Home and Garden Lifestyle Festive Issue

Life yle

CHRISTMAS PARTY FOOD

2020 has been a difficult year, but that is no reason you can’t celebrate Christmas the best way you know how, and that starts with expert party food! We’ve got some recipes to get your started on page 4.

SAVE MONEY, TRY DIY-ING! Christmas is an expensive time for everyone. In this issue, we are all about making things, or fixing things for yourself.

From making your own Christmas decorations to bleeding your own radiators, give DIY-ing a go!

KEEPING FIT THIS CHRISTMAS With the uncertainty of gyms being open recently it is important that you can make the most of home workouts just in case. We have some great free exercise you try, without the need of a gym.

MAKE 2021 YOUR BEST YEAR YET. .

It is time to put 2020 behind us, and start fresh. We have got some great tips on how to set goals, and acheive them.

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INissue THIS 4

MADE WITH LOVE. . .

Christmas edition. 3 Christmas recipes that are going to WOW your guests.

5

MAKE 2021 YOUR BEST YEAR YET

We have got all the advice you need to help you to set, and achieve your goals for next year.

8 11

WINTER GARDENING JOBS We know it may be cold and dark outside, but there are still some job that can keep you busy in the garden.

KEEPING FIT THIS CHRISTMAS Start next year off healthy and begin some new exercise habits now.

13 14

GAME ON Christmas may look a little different this year in some households. We have a few game that you can play over Zoom to keep the Christmas spirit alive no matter how far apart you are!

TIS’ THE SEASON FOR CHRISTMAS DECORATING

16

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BLEED YOUR RADIATORS?

It may not be something that has ever been on your radar but we’ve got a great guide that will help you complete this task without the need of a plumber.

18

20

MAKE A WINTER WISH

Get messy in the kitchen this Christmas with our expert Gingerbread recipe and donate to a good cause at the same time!

DECORATE LIKE A BOSS Christmas table decorating should be considered an olympic sport with all the photos we have seen. Read our quick tips for a Christmas table worthy of Gold!

22 25

IS YOUR CAR READY FOR WINTER? The cold can wreak havoc for your car so it is important to give you car a quick check over before the frost sets in.

BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY Many people use SAD lamps as a form of treatment to brighten their living space and improve their mood during the darker months. We’ve got all the tips you need!

27

Add a personal touch to your Christmas decorating and make a few yourself this year. This is a fun activity for all the family.

MAKE YOUR OWN CANDLES Creating something from scratch can be a rewarding experience, and with Christmas around the corner these candles could make the perfect gift. Or you could just keep them for yourself!

No material may be reproduced in any way, or translated, without written permission of the publishers.

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Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that adverts and articles appear correctly, but Home and Garden cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the contents of the publication.

Home and Garden is published by iPlus Media.

Editorial: hello@iplusgroup.co.uk Telephone: 01242 312121 | Website: iplusmedia.co.uk Head office: Suite 2, 14 Union Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 2HE

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of its publisher or editor.

THIS MONTH ON

MADE WITH LOVE Chri mas Party F d For many of us, the most exciting and ultimately memorable part of Christmas is indulging in all the foods we’ve neglected ourselves eating on any normal occasion.

These all vary between families and can result in some amazing secret family recipes!

However, if you’re looking to impress your lockdown company and are in need of some delicious inspiration, look no further because we’re going to share our top three Christmas party foods and how to recreate them at home!

WE ALL LOVE AN EASY AND DELICIOUS ROUND OF LEFTOVERS

AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY AND THIS QUICHE IS JUST THE PERFECT EXCUSE TO THROW IN ALL YOUR FAVOURITES FROM YOUR CHRISTMAS LUNCH.

CHRISTMAS QUICHE: SERVES 3 (15 MINUTES)

INGREDIENTS Shortcrust pastry block 2 large eggs 175g sour cream 75g cheese (down to preference) Salt, pepper & a pinch of sage Chopped 1-2 cups of leftover meats and stuffing 2tsp cranberry sauce Chopped leftover veggies (sprouts, broccoli)

METHOD Roll out pastry to fit in flan or pie tin and trim the excess off the edges. Spread the cranberry sauce along the pastry and set aside whilst preparing the filling.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sour cream together until filling combined and then add in your cheese, meats, stuffing and veggies. Gently pour this into your quiche and season.

Bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown and the pastry is cooked. Allow to cool before eating.

HOMEMADE SAUSAGE ROLLS: SERVES 8 (20 MINUTES)

INGREDIENTS 1 roll of puff pastry Small box of sage and onion stuffing mix 3 sausages of your choosing Cranberry sauce (optional)

METHOD Turn your puff pastry sheet so it is landscape and line out your sausages to match the length of the roll. Then mix up your stuffing mixture and make a parallel line of stuffing beside it.

Drizzle on some cranberry sauce should you choose to.

Wrap the rolls up and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Slice and serve.

BRIE AND CHARCUTERIE WREATH: SERVINGS VARY (15 MINUTES)

METHOD This recipe works best if you have a round plate or board to present this on – if not, then this recipe will still look beautiful however you decide to present it!

Begin by preparing your chosen meats and fruits, our favourites are usually Parma ham, Negroni salami, Pastrami or Prosciutto alongside orange slices, pomegranate seeds, pitted olives, rosemary sprigs and raspberries! This is the perfect opportunity to get creative with your Charcuterie board and express yourself through good food!

The only other step to this is presentation! We have chosen Brie for this wreath, but you can use any cheese you like. Form the Brie into a ring by cutting off the end of your triangled slices and place alongside each other.

Decorate with your meats and fruits and serve with a chutney of your choice in the middle!

MAKE2021YOUR BEST YEAR YET! Did you know that the average person spends more time planning their summer holiday than they do there life ahead!!

After this year, everyone is looking to 2021 to be a far better year.

Around Christmas many people are looking forward to a New Year and making New Year resolutions covering everything from getting fitter to a new job. So how do you take a resolution from a thought to reality?

Setting a resolution is setting a goal and goals need to be set in a certain way to give you the very best chance of hitting that goal and having that amazing sense of satisfaction. There are many different goal setting techniques, and we are going to look at the SMART system and how you can make this work for you.

Before we look at

SMART lets look at some of the goals that you want to make and linking them to far reaching goals. A very common question is “where do you want to be in 5 years’ time?”, now this might seem simple but let’s be honest do any of us know that answer without a goal? A great way to help with this is to look at what is called The Pyramid of Success, with the ultimate goal being on the top and the bricks below making up a series of goals, so lower down there are more small goals leading to the big goal.

Let’s look at a goal for 5 years’ time.

I want to be running my own fitness business.

So that is the top of the pyramid, that is the goal and what you base your success on is attaining that goal. This type of goal is called an outcome goal, you either reach it or you don`t, but many of the goals below are smaller performance goals, smaller goals that you need to reach to reach the top. Your goal maybe 3, 4 or 5 years away to be the top of the pyramid, as it is a long-term goal.

A mid term goal is usually 3 years’ time in the 5-year plan, followed by a short-term goal of 12 months and micro goals being monthly and macro goals weekly. For our fitness business goal then the mid term goal might be part time PT instructor, short term goal be a qualified instructor in a discipline and the short term goals a combination of personal fitness and learning. Now you could turn this process into anything you like.

So how do you set your mid-term, short term and micro goals? You set them by using SMART objectives.

When you set a goal, it needs to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed, regardless of goal, the only goal that does not fit into the above is your long term/dream goal.

SPECIFIC the goal needs to be a very specific thing MEASURABLE you need to be able to measure the goal ACHIEVABLE it needs to be 75% achievable, so you do need to push yourself to reach it REALISTIC it must be realistic for you to aim at the goal TIMED it needs a date to achieve it by Let’s look at this simple goal setting sheet and an example of using it Long Term Goal Own Fitness Gym Mid Term Goal Part Time PT Instructor Short Term Goals Weight Training Qualification, Nutrition Qualification, Boxing Qualification, BMI = 6%, 10k under 20 minutes, Lift 180kg clean and jerk

training outcomes/speak to PT

Micro Goals Weight Training Qualification – Learn 3 weight training techniques per week/Track progress by choosing 1 technique to train for a month/Record progress/Video each technique Macro Goals Weight Training Qualification – Learn 3 weightlifting techniques per week Book on to a weightlifting course/Record current body size i.e. weight, muscle size, BMI/join a specific weight training gym/decide on ideal weight

If you look at the above and take weight training from the top of the pyramid down, there are over 10 specific actual goals through the journey and all can have SMART applied to them.

