We often tell our patients that life is a cycle of recurring events that are on repeat over time. It is like a wheel that never stops rolling, over a more or less smooth surface with the odd pothole we have to get past.
If you have a look at your photo albums, you see how summer photos are followed by autumn weekends away, birthdays, family get-togethers, Christmas, Easter and then back to summer again… This gives you an idea of the cyclical nature of life and the events that are important to us.
Nevertheless, every year we have to try and avoid the odd pothole. Some are easier than others to get past. Such potholes can shake up our routine and be favorable (like a wedding, the lottery, meeting the love of your life…) or unfavorable (an illness, problems at work, divorce…). Either way, whether they are good or bad, they have an affect on our habits. Countless individuals have told us how they have put on weight due to a wedding, their first pregnancy, moving country or an illness!
The end of the holidays
At the end of the summer holidays we face an initial bump in the road. Everything was going well during vacation and then suddenly we’re back into the old work routine, dealing with early mornings, rushing around, your boss… and then post-vacation stress shows up, although it’s only temporary, it can produce irritability, sadness, anxiety, and insomnia…
The reality is that this post-vacation stress has a biological basis. During our vacation, we have higher levels of two neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine. The first of which helps to produce calmness, well-being and a sense of tranquility, the second produces energy and vitality. At the end of the holidays, there is a decrease in both of these neurotransmitters and as a result post-vacation stress syndrome occurs.
Fortunately, remedies are available in the form of nutritional supplements that provide us with the precursors of these neurotransmitters: these are Dynovance and Serovance.
Dynovance is available as a bar or drink.
Being low in fats and sugars and rich in high value protein makes it the ideal snack at breakfast or mid-morning. However its main plus point is that it is enriched with Tyrosine, an amino acid precursor of dopamine and catecholamines. Therefore making it ideal to be taken in the morning.
The composition of Serovance is similar to Dynovance and is also available in the form of a bar, drink or mousse. Nevertheless, it is enriched with the amino acid Tryptophan, the precursor of serotonin. Therefore making it ideal to be taken in the afternoon and evening. It helps us to relax and control the urge to snack we often get after 6 or so in the afternoon.