SAD

It's winter. And in the Midwest, it's been kinda rough, with 42 days of below-zero temperatures and plenty of snow. If weathering the cold and gray is making you glum, here are seven ideas for boosting your mood and your energy so the next couple months don't feel so heavy.

Fortify yourself with vitamin D-3, the "sunshine vitamin." Low blood levels of vitamin D are linked to depression, as well as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. This fat-soluble vitamin is the only vitamin that can be generated by the body in a super cool chain-reaction that is catalyzed when our skin is exposed to sunlight, specifically UV-B rays. 

Spring may be just around the corner, but first we have to live through the rest of winter. Many Minnesotans try to cut it short by escaping to a warm-weather destination. But if the bad economy means that you’ll have to skip your annual trip to the beach this year, then there’s no way around it: you’re stuck here, and you’ll have to tough it out.