How To Deal With Winter Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal affective disorder: How to get through the pandemic's winter months - CNN

The winter months are coming in quick and fast. The dark nights are coming earlier, it’s getting colder and all you want to do is stay at home. The winter months bring a lot of fun with ice skating, Christmas market, bonfire night and so on. It also brings another thing that isn’t quite as welcome, the dreaded SAD, yup! Seasonal Affective Disorder oh what a joy. Well, this year we are going to try and do better than last year and were going to face this head-on. In this article, we will go through some helpful tips on how to deal with SAD in the winter without antidepressants.

Table of Contents

Eat Well & Take Vitamins

Many people will often put a lot of weight on during the winter months due to less exercise being done due to people wanting to stay indoors. Well, not this year. This year we are going to be creating a healthy meal plan to follow so that you have something to follow and do each day. We are also going to be taking vitamins. Vitamin C tablets are going to help out with energy, and improve your mood once you have the right amount. There are also other vitamins that will help you further in the winter months such as vitamin B and magnesium supplements as these will both improve your overall energy and mood.

Exercise Outdoors

Regular physical exercise has countless benefits for the body, it keeps us fit and healthy and improves our overall positivity levels. It is recommended by health professionals that you should be exercising regularly and doctors will also recommend this for people who suffer from anxiety and depression, but it is also important to get the right amount of sleep your body needs. This doesn’t have to be anything too strenuous, just something to take your mind off the issues at hand like a walk or a slow jog.

Keep In Touch With Family And Friends

If you have SAD, then it can be hard to keep in touch with friends and family. By scheduling visits, calls or even video chats can seriously improve your mood. By doing this, you will start to feel like you belong and will encourage you to get out more with them. This doesn’t have to be anything major, just a simple walk or coffee somewhere will do you the world of good.

Have A Plan For Tough Days

Everyone has tough days now and then but when you have depression or SAD, it can feel much worse as you feel trapped. If you recognise any triggers or patterns, this can be used to help you by allowing yourself to find things that help to soothe you. This could be as simple as wearing your comfy clothes, writing down your issues or just watching your favourite movie. All these methods work really well. Just remember, if you have woken up and realised today is one of those days, you should start to take your mind off the situation. If these activities don’t help, then you should of course go seek some medical help.