As Nike says – just do it! Go set some goals, even if it is to lose 1 stone by next Christmas or climb Everest in 5 years time.

WINTER It might be winter but there is still plenty to do in the garden, especially as there are so many less daylight hours available.

December and January give you a chance to catch up on jobs for the coming year, lift any winter vegetables and

JOBS

prepare the ground for the next season, in particular using the frost to help breakdown the soils.

December is also a great time to use some of the garden foliage for making wonderful Christmas wreaths and decorations.

Whether you are preparing a border or the vegetable garden, you need to be digging and preparing for next year. If you are getting into the ower border or fruit cage, then you should be pruning a

number of plants including roses and fruit trees.

Once you have pruned then you can look to dig the borders and vegetable plots. Look at digging them over and giving a good covering of manure or compost and then let the frosts help to break down the soils.

When digging in the vegetable plot you can choose to do a light dig and add compost or if you are not rotating your crops then maybe a chance to change the soil with a layered approach with a double dig method. Double digging is really beneďŹ cial when starting a new vegetable garden or a new border.

The system is simple, dig a spade depth

trench, discarding the soil to one side, then fork another spade depth again with a little bit of compost. Dig a second trench and add the dig from the second trench to the ďŹ rst trench, then fork in with some compost, dig a third trench and add to the second, if you do a forth trench then you will be adding the ďŹ rst dig soil to that one.

Another key thing to do in the winter is a thorough clean of your fencing, patios, bird feeders and your pots.

Before you know it, it will be spring and suddenly you have so many jobs to do, so December is a great time to potter in the garden and get these jobs done. It is ideal to clean down your fences and apply some wood preservative to protect form any winter rotting.

Cleaning all your tools is another great idea, give then a really good wash

and scrape down then rub down with a drop of oil.

Compost as much as you can over winter as well, if you have not gathered any fallen leaves yet then get these collected in the compost, along with any pruning you have done. If you have been thinking about getting a compost bin, then now is the time to get one, or you could make one out of old pallets. Attaching four pallets together with a lining of cut black bags with holes in them will work really well. For the lid, why not add a piece of carpet which will keep the heap warm on the odd sunny day in winter and help with the breaking down of the compost.

As it is Christmas why not see what you have in your garden to use to make a wreath, even the smallest garden it likely to have some branches and a bit of ivy with some holly would look lovely and it is a great way to get children involved with the garden too. You could even make a great Christmas display with a decent sized stick branch, spray it silver or gold and then add some small baubles.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY GARDENING.

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KEEPING THIS CHRISTMAS Fitness through winter can be tough for many of us, especially with uncertainty of being able to go to the g ym regularly.

There’s often a theme of indulgence throughout December and it can be hard to focus on any fitness goals that we may have set for ourselves previously.

The main focus of Christmas is to have fun with our loved ones and do what makes us happy.

That being said, if you’re looking for some fun and festive inspiration to keep moving, then we’ve got you covered!

YOGA: Yoga is a form of exercise that

can suit almost anybody.

It is laid back in nature and can be tailored for absolute beginners as well as intermediate and advanced. Many people who start yoga find that it’s a really positive experience in their day. It is a form of exercise that can be targeted in many different ways. It is often used for core strength, muscle

toning, stretching and also a form of meditation.

Yoga is appropriate for almost all age groups depending on mobility and doesn’t take up much space in your home. Lots of people opt for yoga in the winter as it doesn’t require facing the cold or having to travel far.

Tutorials are available free online, so it is particularly accessible for many.

WINTER WALKING: Walking has always been an extremely effective form of exercise as there is so much diversity in how intense it can be.

