Shift your mood in minutes

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5 ways to boost your mood

1. See the light.
 In winter, if sleeping is the only thing that sounds good, getting out in daylight can help shake off seasonal sulkiness. Even sitting by a window—with the drapes wide open—will do your heart good. Better yet, bundle up and walk a few blocks.

2. Step into the garden.
An entire profession is devoted to the feel-good benefits of growing plants and flowers. According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, gardening offers relief from physical limitations, reduces stress, gently exercises joints, and stimulates memory. While true horticultural therapy requires the guidance of a trained specialist, you can reap rewards by puttering in your yard, planting seedlings, or putting out birdseed for your feathered friends. If your thumb isn’t green, simply buy yourself a bunch of blooms.

3. Sweat a little.
Aerobic exercise triggers the release of endorphins, the mood-enhancing chemicals that create “runners’ high.” But if merely thinking about spending hours at the gym makes you glum, cheer up. A University of Texas study compared men and women who exercised moderately on a treadmill for just 30 minutes with another group that rested. The exercisers showed significant gains in feelings of well-being and vigor. A half hour also is enough to help reduce your risk of heart disease.
 
4. Be bold.
Feel like hiding in a hole? Get out of your cave and strut your stuff. Just acting extroverted will likely make you feel better, even if you’re the quiet type, according to a study of students at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The participants, who tracked their moods for two and 10 weeks, reported feeling happier when they behaved in an outgoing way, but unhappy when they behaved more passively.

5. Just say ohm.
Relaxation strategies such as deep breathing, yoga, TaiChi, and meditation can reduce stress and improve your outlook, according to the American Psychological Association. “Such techniques cultivate inner peace and serenity and improve our ability to approach life from a place of balance and calm,” says Stanford health educator Shirley Sugimura Archer, author of Pilates Fusion: Well-Being for Body, Mind, and Spirit.