Mens_Health_UK_March_2017

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MENSHEALTH.CO.UK MEN’S HEALTH 41

WORDS: SCARLETT WRENCH | PHOTOGRAPHY: AGATA PEC AT HEARST STUDIOS


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11
JOY
PROVISION

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here’s little more depressing
than a rainy Friday night in
February, with only reheated
quinoa and a tap water
chaser as reward for a week’s hard
graft. So, while we applaud any
man’s efforts to clean up his act,
the truth is that winter is no time to
be abstemious. A little of what you
fancy, as they say, can do you a whole
lot of good. Particularly if what you
fancy is a bloody stiff drink.
Contrary to popular belief that
booze is a depressant – this actually
refers to the slowing effect it has
on your reactions – new research
in Nature Communications journal
found it produces the same neural
changes as antidepressant drugs.
This triggers a biochemical mood
boost with blues-beating effects that
can last for a full 24 hours, long after
your heady glow fades. Now, clearly

WINTER MOOD ON THE
ROCKS? YOUR POISON
MAY BE THE ANTIDOTE

LIGHT UP
YOUR LIFE
Counteract your
seasonal sorrows
until Friday with
this daily timeline

BOTTOMS


UP TO RAISE


LOW SPIRITS
Call off the dryathlon.
In the right dose, your
evening tipple can pop
a cork in winter malaise

MIND


NEWSFEED


03/17


we’re not advocating ‘self-
medication’ as the solution to
life’s travails. Rather the message
here is that if a moderate dose of
the harder stuff at the end of an
immoderately tough week makes
you feel better, that’s no bad thing.
This builds on previous research,
published in BMC Medicine, which
found that those who enjoy up to
seven drinks a week are 32% less
likely to suffer from depression than
teetotalers. Note, that’s a glass over
dinner – not a bottle and a half while
perusing pictures of your colleague’s
winter sun break. Both of which
are likely to leave you in a far darker
mood come tomorrow.

07.00 RISE & SHINE
If dark mornings
cloud your outlook,
Lumie’s Bodyclock
(£54 johnlewis.com)
simulates sunrise to
wake you up, keeping
you bright all day.

13.00 HIIT HARDER
As well as endorphin-
boosting benefits,
interval training can
rebalance voracious
winter appetites, the
International Journal
of Obesity reports.

19.00 FEEL THE BURN
Light a vanilla candle.
What you lose in lad
points, you’ll gain
in serotonin, says St
George’s Hospital,
plus the scent also
cuts sugar cravings.

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TIPPLE THE
BALANCE
Free download pdf