How to Winter-Proof Your Mood & Energy
Is it only September? Yes. But the days are already starting to get shorter, and while that little chill in the air is charming in fall- winter is around the corner. I don’t know about you, but winter always takes me by surprise a bit. And if you deal with seasonal affective disorder (aptly named “SAD”), winter can bring a lot of mixed emotions.
No matter how good (or bad) my energy and mood were in previous years, winter is always when it completely tanked. Like not wanting to get out of bed, binging seasons of shows on end, self care out the window, thoughts I normally don’t think- bad. I’m all for taking things slower in the winter and staying cozy, but my winters were getting so rough I needed most of spring to recover.
If you’ve struggled through the winter blues, let’s examine why. Then we’ll uncover how to fix it with tools to support our brains and bodies through this season in particular.
Note: several of these tips are effective year-round, but the main focus is on seasons with limited daylight and colder, wetter weather.
WHY OUR BRAINS SHUT DOWN IN WINTER
Our mood and energy is deeply linked to our circadian rhythm, or the “wake-sleep” cycle. Your circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that dictates behaviors like sleep. This rhythm’s two drivers are cortisol (sometimes called the “stress hormone” but it’s also just your “get up and go” hormone) and melatonin (the sleepy hormone).
If you’ve been told to view the sunrise and sunset to help set your circadian rhythm, you understand the importance of sunlight for your body’s internal clock. Seeing sunlight shuts off melatonin production so you can feel awake during the day. (This is also why scrolling on your phone blasting blue light into your eyeballs means you can’t sleep at night- melatonin has been shut off!)
But what happens when sunrise doesn’t happen until 7am and sunset happens before dinner? Melatonin kicks in to fill the available dark time.
From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. A few hundred years ago without electricity or massive industrial complexes, we would basically hibernate during the winter. We were more in-tune with the seasons. There weren’t regular work hours or a 24/7 mentality that we should have the same energy output year-round.
But now we have to keep up with a very different society, and I personally don’t enjoy feeling like Eeyore every winter. I enjoy being productive and don’t want to miss out on social events because I’m spiraling in a SAD episode.
So what’s a gal to do to beat the winter blues?