How To Avoid Cabin Fever During This Endless Winter

It’s President’s Day, and thanks to the polar vortex you’ve probably been cooped up inside your house for days or maybe even a full week as the snow continues to fall. And the weather is taking a toll. Many are complaining of cabin fever or worse — snow rage. Cabin fever isn’t a psychiatric diagnosis, but it does exist, says Josh Klapow, a clinical psychologist with a PhD at the school of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Basically, it’s your mind’s way of telling you that the environment you are in is less than optimal for normal functioning,” he says. “It’s when you’re in a space of restricted freedom for a period of time that you can no longer tolerate.” Before you get full on “snow rage” — a term the media has coined for the extreme angst people are feeling about the weather — and pull a shotgun on a snow plow driver, here’s how you can recognize when you’re getting too stir crazy and how you can cope. You probably are getting cabin fever if any of the following are true: You’re feeling cooped up You’re having difficulty concentrating on what’s in front of you You feel lethargic, or simply feel unmotivated to do anything You are feeling irritated and on edge for no apparent reason The best way to get yourself out of your slump and in a happier mood is to get moving, find natural sunlight, and do anything that can engage your cognitive activity. The more ambitious snowed-in people can  go for a run around the bloc, start a home improvement project or read a book by window. Those feeling a little less motivated can at least make a snow angel for 10 minutes, sketch out projects they will take on once it’s sunny again, or at least pull up the blinds and play a brain-teasing app like QuizUp. Anything but watching marathons of TV on the couch. Sorry, House of Cards fans, but unless your body and brain are active you are