I read a very good article recently about a book about wintering https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/19/psychologist-kari-leibowitz-how-to-winter. The author focuses on how our mindset affect our experience. The article is full of good positive psychology. But the strategies suggested are not enough for me. I suffer Winter Blues, indeed I would say even SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and have done all my adult life. In the past it would derail me. Over the years I have developed strategies and an approach to gets me through. These strategies don’t involve expensive winter sun escapes (oh how I wish they did!), nor hunkering down in a hugge blast of blankets, candles and mulled wine. But as we approach winter, I thought it might be useful to share my hard won top tips.
Ten Personal Tips for Surviving Winter Blues or SAD
I’m relatively lucky, I live in the south of the UK. I’m spared the worst of the cold and the wet. Even so, the difference between my summer and winter persona is profound. In my early career I lost out on work opportunities and damaged friendships through not being able to manage the effect of the winter blues on my mental state and my social-ability. Now, I approach winter differently. I have to accept that I can’t live the same in the winter as I do in the summer. I have tried to summarise how I’ve learnt to get through winter without derailing myself.
- Recognize and accept the changes, including to an ability to socialise
Over the years I have become aware of how much less outgoing, ebullient, and indeed resilient I am in the winter. When I’m at my lowest ebb, my problem-solving ability is reduced to virtually zilch.
All these changes affect my ability to socialise and to work. In the past I would, in September say, book in evening events for December or January, maybe some networking event. But when the time came, I would find I couldn’t face the thought of leaving the house in the dark and cold, my desire to socialise non-existent, particularly where I would be amongst strangers. In the summer meeting new people can be fun, in the winter it’s just too hard a challenge.
- Accept the change in energy level, mental and physical.
Sometimes it seems to happen almost overnight. One week I’m regularly cycling up the hill to get places, relishing the exercise, feeling the cardio-vascular glow. It’s a steep hill, I have to get off and push for part of it but I wouldn’t dream of taking the bus, so slow, so sedentary, so boring!
Then suddenly, the very thought of pedalling my bike up the hill becomes an insurmountable barrier to getting places and I’m all over the bus timetable, happy to sit and gaze out of the window.
- Let there be light
In the dark winter months I need light, lots of it and bright. I have a great SAD light alarm clock with a ‘sunrise’ setting, that wakes me gently before the alarm goes off. I leave lights on all over the house, I have to have light.
My husband and I have come to an amicable arrangement; as I pass through any corridor or room, I will switch the light on, when he comes across it, he switches it off. Any room I walk into I want the lights on. Hotel rooms drive me dotty with their ‘subdued’ lighting!
I highly recommend SAD lights and Serious Reader lights. I am currently trying to find a justification for investing in their ‘portable’ version to solve the hotel bedroom problem! (They’re great but not cheap.)
- Try to work up a sweat occasionally, but don’t sweat it
Vigorous exercise is a mood booster, if you can get yourself to do it. I find this becomes harder in the winter. I have a rowing machine at home which I can get myself to do at times, and sometimes I’ll go with my partner and son to play badminton. I also try to keep up the riding. But I don’t push it if I can’t face it.
As winter wears on I usually find a 20-30 minute walk outside becomes my preferred exercise.
- Let yourself off the hook
I’ve learnt to accept that sometimes in the winter I don’t want to make new friends and try new things. I’ve learnt to let myself off the hook of feeling I should respond positively to all invitations and overtures.
In addition, I’ve learnt that if I’ve misjudged a situation, that is, made myself go out when I should have stayed in, and I find myself feeling isolated amongst a group of people, just finding it all too much effort, it’s okay to make my excuses and leave.
I also watch much more television in the winter, and I don’t beat myself up any more for not using my evenings productively.
- Sleep more, but not too much
There’s a lot in the press these days about sleep hygiene, but not much about yearly rhythms of sleep that I’ve noticed. What I’ve found is that I need more sleep in the winter, but I’ve also learnt that allowing myself to sleep too much, ten hours a night or more, doesn’t do me any good, especially over an extended period. I know my happy medium and that’s what I build a routine around. In my experience, regular bed, lights out, and get up times helps me find the optimal sleep pattern. It’s not infallible, but generally I can get to sleep, sleep, and wake up without too much difficulty.
- Embrace silk Long Johns, woolly jumpers and hot baths
It’s not just the lack of light that can adversely affect our body’s metabolism and our mood it’s the cold as well. Staying warm is crucial. Exercise helps of course, even just vigorous walking. And hot baths, hot water bottles, bed socks and thick pyjamas electric blankets can all help, whatever works for you. Cold showers are currently de rigour, and highly effective. But they aren’t compulsory. I have some great silk long johns from Lands End for really cold days when the thermostat struggles to get above 16 degrees, and layers and layers of wool (I couldn’t tolerate it against my skin when I was younger, one unexpected benefit of older skin and better quality wool products is that it’s not a problem now)
In addition, staying warm helps defeat the winter cravings for carbohydrates, in my experience.
- Consider taking drugs
Low mood is associated with winter blues and SAD. It is to be expected, but if it threatens to derail you, then action is needed. Before I discovered the drugs, I regular blew work and friendships through being too depressed to cope with them.
For at least the last fifteen or twenty years I have taken St John’s Wort in the winter. Sometimes I don’t start them until practically Christmas. This year, we weren’t out of October before I could feel the onset of the winter blues. It just depends.
It takes a few days to take effect, then it creates a kind of safety net, stopping me falling completely into the trough of despond, where I become incapable of doing anything except sitting and sighing deeply. It seems to stop me falling into the zone of self-sabotage!
There is evidence that it has a pharmacological effect, and doctors certainly need to know if you are taking St John’s Wort as it interacts with other medications. But even if some of the effect is placebo, it doesn’t matter. It works for me. Even so, it might not work for everyone, and if you are interested, you must check for counter-indications. Prescription anti-depressants can also help.
- Reduce your workload
I realise this is easier said than done in many cases but taking the pressure off yourself when your resources are low can really help with managing energy. Give yourself more breaks than you would normally. Try to focus on the crucial, must-dos to avoid going under and let other things go hang until the energy comes back.
I remember being defeated one winter by the fact that I needed new windscreen wipers on the car. I just couldn’t face the Halfords palaver, and we squeaked our way through winter, peering out through a blurry screen. Then, one unexceptional day in early summer, it just became another item on the list of things to do: Bish Bash Bosh, and it was done, and I couldn’t work out why it had taken me so long, four or five months. For me, that’s just how it goes.
- Remember not everyone is affected like this
My partner, fortunately for us, is unaffected by seasonal changes. Winter or summer it makes no difference to him, except that he doesn’t like really hot weather. I’m lucky, living with me, he’s learnt to recognize the signs of the onset of the winter blues, sometimes he’s aware of the slow down before I am and is duly sympathetic. But other people may not have a clue and might find it hard to understand the changes in you.
You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone. But taking the time to explain your ‘winter self’, might be helpful.
I hope these have been helpful.
Update on the last post about Positive Eating
If anyone has been following this and is interested, I had my cholesterol checked again recently and its well back within the normal range at 4.6, and I think I’ve lost about a stone in weight. Good result all round and I still love the diet! I’m going to ease more eggs back into it and get checked again in a few months to make sure I’m not a ‘super responder’ to eggs. Hope not.
And the one before - Positive Exercise
The press-ups and squats in the morning established as a habit really quickly and easily and I almost can’t not do them now. I’m astonished.
I’ve recently added balancing on one leg while brushing teeth to my positive exercising. Apparently good balance is another good indicator of, or is strongly correlated with, good older health. Again I am indebted to the late Dr Micheal Moore.