Even the most relaxed of strolls is so good for our bodies, especially in winter! Getting outside at this time of year is so beneficial as we get some much needed exposure to lots of fresh air and sunlight.

More calories are burned when exercising out in the cold and can potentially lower the risk of illnesses such as heart disease and osteoporosis.

Walks are extremely accessible and can be with friends, family, with pets or alone. It can also be made more fun, should you be walking with children, if you make a game out of it and go

on a hunt for some festive pieces of nature such as pine cones and fruits to decorate your home with!

DANCING: The ultimate Christmas pick-me-up!

Even if you hate the idea of getting up and dancing to Christmas music, you have to admit that the moments where you do always make for some great memories!

Any form of aerobic exercising is highly rewarding both physically and mentally. When done regularly it is great for strengthening muscle and bones, improving posture, helping with coordination, flexibility, anxiety and helps to build

social bonds!

There are many dance tutorials online that are both free and accessible to many – often with popular and catchy music that’s going to make you want to move.

Dancing can also help to improve our relationships with ourselves and increases the release of endorphins to make you feel good! This is especially important for us this year!

GAME

Christmas is the perfect opportunity to get the family together for a round of exciting and fun-filled games! We believe that Christmas games (especially due to smaller groups this year) will be a great way to celebrate having our intimate family safe and close. Even for those of us who can’t see everyone we had wished to, participating in games over Zoom, FaceTime or Hangouts can be a close second!

Many of us know Christmas as a period of family time that often involves the majority of your family sat around the table eating snacks and playing board games (often with more than one sore loser!). That’s why we’ve come up with some games that aren’t all about the competition!

CHRISTMAS MOVIE BINGO:

ZOOM GAMES:

This DIY is a great way to get the whole family involved in a festive movie marathon whilst subtly competing for the Bingo King or Queen title! To make this even more challenging, have your family come together on Christmas Eve to design the Bingo sheets before so it can be tailored to whichever Christmas film is your favourite.

There are so may activities we can participate in even if we don’t get to see our loved ones this Christmas. Virtual games and parties aren’t quite as good as the real thing but they’re definitely a close second! Try organising a festive quiz with your family where every player writes a round of questions for a given theme. These could be about Christmas music, movies or general knowledge.

Some of our favourite Bingo sheet ideas include ‘female character wearing red or fur jacket’, ‘character returns to hometown’ and ‘high school sweethearts’. If your Christmas this year is spent with adults – consider making this a festive drinking game with a sip for every item crossed off!

GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION: For an easy and edible game to play with your family at home, try competing for the best gingerbread house with all the decorations. It might be wise for those of you with children to put yourselves into teams to prevent a mass of mess.

This is the perfect family game to play in the morning where you can use them as a decoration throughout the day and eat them during the evening!

Charades is a is also a fun idea to try out with family, friends or colleagues online and can involve drinking or treats for participants to make it extra special and festive! Each player can take a turn and can be put into teams depending on who’s there.

WALKING TREASURE HUNTS: If your Christmas routine often includes walking with the family – consider turning this into a fun scavenger hunt that involves picking up some interesting finds that you can use to decorate your home for that warm and rustic feel!

This isn’t just a fun activity for children, people of all ages can enjoy this and use it as motivation to brace to cold wintery weather.

tis’ the

sea

FOR CHRISTMAS DECORATING

Spending some time at home over Christmas this year means that we can immerse ourselves in some good old fashioned homemade decorating! Most of us have been budgeting a little bit harder through 2020, so combining saving with family fun is definitely the way to go.

The most important part of decorating, as we all know, is deciding our theme for the season.

These decoration ideas are easy to tie in with whichever theme you and your family pick.

ORANGE HANGING GARLAND: This DIY is not only beautiful to look at but so rewarding to all the senses!

The process of making this garland is going to make your home smell just divine.

Begin by thinly slicing oranges (around 1-2cm thick) before gently patting off excess juice with a paper

towel. Place the slices on a large baking tray and sprinkle with spices of your choice (we recommend cinnamon and nutmeg). Allow to dehydrate on a very low heat in your oven for several hours.

