Top tips to beat the Winter blues

Celebrate instead of hibernate with Keelings Fruit – Top tips to beat the Winter blues.

Missed your alarm this morning? Dropped your phone in a puddle? Bad days happen. However, having a bad day seems justified during these gloomy days despite the fact the end of January is on the horizon. Keelings wants to help fend off the lingering winter blues, and is offering top tips to do so. It’s easier than you think.

Many consider January the most depressing month of the year. With symptoms such as irritability and zapped energy, it may seem almost impossible to feel good.

Keelings wants to cheer things up this year. While we can’t get rid of that dreaded commute or the Irish wind and rain, we can give you ten ways to beat the blues, by focusing on your five senses.

1-Minute Fixes

Light a candle. Burn away that bad mood by lighting a scented candle; your favourite smell is an easy pick-me-up – whether it’s the simple scent of roses, cotton candy or even freshly cut grass; it’s the perfect way to unwind.

Eat some Keelings blueberries or any Keelings berries. Berries contain B-vitamin folate, which is important for your mental health. Pair with some dark chocolate, and you will taste the perfect afternoon snack.

Let the morning sunshine in. By opening up your windows in the morning and allowing natural sunlight to touch your face can awaken your senses, allowing you to start the day off right.

Breathe. Take time to reconnect mind and body by simply breathing deeply in and breathing out for a minute.

 

5-Minute Fixes

Take a walk. Feel good on the inside and out! Exercise helps prevent and improve a number of physical and mental health problems.

Pump up the music. The right sound, such as music can change your attitude – whether you are at work, working out or waiting for your late bus!

Clear your desk. Clutter can make you lose focus. Just the sight of a clear workspace can make your feel more organised and thus be able to concentrate more on the task at hand.

 

10-Minute Fixes

Call a friend. Engage yourself in a conversation with someone who makes you happy! You may as well sing the January Blues away together.

Play with a furry friend. A beloved pet is known to release feel-good hormones, and the love you receive back is only a plus!

Look at old photos. Trigger nostalgia and look at old photos to bring you back to happy times.

Finally, why not end this January as well as you started, and give Keelings blueberry and dark chocolate muffins recipe a try:

 

Ingredients

·       75g Keelings blueberries

·       75g dark chocolate

·       150g plain flour

·       50g golden caster sugar

·       ½ tsp baking powder

·       a pinch of salt

·       1 egg

·       50g butter

·       100ml milk

Method

1.     Heat the oven to 200C or fan 180C or gas 6 and line a muffin tin with paper cases.

2.     Beat the egg, and then melt the butter in a pan, or perhaps in the microwave. Let the butter cool before you use it.

3.     Once done, combine the egg, melted butter and the milk in a small bowl, and mix together well.

4.     Next place the plain flour, caster sugar, baking powder and salt into another bowl and mix together, before adding the wet ingredients to the dry ones, stirring well.

5.     Add the chocolate chunks and the blueberries to your mixture. Don’t use a mixer, because the texture of the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

6.     Divide the mixture between the cases and then bake them for 25 minutes, or until they are golden in colour and cooked all the way through.