Dealing With Winter Depression? Here’s How To Cope
Winter is all good and jolly, consuming endless amounts of food, taking instagrammable pictures of the pretty snow and huddling around the fireplace with your fluffy socks and hot chocs. However, when we begin seeing the end of the winter wonderland and the start of sunny spring, we can all suffer from winter depression, or ‘SAD’ – seasonal affective disorder. And unfortunately for us Brits, winter lasts a lot longer than we hope for – meaning darker days, rainy weather and the urge to spends all days indoors. So if you’re dealing with winter depression, here’s how to cope.
Embracing the change in weather
Winter blues is no myth and can affect so many people in those winter months. Research has found the main culprit for those mood changes is due to daylight. During winter, days usually feel much shorter and the darkness never seems to go away. The best way to tackle the winter blues is learning to embrace the season change. Learn to love the fact the night comes around quicker, learn to love the cold weather and less sunlight. Just think, it will make you more excited for when summer actually comes around!
Grab the wellies and get outdoors!
This might not sound too appealing to you during these colder months, but getting outside during those little hours of sunlight will make such a difference to your mood! If you are someone that works or studies indoors you may go days without seeing any sunlight, so getting outdoors when the sun is at its highest will help enlighten your spirit and mood! It’s a great way to help yourself when dealing with winter depression.
Wrap up warm
Studies from the NHS have found being cold can lower your mood and can sometimes lead to depression (unfortunate for us Brits!). Being a student on a student budget means we like to keep our heating bills as low as possible, resulting in our rooms and homes feeling like Antarctica. Wrap up warm with your hoodies and blankets, invest in a winter robe and some slippers to keep you toasty and warm, and I guarantee your mood will improve!
See more of your friends and family
We all know how winter is the best time for spending time with friends and family. But once the Christmas season has passed by (much quicker than we ever hope) we tend to go back to the cocoon of our beds and lock ourselves inside. If you are dealing with winter depression, try seeing more of your friends and family! Grab a takeaway, host sleepovers and watch movies. Socialising will help battle winter depression while creating stronger bonds and great memories.
Beat the boredom and take up a new hobby!
Winter times makes us feel like we have all the time on our hands, and it’s a never-ending cycle of baths, hoodies and early nights. A great way of dealing with those horrible seasonal moods is keeping yourself busy! Taking up a new hobby will give you some fun distractions when your mood is at its all-time low. Maybe try out scrapbooking, at home yoga, painting or even cooking (because we all love to eat during the cold months, right?).
Let’s prepare our summer bod’s…
Coping with winter depression is hard, and finding a resolution that works for you can also be quite a struggle. A great way for conquering SAD is to exercise. Not only is exercise known for lifting our moods, promoting memory and brain cell growth but the best of it all… our summer bodies will be incredible! With not only summer beaches, summer clothes and those summer cocktails in our minds, the thought of rocking those toned summer abs will push you more than ever to exercise during those winter blue months – and who wouldn’t want that?!
Make a list of things you love and hate about winter
Writing down your pros and cons to winter will help you determine what exactly you don’t like about those cold and damp months and the things you love about the wrap-up-warm season. You can see the things you do not like and find ways of dealing with winter depression. With the things you do actually love about winter (if any at all) you can do more of to keep those spirits high! Find the good in the bad and try to turn it around. If it’s that you cannot stand the cold weather, maybe try going ice skating, or taking a walk through a crispy woodland. If it’s you don’t see much daylight, try getting out when it is, and enjoy those comfy sofa days and movie nights!
Take vitamin D supplements
As we lack vitamin D during winter, our body can really feel the impact and make our mood that much more grey. Vitamin D is known for boosting our moods and giving us more energy during the months that are known for making us feel down in the dumps.