When they’re completely dried out, thread through any form of rope you have and tie in any extras such as holly leaves, twigs etc for a more rustic look. Finish by finding the perfect place in your home to hang them and enjoy through the season!

BAUBLE WREATH: These DIY bauble wreaths are a perfect activity to get you in the festive spirit. Easy to fit into your colour scheme and a fun project for all ages (consider adult supervision for children under 14). They are so easy to make and require few materials.

Begin by forming a large wire coat hanger into a circular shape and untie the wire at the top.

Thread on as many of the bigger baubles as you can fit, keeping in mind to spread them evenly across your wreath. Once you have threaded as many baubles on as you can, start gluing some of the smaller ones in to fill out the circle (a glue gun will work best here).

You can get really creative with this DIY and even add in pinecones, holly, glitter or other small ornaments.

Tie the coat hanger back together at the top with pliers and cover with ribbon of your choosing!

FESTIVE CANDLE HOLDERS: There are so many ways to make a candlestick or holder look festive.

Fortunately, we’ve come up with the very best way to bring your candles to life and make them the statement ornament for any room they’re in!

Collect and recycle any tall glass bottles you may have lying around that will fit the base of a long, tapered candle. If you don’t have these at home, they will have them in most craft stores.

Once you have a couple of different shapes and sizes, fill the bottles with water and submerge a cutting of a beautiful plant (we love fern leaves for this), then stir some glitter into the water before placing your candle on the top! A beautiful glittering candlestick!

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO

bled your own

radiators?

The last thing you need during an already stressful year is for your central heating to pack up on the run up to Christmas!

If there are air pockets in

your radiator then hot water won’t be able to fill the entire heater and eventually your central heating won't get to the correct temperature, even with it turned right up.

Not only that, but the movement of air through your system can make a lot of annoying noise.

Bleeding your radiator will ensure that your heating is working effectively and consistently. However, its less important why you should bleed your radiators, and much more important how you begin.

Obviously, you could call a plumber, but

we’ve got a great video here that gives you a guide on how to bleed them yourselves. Save the pennies where you can, especially at Christmas time!

Ideally radiators should be bled at least once each year, and the best time to do this task is at the beginning of the winter season. One last quick tip from us is that you should begin on the ground floor, furthest away from your boiler, before moving upstairs, and make sure you have turned off your central heating system switched off before you start this process.

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MAKE A

Winter Wish

Baking with your family around the Christmastime is a tradition in a lot of houses all over the UK, and we have got a top-notch recipe from multi award winning cake maker Sugar Bowl Bakes to make your biscuits even more special this year.

Gingerbread is a fun activity for the whole family. The team at Sugar Bowl Bakes have recently filmed a bake-along tutorial to give you expert tips, so you can make the best biscuits possible this year!

Lottie, daughter of Head Baker Anna, came up with the delightful idea to sell the tutorial for £1.50, and all the money raised will go to a Springbank Community Group Cheltenham who have been doing some truly inspirational work throughout the pandemic and have help 100’s of families each day with their delivery service, and more recently their food pantry which is run entirely on donations and volunteers. So not only do you get an excellent recipe,

but you are also able to spread a little Christmas joy for those struggling in these difficult times.

Home and Garden Lifestyle are lucky enough to have be given a sneak peek at the recipe which we have include in full on the next page so you are able to get started and give these cookies ago, but if you would like a little extra help with your baking you can access to the tutorial by getting in touch with Anna at Sugar Bowl Bakes. This is an excellent idea from Lottie, and we are looking forward to getting messy in the kitchen this Christmas.

If you wanted to support Lottie please follow this link to support Springbank Community Food Bank

https://uk.gofundme.com/f/springbank-community-food-bank

decorate

LIKE A BOSS

The dinner table at Christmas is often the base for the most exciting part of the day! Everybody’s Christmas day can vary from household to household but the

majority of us are guaranteed to be sitting at the table at some point.

If it’s your turn to host this year – we have come up with some easy yet effective decoration ideas and DIYs for you to really make your table stand out and get everyone in the festive spirit.

