack in a whole lot of summer fun in just a few days takes over my mind, but experts say we should ignore the impulse to do that. Seriously!

I came across this Cosmopolitan article talking about the "August Blues" where Stephen Ferrando, director of psychiatry at Westchester Medical Center, is quoted for saying;

August blues ... are sort of like the Sunday night blues for a month. Depression and anxiety at the end of summer can often be equated to situational events, like the start of school, the end of vacation, and the anticipation of the hectic holiday season.

Ferrando also says;

The experience of seasonal depression in the summertime is "more of an agitated and anxious depressive state, while those who experience seasonal depression in the winter are more likely fall into a "vegetative depressive state."

Great. So I have the August Blues, but I can't cure it by throwing myself under a "happy lamp", what do I do now? According to Cosmopolitan,  Rachel Annunziato, associate professor of psychology at Fordham University, suggests;

It's good to stay organized but she suggests you take it slow. "I think if you haven’t already, this is an important time to give yourself a bit of a break."

Translation - Don't work yourself up packing in all the things you didn't do; just let the relaxing vibe of summer live on a little bit longer to get you through your case of the sads. Yes! This I can do.

Catch Lil Zim on ‘Q98.5 Mornings with Lil Zim & JB’ on Q98.5 from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook