A unique side of military life is deployments. There is a lot of stress leading up to a deployment. Field exercises, floats, preparations, and separations. After that departure, back at home, a new journey begins. Sleep routines are interrupted. Especially if you are used to sleeping with your partner. If you are experiencing deployment and dealing with the emotions that are leading to disrupted sleep, try these solutions.

Create a new routine. Creating a new sleep routine does not replace or remove your partner; it creates a new predictable pattern. If you create a new routine in the hours before bed, eventually, your body and mind will be relaxed and prepared for sleep at the same time every night.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a repetitive emotion during deployment. Well-meaning family members send an article on every incident in the country or with any military ship, asking about the family member. It leads to being on edge and can disrupt sleep. The anxiety leads to restlessness. Take the focus off the anxiety by focusing on relaxing just prior to bed. Take a warm bath and avoid electronics two hours before bed. This allows for a shift in focus prior to bed. Add a weighted blanket and a sound machine at bedtime. These tools can combat anxiety preventing restful sleep.

Loneliness

When you are used to sleeping with someone else in the bed, and the loneliness makes it difficult to sleep, try adding a pillow to that person’s side of the bed or sleeping with a body pillow. Roll up a blanket on that side of the bed to add to the weight of the bed. Some military spouses shared that they put their spouse’s t-shirt on a pillow or a stuffed animal and slept with that to have the comforting smell of their spouse, all while being able to cuddle, allowing them to sleep.  If children are comforted by dolls with their parent’s pictures on them, it makes sense that adults are comforted by these things as well.

Restlessness

When feeling restless and unsettled, the Sleep Foundation recommends focusing on relaxing rather than sleep. This sleep method was utilized by military service members when deployed during World War II. First, work by relaxing the face and neck, and slowly focus on the body parts below – first the shoulders, arms, and hands, then the torso, legs, and feet. Visualizing a relaxing scene. If your relaxing scene is interrupted by worries or thoughts, don’t focus on them; instead, focus on repeating the phrase “don’t think,” and focusing on this helps to remain relaxed.

If you wake up in the middle of the night due to restlessness, try sipping on warm decaffeinated tea or milk. Do not turn on screens where blue light could signal your brain to turn on. Instead, focus on drinking the relaxing, warm liquid.

Fear

Coupled with anxiety, fear can rule the home and the mind during a deployment. The ideas of what could be happening “over there” and at home can prevent one from sleeping. To focus at home, consider a security camera or house alarm system to provide a sense of comfort and awareness. If you are on edge worrying about what could happen at home, setting an alarm allows for peace of mind.

Having a dog at home also eases the mind. It is a ready alarm and a friendly companion to combat fear.

Deployments are periods filled with anxiety, loneliness, restlessness, and fear. While these emotions are common and expected, they do not have to rule the sleep routine with the right tools and preparation.

The shorter days, longer dark hours, and colder temperatures lead to “winter blues.” Per the American Academy of Family Practice, about 10-20% percent of people may have mild winter blues, about 10 million people by the numbers.

The winter blues by definition, is the feeling of depression or deep unhappiness associated with the season of winter. The National Institute for Health calls this more of a feeling than a diagnosis.

Tips

1. Get More Light: Sit by a window throughout the day, so you are exposed to more daylight. If you are able, get out and walk as much as possible. If you have a long commute to work, consider taking a 20-minute walk during your lunch break to get some sunshine. This is especially important if you work in a building without windows. Light therapy is a treatment modality for more severe cases of winter blues called Seasonal Affective Disorder. The light is meant to replace the missed daytime hours experienced in the summer and fall days. While getting outside in the natural light will not replace all the missed sunlight hours, it will provide much-missed sunlight. Don’t forget your sunscreen when taking in your vitamin D.
2. Eat Healthy: While your body will crave carbohydrates when having symptoms of the winter blues, eating healthy and balanced meals, including fruit, vegetables, and fish, can help combat those sad feelings. Meal plan with healthy meals to avoid snacking on sugary treats that are abundant at the holidays. Eating sugary carbohydrates can lead to sugar spikes and drops, which can increase feelings of sadness. This doesn’t mean you cannot indulge at all, with everything in moderation.
3. Be active: Keeping up a regular activity schedule will help boost your energy and your mood through the mood-enhancing chemical of serotonin. The CDC recommends 30 minutes of exercise daily, for a total of 150 minutes a week. While this can feel like an overwhelming task with long work hours, a commute, and perhaps even parenting and the taxi cab life for activities. If breaking up the exercise into 15-minute increments in the morning and in the evening is more manageable, do it. Perhaps get in 15-20 minutes of cardio in the morning and 15-20 minutes of yoga in the evening to prepare for rest and relaxation before bed.
4. Get Outside: Changing your surroundings can change your mood. Bonus that getting outside during the day exposes you to more light and provides an opportunity for exercise.
5. Get Plenty of Sleep: Your circadian rhythm changes with the change in sunlight, but this doesn’t always equate to more sleep during the darker hours. Getting an appropriate amount of sleep improves mood lability and can combat the winter blues.

If your winter blues continue despite utilizing healthy eating, routine exercise, and getting plenty of sunshine, and the sadness begins to interfere with your activities of daily living; this may be Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. Seasonal affective disorder is a medical diagnosis and may require medical interventions like medication. Someone experiencing SAD does not necessarily require daily medication but beginning medication and/or therapy can help manage symptoms. Contact your primary care provider, or reach out to a mental health professional if your winter blues are affecting your daily life.

One of the top five New Years’ Resolutions every year is to lose weight. While I would recommend changing this to “Get Healthy” versus losing weight, it is understandable why this is on the list after a period of increase in heavy foods during the holiday season and colder temperatures leading to fewer outdoor activities. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on an exercise program or equipment; you can do exercises with your body weight on your time.

Yoga

Any carpeted place can be a place for yoga. Check YouTube for free yoga sessions and begin. It really is that simple. Sit cross-legged with your back straight and take deep breaths. Taking a moment of calm prior to any activity is important for mindfulness. Yoga isn’t just an exercise but also promotes mindfulness for stress management and encourages the maintenance and development of flexibility and strength.

Planks

This exercise can be escalated over time to ensure a continued challenge. Start with planks on knees initially and graduate to up on hands or down on elbows once up on toes. Add rocking up and down/side to side for more engagement of the core and shoulders.

Squats

Start with Sumo or regular squats. Over time, increase the depth and frequency of the squats. Add squat jumps once more attuned to squats. When jumping, make sure to land softly, slightly bending the knees to avoid jarring the knees.

Mountain Climbers

Add variety to the plank but lift one leg at a time to the chest. Start off slow, but increase over time the repetitions or time period doing this. It is a good cardio exercise if you maintain this for a period of time.

Shoulder Taps

Another addition to planks, stay in plank position and, while maintaining core strength, tap the opposite shoulder with the hand. Work on not rocking while doing this to increase core strength in addition to shoulder stability

Lunges

Not everyone’s favorite, but it can be mixed up in various ways. Take one step back to get both knees at 90 degrees. Then step together and take one step back with the other leg. If this is a new exercise, start slow but increase speed over time. Start with doing 10-20 on each leg and increase the number completed, or do it for 30-60 seconds at a time. Eventually, it won’t be as hard, and you will be looking for new ways to increase the difficulty.

Curtsy Lunge

Add an extra challenge to the lunge with the curtsy lunge. Instead of lunging with the leg straight back, the leg stepping back steps at a diagonal, and both knees lower into a “curtsy”. Add a hop at the top of the lunge for an extra challenge.

Bear Planks

 Maintaining a plank, but with the legs bent upward – not quite at a mountain climber, but in a “bear” position. Maintain this for 30 seconds, eventually for 60 seconds and longer. You can also hop back and forth from straight plank to bear plank to add variety to planks.

Burpee

It’s a whole-body workout. Begin standing shoulder-width apart, squat, then move to the plank by kicking your feet behind you. Do a push-up, and once completed, jump your legs up to a squat position to jump straight up with arms overhead. Do as many of these as possible in one minute and rest for 20-30 seconds. It will get your heart rate up as well as engage your core.

Burpee with Mountain climber

Needing more of a challenge? Add a mountain climber when in plank position during the burpee.

Stay budget-friendly without adding expenses after the holidays. Bonus that you are not adding literal weight to your moving load with these exercises to keep you healthy.

It’s the Final Countdown!

A New Year for a military member looks a little bit different, especially on a PCS year. The traditional New Year’s Resolutions of a renewed exercise routine or drinking less caffeine may still be on the list, but there are other priorities for the moving military member. This is the list for those individuals.

It’s a new year; it’s a time to start preparing for the summer move cycle. Get your home ready, pack things, and move to the next destination. Where to start? Start in January; start early. It will lessen the stress during the moving season. It won’t abolish it, but it maybe more manageable.

January is for Beginning Decluttering

This can be done in a fashion that makes it easy to manage. The idea is to declutter and purge to start fresh with the next move.

Declutter by item type: books, clothes, kitchen tools, towels, kids’ games, clothing, etc.

Declutter by room – this one is easier to break down and manage because it compartmentalizes things.

Designate how you will declutter each type of room. Will it be on Thursdays or Sundays, or a week at a time? Starting early makes the task less daunting.

February is for Beginning Pantry and Freezer Clean Out

Beginning in January, analyze what is in the pantry. If there are any items that are hiding in the back or have fallen behind the pasta containers, now is the time to pull them out. Determine what is on hand, so it can be used in a timely fashion. This prevents food waste, and maximally utilizes your budget. Before you begin the moving-out meal roulette, use food items in the way you desire. The same goes for the freezer. Small things fall out and hide behind shelves. Find them before they spoil, leak, make a mess or have to be tossed out.

March is for Information Gathering

March is usually a time one can expect to have orders and be able to do the information gathering for the new duty station. About the job, find housing or secure a room, determine school ratings, and find doctors/dentists. While it is fun to plan and research the possibilities, once hard orders are in hand, March is the time for concrete searching.

April is for Moving Cleaning, not just Spring Cleaning

The deep cleaning that occurs with moving is a lot of work. While hiring a cleaner can be helpful, it can be an added expense during a costly moving period. Begin doing deep cleaning in January. Clean the fridge and freezer. Turn the oven on to cleaning mode. Steam clean carpets. Scrub the baseboards of the floors, the most forgotten areas. Make a list of what needs to be done and do it one step at a time.

May is for Packing

While the government can provide a moving company for you, you have the option for a Personally Procured Move (PPM, formerly DITY), or you can pre-pack boxes to assist with the organizing of your items. Pack sentimental items, ensure family china or jewelry is packed securely, and pull out any items that you wish.

June is the Big Push

With a summer move on the horizon, June is for all the last-minute things. One more decluttering round for the house. A once-over clean goes much faster because you have done the deep cleaning. The cupboards should be bare now that you have slowly been working on them.