CUTLERY STOCKING POUCHES: Many craft stores will be selling

ready-made pouches in the shape of a stocking at this time of year. But if you’re struggling to find them or just fancy an extra bit of DIY for yourself, try sowing two small sock shaped pieces of red fabric together with a ring of faux fur or light coloured fabric around the top to achieve the same effect.

Presenting your cutlery in these will make for such a cute and original table presentation and you can even consider labelling each one with your family’s name and use them as place tags.

INDIVIDUAL WREATHS FOR CHAIR BACKS: The small wreaths can be made of any extra Christmas decorations you don’t usually use or have been around for a while and need repurposing. Each one can be different and doesn’t necessarily need to follow a theme.

You can try twig wreathes tied together with holly and string for a rustic feel or you could use tinsel and wire battery fairy lights!

It’s really up to you.

Having each one be different can mean that each family member can choose their seat based on their favourite wreath!

It’s time to get creative this Christmas and really make your home the best place for your family to spend some much-needed time together.

BAUBLE PLACE NAME TAGS: Presenting each place around your table with a unique and individual named bauble is a cheap and thoughtful way to make your table look and feel more special than usual for the festive season.

Any baubles left over from tree decorating can be used here and names can be added with pen, paint or a label maker – just make it fit in with your theme!

GLASS CENTRE PIECE CONTAINER: Any large vase or glass container can be repurposed here to make a beautiful Christmas

centre piece. Try filling it with empty nut shells, cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, pine-cones and holly berries for a homey and natural feel.

Baubles and tinsel can be used for a bright and colourful look or even white ornaments and greenery for a modern look.

IS YOUR CAR

ready for the

As the temperature drops, the roads start to get slippery and the car needs to be defrosted in the morning, are there things that you can do to make your car safer and better prepared for the seasonal change?

The cars’ tyres are really important.

Make sure that the tyre pressures are set correctly and that there is plenty of tread on them, including the spare tyre if you have one. Do this when the car is cold and set the pressures to the manufacturer’s recommendations. If you get snow and ice regularly, then there are winter and all-season tyres that can

be fitted to give you much better grip in the worst weather.

Being able to see clearly through the windscreen and side windows is vital to drive safely. Easy things you can do to help this are clean the inside of the windscreen and glass around the vehicle. I use a microfibre cloth and window cleaner. Then make sure the windscreen wipers are clean. Lift them gently off of the windscreen and pull a damp cloth across the blade to remove any dirt or debris.

Don’t forget the rear wiper if you have one. If the wipers are frozen to the windscreen, try not to use them until the windscreen has defrosted as you may damage the rubber blades.

If your car has air conditioning use this to remove the moisture in the air. If you start to fog up

check that the recirculation button is set to off if you have the air conditioning set to off – this will keep the moisture in your exhalations from misting up the car. Make sure your washer bottle is full of the correctly mixed screen wash for the outside temperature, neat water will freeze and block the washer nozzles.

Do the lights all work and are they clean? A legal requirement but obviously really important for your safety. If your car doesn’t inform you of a bulb failure, get someone to look at the lights as you try them all out and a wipe over with a damp microfibre cloth will keep them nice and clean.

When was the car last serviced and did they check or replace the engine antifreeze/coolant? As you can understand from the name, antifreeze is set to a certain strength to avoid the possibility of the water in the cooling system freezing which could then irreparably damage the engine. As you’re mostly likely under the bonnet

and if you have an internal combustion engine car you should also check the engine oil to make sure it has the correct amount in it.

If you are expecting to drive in particularly bad weather such as snow there are other precautions you could take. Make sure the car has enough fuel or charge to get you to your destination or to keep you warm should you get stuck en-route. Keep some blankets, ice-scraper, de-icer, mobile phone charger and even a shovel in the car to assist with getting unstuck. In many Northern countries they also expect you to have snow chains, spare fuel, warning triangles, sunglasses and booster cables.

With either a bit of preparation or a quick trip to your local garage for a winter check your car should be more than capable of making it through the worst of winter weather this year.

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Go on, it's

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Brighten your day:

SAD LIGHTING AND TIPS Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is characterised as a type of depression that occurs seasonally or at a particular time of year.

