If you’re like most people, you don’t like the winter unless, of course, snow skiing and ice skating are your favorite hobbies. It’s cold, gray, and can a depressing time of year. It’s easy to feel isolated and alone when you’re bundled inside your home, trying to avoid the frigid temperatures outside. Yet it’s important not to let yourself get too isolated or let the winter blues get the best of you. The good news is you have ways to steel yourself against the gray days of winter. Here are effective ways to avoid this.
Stay Active
Exercise is the best medicine for mental and physical health and self-esteem. It improves your mood, boosts your energy level, and eases stress. So, invest in a sturdy pair of exercise shoes and use them. If you can’t get outside, add more brief exercise sessions to your day. For example, do body-weight exercises while watching TV or listening to music. Think old-school cardio by jumping rope or doing jumping jacks. You don’t need fancy equipment to get an effective workout. The added reward is the movement will help chase the blues away. Keep photos of loved ones nearby, so you can look at them while you work out.
Try Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku)
Nature is good therapy for the wintertime blues. Although wintry weather may make you want to stay inside under the covers, getting outdoors and onto a forest trail can boost your mood. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that forest bathing has mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress hormones, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, and elevates mood. The key is to engage with nature using all your senses – tune into the crunch of snow underfoot, smelling the crisp winter air, and gaze at the stark beauty of bare trees against the sky. Even so, bundle up and take a mindful walk. If you don’t have a forest trail nearby, head to a local park.
Try Light Therapy
Exposing your eyes to natural light helps set your internal biological clock in a way that benefits your health and mood. Since wintertime is dark and there’s less natural light, one option is to buy a lightbox for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Place it on your desk and let the light shine on you while you work. Thirty minutes most days of the week is enough to get benefits.
Light therapy is effective because it provides highly visible light to stimulate the mood-regulating centers of the brain. This process works by boosting serotonin production, which in turn elevates your mood and energy level. Another option to ease the blues and improve your mood in the winter is to use full-spectrum lights instead of regular bulbs indoors. A full-spectrum lamp mimics natural sunlight and has some of the same mood-boosting benefits as natural light.
Express Gratitude
Gratitude is also a mood elevator. Take time out of every day to reflect on what you are grateful for and remind yourself how lucky you are to have what you have. Studies link gratitude with a lower risk of depression, so it’s not a stretch to say acknowledging the things you’re grateful for helps keep the blues at bay. Keep a gratitude journal and write down the things you’re most thankful for each day.
Engage in Nostalgic Activities
Looking back at and reliving old times can be a powerful tool when you have a case of the winter blues. A study published in the journal Emotion found that nostalgia helps counter feelings of loneliness and anxiety. If you share those memories with others, social contact helps too. So, rediscover activities that you enjoyed as a child or young adult, or any other time that you remember fondly. How about listening to music from your youth?
You could also cook traditional family recipes or watch classic movies you enjoyed as a child. Why not create a “nostalgia box” and fill it with mementos, photos, and objects that evoke positive memories. By deliberately cultivating nostalgic experiences, you can buffer your mood against winter’s cold and darkness.
Take a Vitamin D Supplement
You need 10 to 15 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight daily to meet your body’s vitamin D needs. The sun is weaker in the winter, so there’s less vitamin D from natural light. Plus, many people prefer to stay inside during the winter months because it’s cold out and they don’t feel like being active. If you’re not supplementing with vitamin D, you’re more likely to be deficient in this vitamin you need for bone and immune health. The solution?
Trying to get enough vitamin D through diet alone can be a challenge, especially if you eat primarily plant-based food. There are few natural sources of vitamin D. Fatty fish, foods fortified with vitamin D, and mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light contain modest quantities of vitamin D. But despite your best efforts to eat these foods, you could still be deficient. Talk to your doctor about whether you would benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
Why is getting enough vitamin D important in the dreary, wintry weather months? Some studies link vitamin D deficiency with feelings of sadness and fatigue. So, make sure you’re not deficient in the sunshine vitamin.
Indulge in Small Pleasures
Small indulgences can help you lift the blues away, too. Winter is a wonderful time to curl up on the couch with a nice warm blanket, hot cocoa, or tea, and binge-watch your favorite shows on Netflix or listen to relaxing music. Splurge on that more expensive brand of coffee and the best dark chocolate, so you can treat yourself on days you feel down. Be sure to balance it with exercise to stay physically fit.
Conclusion
Be kind to yourself this winter! Your body deserves extra TLC during this time. And, before you know it, spring will be here.
References:
- Sirois FM, Wood AM. Gratitude uniquely predicts lower depression in chronic illness populations: A longitudinal study of inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis. Health Psychol. 2017 Feb;36(2):122-132. doi: 10.1037/hea0000436. Epub 2016 Oct 27. PMID: 27786519.
- Harber VJ, Sutton JR. Endorphins and exercise. Sports Med. 1984 Mar-Apr;1(2):154-71. doi: 10.2165/00007256-198401020-00004. PMID: 6091217.
- “Seasonal affective disorder treatment: Choosing a light ….” 16 Mar. 2016, mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/in-depth/seasonal-affective-disorder-treatment/art-20048298.
- “Vitamin D – Health Professional Fact Sheet.” ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind-healthprofessional/.
- Zhou, X., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Chen, X., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2012). Heartwarming memories: Nostalgia maintains physiological comfort. Emotion, 12(4), 678-684.
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027236
- Hansen, M. M., Jones, R., & Tocchini, K. (2017). Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) and Nature Therapy: A State-of-the-Art Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 851.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14080851
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