Padraig O'Morain's guide to managing life
Janet is in low spirits. She has got into the habit of staying in bed late, sometimes well into the afternoon. This morning she wakes up around 11 a.m., decides to stay in bed, turns around and drifts back into sleep.
Martin is also in low spirits. He too feels like staying in bed late. Instead, he makes himself get up, has a cup of tea and a slice of toast and goes for a brisk, 20-minute walk.
Which of them is going to feel better at, say, noon today? The answer is that Martin is going to feel better - because exercise lifts the mood. Psychological researchers have found that a brisk, 10-minute walk can lift your mood for an hour to an hour and a half afterwards.
In fact, whenever you are feeling tired during the day, there is a good chance that a brisk walk for 10 minutes will replace the tiredness with energy. I say "a good chance" because people vary - some need less time, some more to get a boost from exercise.
What's a brisk walk? Just think of it as the way you would walk if you didn't want to be late for an appointment. Researchers (such as Dr Robert E Thayer, professor of psychology at California State University and author of The Biopsychology of Mood and Arousal and The Origin of Everyday Moods) believe low spirits, and feeling unable to cope, are often linked to low energy.
Think, for instance, about the low-energy part of your day which, for many people is around 2.30 p.m. Even simple tasks such as making a short series of phone calls can seem gigantic at such times. You become pessimistic about being able to get the job done in any reasonable time and about your chances of success.
At a high-energy time of day, you can fly through the same task with ease and optimism.
Thayer suggests you try an experiment. Briefly rate your energy and tension levels (out of five, say) before going for a five or 10-minute walk.
When you come back, rate them again. Almost every time you should find that your energy is up and your tension level down.
Experiment with different lengths of walk to find which is best for you.
There's an important thing to remember about all this, though: if you're feeling down, you won't feel like going for that walk or taking some exercise.
Therefore, you have to do what Martin did: you have to make yourself do it, knowing that the good feeling comes later on.
Similarly, if you know someone who's feeling very down and depressed, it can be a help to them if you can encourage them to get out of that chair or out of that bed and go for a little walk with you.
But suppose there's a storm blowing outside, or you cannot, for one reason or another, take exercise?
In that case, consider listening to some pleasant music. Researchers at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have found that chemotherapy patients exposed to live music during their visits were 30 per cent less likely to be depressed than patients treated without music. Anxiety levels were also lower.
You may not be able to afford to have your own chamber orchestra on hand - but you can certainly afford to switch on Lyric FM or to play some cheerful tapes. Research suggests that pleasant classical music can lower your blood pressure faster than pop or jazz.
Thayer found listening to music to be a popular way of lifting the mood among people who participated in his research over the years. Other methods included talking to someone else and deliberately thinking calming thoughts.
Boosting low energy levels
A brief, brisk walk or other exercise can lift your energy level and your mood while lowering your level of tension. If you can't - or won't! - exercise, try using pleasant music as a mood enhancer. Gentle classical music, Vivaldi for instance, can be good for reducing physical stress.
• Padraig O'Morain is a journalist and counsellor accredited by the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.