WAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Here's how you can fight those seasonal food cravings, fatigue and failing light
The switch to daylight time can put a hitch in your giddy-up in the best of years. If the 2020 switchover messed with the way you sleep, eat, and work more than usual, you're not alone.
Disrupted sleep does more than leave you feeling slow and tired: it increases susceptibility to illness, and can exacerbate depression and anxiety — rates of which have been rising during COVID-19. A new generation of lighting products address some of these issues.
The Philips futuristic-looking Smartsleep, a clock/ light/fm radio, mimics natural light to accommodate Circadian rhythms (the internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle in time with the Earth's daily rotation).
A 30-minute sunrise function starts off soft red and gradually turns sunshine yellow. It can be personalized with FM radio pre-sets or a selection of sounds (I love the chirping birds but am less enamoured of the cowbellsin-the- Swiss Alps.) A sunset setting dims light over the same period and there's a light-guided relaxation function.
It works well as a nightlight — great for kids (or adults) with a fear of the dark, or older folks (like me) who don't want to stumble on the 2 a.m. bathroom visit. About $220 at philips.ca
As fall deepens into winter, natural light will be in shorter supply. That's too bad, because from it, the skin absorbs health-boosting Vitamin D. It's also a mood enhancer — why it's used as a treatment for seasonal depression — and plays a role in healthy sleep.
Dyson's Lightcycle Morph www.dysoncanada.ca uses an algorithm that mixes three cool and three warm LED lights to replicate the natural light of any GPS location on the planet during a specific time of day and year, and it adjusts itself throughout the day. That means more efficient lighting, and less eye strain and fatigue. There are pre-sets for task and ambient lighting.
These lamps also are lovely to look at: sleek and simple, they filter light to very pretty effect through a slim, highly-perforated stem. It, too, brightens and dims gradually for wake-up and shut down.
An Away Mode turns lights on and off at random intervals between 4 and 11 p.m.
The lamp can be controlled manually, and the head, arm, and optical head rotate 360 degrees, making it handy for lighting or hanging art.
Save up if you want one: the table lamp is $850, the floor lamp $1,200. Available in black or white: both are very handsome.
You may crave starchy, sugary,
high-fat treats right now, but restricting those and eating healthy, nourishing, seasonal foods is probably a better idea. That's why my slow cooker gets a heavy workout this time of year.
I've been testing Hamilton Beach's (hamiltonbeach.ca) Stovetop Sear and Cook slow cooker. I love it for all the usual reasons; it makes it so easy to cook dandy soups, stews, chowders, briskets, pulled meats, whole chickens, chilis, pot roasts, stocks, bread, rice/grains, stuffed peppers and squash, mulled wine (I could go on). It's also good for relatively healthy comfort desserts like bread and rice pudding.
For recipes, go to www.aroundthehouse.ca
At $70, it's very affordable. The six-quart vessel easily fit the fivepound pot roast I cooked, but the machine's small footprint didn't hog countertop space. Pot and lid are dishwasher-safe. Some folks might wish it had a timer, but I did not find the lack of one an issue: timer functions are everywhere these days.
The standout feature for me is that you can sear food in the cooking vessel on electric and gas stovetops. Why? Because searing enhances flavour, and its residue can be deglazed to make super-delicious sauces and gravies. Cooking nerds will know that the technical term for this is the Mailliard Reaction; the rest of us just need to remember that it makes everything yummier.