Winter may affect you in several ways. More time indoors and less sunshine can decrease vitality and leave you low. Winter is a stressful season for many people. Some suffer from SAD, seasonal affective disorder, during the cold, dark winter months. Others experience decreased motivation and lethargy, and their mood dips.
Symptoms of the winter blues
Winter blues symptoms include poor memory and focus, lack of motivation to interact with people, and brain fog. You may also experience negative thoughts and lethargy and indulge in emotional eating.
Ways to improve your mental health this winter
There are many ways to improve your mental health and lessen the symptoms of the winter blues. These healthy strategies can help to promote wellbeing and boost your mood.
Increase light exposure
Sunlight can influence your temperament. It helps to raise vitamin D and promotes serotonin production, which regulates mood. Spend time in the sun daily when possible. If the sun's not shining, use a therapy lamp. Or, when you must stay indoors, sit by a window and open the curtains. Natural light will help you feel more alert and improve your mood.
Boost feel-good chemicals
Your pleasure centers might need stimulation in winter because your feel-good neurotransmitters are low. Boost them and do things that bring you joy. Choose healthy activities to ramp up happy hormones, though.
Carry out beneficial and meaningful activities regularly to increase dopamine. Engage in online learning or go to evening classes and pick up a new skill. Or work on a project that gives you an extra reason to spring out of bed in the morning.
Go out among nature
The winter chill might not always feel inviting, but wrap up warm and go outdoors. Take a hot beverage-filled flask, a waterproof jacket, and a camera, and record the changing season among nature.
You need not live in the countryside to benefit from focusing on the natural world. Stroll in the local park, amble around your garden, or walk down your street and check out birds and plants. Snapping photographs of what you find will help you see nature's beauty and give you a positive outdoor project.
Reduce stress
Take deep breaths when anxiety strikes or you feel negative. Inhale for four seconds, hold your breath for seven seconds, and exhale to the count of eight. Then repeat the exercise four or five times to shift your mood. Mindfulness and meditation can reduce negativity, too, and aid calm. Make focusing on a single positive thought or task, or meditating, part of your daily routine to reap regular benefits.
Socialize
Socialize with positive people who have healthy habits. People who look after themselves and support others are ideal companions. Their positivity will lift your mood, and their wholesome actions will encourage you to develop helpful behaviors, too.
Accept invitations to see friends and family when possible and socialize remotely at other times. Those closest to you can offer support and share their life, so you feel less alone.
Hygge
Think of hygge as coziness. It's a Danish practice, most popular in the dark winter months when many people are at a low ebb. Hygge involves enjoying simplicity and good company. It's about making the most of life with pleasant behaviors and using your environment to support wellbeing.
You can bring hygge to your life by relaxing with friends and enjoying comfort and warmth. Drink hot chocolate, light candles, and burn cinnamon incense. Cozy up by a log fire, too, and watch feel-good movies. Or go for a cycle ride with pals and then visit a coffee shop and eat chocolate cake. You get the picture.
Exercise
Exercise helps the brain regulate emotions and increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor that aids new cell growth, so stay physically active. A gentle walk or dance around the kitchen can lift your mood. Exercise to a workout video, with friends, or at the gym, and your vitality will grow.
Sleep
You need 7-9 hours of sleep a night, but you might not get it in the winter if your body clock is off-kilter. Lack of sunlight and short daylight hours make balancing your inner clock harder than it is during the summer. Stick to a wake and sleep routine, and it will be easier to maintain your natural rhythm.
Get up with the birds rather than lie in bed. If it's hard to motivate yourself to rise, use a sunrise alarm. Later, dim the lights at home when the sun goes down in the evening and carry out relaxing activities. Take a hot bath, read, or listen to gentle music, for instance, to help you wind down and prepare to sleep.
Write in a journal
Use a positivity journal to brighten your mood and record pleasant events, insights, and what you are most grateful for in life. Write in it each evening before you go to bed to encourage sweet dreams and a positive mindset, and read what you've written whenever you're blue.
Eat a healthy diet
The cold weather might make you want to eat comfort foods high in fat and sugar. They can give your mood a short-lived lift, but the high won't last. Rather than consume unhealthy foods, eat brain foods that increase brain power and provide long-term benefits.
Black sesame, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, berries, broccoli, beetroot, oily fish, avocados, leafy greens, eggs, dark chocolate, turmeric, rosemary, sage, and coconut oil are just a few suitable brain foods to add to your winter diet.
Combat a low mood in the winter months with healthy, mood-lifting pursuits and foods. Make sure you get plenty of light, exercise, and spend time with positive, supportive people. Hygge up your environment to make it warm and comfortable, reduce stress, and keep your body clock ticking, and the winter won't feel long and arduous.
References: Brainmd.com. Metoffice.gov.uk. Sane.org. Taramidorilifestyle.com. Thebetterindia.com.
