Natural Support for the Winter Blues

by VRP Staff

With the shorter days and the darker, colder nights, it’s all too easy for your mood to take a tumble—and to bring your energy, focus and enjoyment of life down with it.

What’s worse, it’s not just your mood that could suffer. Research shows that a gloomy disposition can have noticeable effects on everyday functions in the long run—with links to impairments in problem-solving ability, learning, memory, reasoning and even reduced overall longevity.^1-5

Obviously, a sunny attitude supports more than just your state of mind—it brightens your brain and improves your body’s health, too. Even so, positivity may be hard to maintain in the darkest days of winter. However, just adding a few important nutrients can mean the difference between a cheerful mood and a negative one.

For starters, increase your intake of vitamin D—also known as the sunshine vitamin. Your vitamin D levels often take a dive in the winter as days become shorter and colder, you spend less time outdoors and there is reduced sun exposure. Not surprisingly, lower serum vitamin D levels may have strong ties to melancholy—but trials show that supplementation with this vitamin is able to deliver significant improvements in mood, not just during the winter, but all year round.^6-8 For best results, supplement with vitamin D3—the most bioavailable form of D, which is available now from VRP®.

B vitamins are another essential ally if you want to beat a case of the blues. One 12-year study showed that adults with higher diet and supplemental intake of vitamins B6 and B12 have a significantly more stable mood—and another study established the same link between folic acid and B12, with the intake of both vitamins positively supporting mood by 72 percent and 168 percent, respectively.^9-10 Finally, low levels of pyridoxyl-5-phosphate (the active form of B6) have been associated with approximately double the risk of a persistent bad mood.¹¹ The body can convert the type of vitamin B6 known as pyridoxine to P5P in the liver.

Botanicals like St. John’s wort can also deliver a natural boost to your mood, with studies showing a 76 percent improvement rate after just 12 weeks of supplementation—indicating that this popular herb is a safe and effective solution for the maintenance of a more positive mood during the long winter months.^12-14 Finally, it’s also essential to protect your brain’s primary neurotransmitter pathways with the natural amino acids L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine—two building blocks of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine that help to ensure proper cognition, clarity and mood stabilization.¹⁵

The days may be shorter, but you don’t have to let the winter doldrums keep you down—not when you can overcome the blues with a little help from these natural compounds, all of which are combined in the daily mood-supporting formula SynCholamine™, available now through Vitamin Research Products®.

References:

1. Yen YC, Rebok GW, Gallo JJ, et al. Depressive Symptoms Impair Everyday Problem-Solving Ability Through Cognitive Abilities in Late Life. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Jun 25. Published Online Ahead of Print.

2. Byrne GJ, Pachana NA. Anxiety and depression in the elderly: do we know any more? Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2010 Nov;23(6):504-9.

3. Rapp MA, Schnaider-Beeri M, Wysocki M, et al. Cognitive Decline in Patients With Dementia as a Function of Depression. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Jul 8. Published Online Ahead of Print.

4. Steffens DC, McQuoid DR, Payne ME, et al. Change in Hippocampal Volume on Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Cognitive Decline Among Older Depressed and Nondepressed Subjects in the Neurocognitive Outcomes of Depression in the Elderly Study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Jun 1. Published Online Ahead of Print.

5. Hamer M, Bates CJ, Mishra GD. Depression, Physical Function, and Risk of Mortality: National Diet and Nutrition Survey in Adults Older Than 65 Years. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010 Apr 27. Published Online Ahead of Print.

6. Hoogendijk WJ, Lips P, Dik MG, et al. Depression is associated with decreased 25-hydroxyvitamin D and increased parathyroid hormone levels in older adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 May;65(5):508-12.

7. Jorde R, Sneve M, Figenschau Y, et al. Effects of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double blind trial. J Intern Med. 2008 Dec;264(6):599-609.

8. Gloth FM 3rd, Alam W, Hollis B. Vitamin D vs broad spectrum phototherapy in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. Nutr Health Aging. 1999;3(1):5-7.

9. Skarupski KA, Tangney C, Li H, et al. Longitudinal association of vitamin B-6, folate, and vitamin B-12 with depressive symptoms among older adults over time. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Aug;92(2):330-5.

10. Ng TP, Feng L, Niti M, et al. Folate, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and depressive symptoms in a population sample of older Chinese adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009 May;57(5):871-6.

11. Merete C, Falcon LM, Tucker KL. Vitamin B6 is associated with depressive symptomatology in Massachusetts elders. J Am Coll Nutr. 2008 Jun;27(3):421-7.

12. Melzer J, Brignoli R, Keck ME, et al. A hypericum extract in the treatment of depressive symptoms in outpatients: an open study. Forsch Komplementmed. 2010;17(1):7-14.

13. Kasper S, Volz HP, Möller HJ, et al. Continuation and long-term maintenance treatment with Hypericum extract WS 5570 after recovery from an acute episode of moderate depression--a double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled long-term trial. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2008 Nov;18(11):803-13.

14. Rahimi R, Nikfar S, Abdollahi M. Efficacy and tolerability of Hypericum perforatum in major depressive disorder in comparison with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: a meta-analysis. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Feb 1;33(1):118-27.

15. Gelenberg AJ, Gibson CJ. Tyrosine for the treatment of depression. Nutr Health. 1984;3(3):163-73.