Often, people who suffer with SAD battle with a lack of energy, concentration, low moods and potential sleeping issues that reoccur during a certain season. This is more common heading into winter because of shorter days, lack of sunlight and reluctance to go out so much due to the cold.

*If you feel you might be struggling with similar symptoms, don’t forget to check in with your GP for guidance*

There is no one factor to what causes seasonal affective disorder, however, it is often linked to the following: - Serotonin production: a lack of sunlight in winter can often hinder the release of serotonin, making a change to your mood, appetite and sleep patterns.

- Melatonin production: more melatonin is released when your body receives less sunlight. This is linked to increased desire to sleep and lower moods.

SAD LIGHTING: Many people use SAD lamps as a form of treatment to brighten their living space and improve their mood during the darker months.

These lights are not a cure for SAD, but many people swear by them as a method to ease their symptoms.

When choosing a SAD light, it is important to consider brightness levels, the type of light being

emitted and if the box is convenient to have in your home.

Many professionals also suggest that light therapy should be done consistently every day and for the same months of the year for it to be effective. It is advised that light therapy be used at the same time as other therapies for those people who suffer with SAD quite severely.

Light boxes can also be really helpful for those of us who don’t quite suffer with depression symptoms but definitely feel the effects of shorter days and lack of sunlight. They are great tools for boosting your mood and lifting energy levels!

OTHER TIPS FOR COPING WITH SAD: As well as utilising artificial light to boost mood and energy, exposing ourselves to natural sunlight is the ultimate way to up our vitamin D intake and regulate our circadian rhythms to make us feel more tired at night and more awake throughout the day.

This will help with sorting out your sleep schedule and

ultimately making your mind and body feel healthier.

If you find altering your sleep pattern difficult during the winter months or find yourself with low energy constantly, try combating this from a different angle. Exercising in the morning might be a great way to wake yourself up and lift your mood for the rest of the day.

Accomplishing tasks as soon as you wake up is a brilliant way to set the tone for the rest of the day. This can go hand in hand with your eating and drinking habits too. Making an extra effort to make healthier choices will benefit your mind more than you think.

Make your own

CANDLES

Candle making may sound a little overwhelming to some, but many avid candle makers claim it to be an extremely rewarding hobby!

Once you know what you’re doing and have the supplies, you too can be creating a plethora of sensational scents for your home…

WAXES: There are several popular waxes to choose from when making your candles; the waxes

discussed below all have different benefits and limitations to ease your choice of which one will suit you and your home the best.

Paraffin: Paraffin wax is the most commonly used wax among candle makers as it is easy to melt, colour and scent and is generally the cheapest. It should also be noted, however, that paraffin wax emits some chemicals when burned that can cause potential health issues in breathed in too often.

Beeswax: This wax often smells delightful on its own, which is ideal as it doesn’t always retain its scent that well and is a completely natural wax with some purifying qualities to it.

Beeswax candles also tend to burn brighter than any other due to their high melting point.

Soy: Soy wax is generally the most eco-friendly of the waxes and is considered vegan.

This wax burns the slowest and is also very easy to use for beginners.

PREPARATION: Once you have chosen your wax and bought your supplies, it is time to pick a space that you can work in. you will need to prepare this area with wax paper or towels/old cloths so you don’t ruin any furniture.

MELTING: Cut your chosen wax into small chunks for melting (the smaller and more even the chunks, the easier the melt). Then, create a Bain Marie on your hob and slowly melt the wax, keeping an eye on the temperature and reading the ideal temperature for the wax you have chosen. At this point you can add in your scents and colourings following the directions of the speciďŹ c ones you have.

MOULDING: Prepare your heat safe candle holder with a wick hanging into the middle. Slowly pour in your melted wax and leave to cool for 24 hours.

Soy and beeswax will take less time, but a full day will ensure they are the best they can be.

BURN AND ENJOY! Your beautiful new candles are now ready for you to light!

REPURPOSING OLD CANDLES: It is also a good idea to make the most out of any candles you have already burned. You can do this by cutting and scraping what was left of the candle out of its container and melting it as you would any other wax! This means you get the most out of the lovely candle you bought AND you can repurpose the jar for future use!

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