According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 5% of the US population experiences seasonal depression (known as Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder or SAD), and 10-20% experience what they call the winter blues.
Winter is my least favorite season and yet I know it’s an important part of our natural cycle and that it doesn’t last forever.
Like all forms of depression, there is a scale of severity. If you are experiencing overwhelming thoughts of death by suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention support services:
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1-800-273-8255
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Text GO to 741741 to reach a trained Crisis Counselor through Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization. Free, 24/7, confidential
You can also seek counseling from a licensed therapist.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about ways to seek and maintain happiness during these colder months. I came up with 15 ideas.
15 Ideas to Help You Thrive This Winter
For milder seasonal depression or winter blues, below are a few options to help you cope:
- Plan a fun indoor activity that you plan to only do in the winter months such as putting together puzzles, getting crafty, or organizing vacation photos.
- Visit an indoor local attraction, like a museum or restaurant everyone has been talking about.
- Try 30 minutes of daily light therapy. While I haven’t tried it, there are many positive reviews on Amazon about how this inexpensive product helped.
- Start to take a Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D is a nutrient we get from the sunshine that helps with many things, including our happy moods.
- Embrace the season. Grab a warm coat, gloves, and hat and take a brisk walk or make a snow angel.
- Open up to a friend and let them know you get into a bit of a funk during the cold months. Ask them to check in with you more frequently or help get you out of the house.
- Try new recipes that will energize you or keep you warm. Here are some ideas for soups, air fryer appetizers, or comforting make-in-a-mug desserts.
- Control the negative content inputs in your life. Surround yourself with upbeat and positive news, social feeds.
- Start an indoor garden. I just got this as a holiday gift from my daughter and my herbs are already sprouting.
- Read books and watch movies that take place in summer.
- Dive into learning more about seasonal depression:
- Diffuse some essential oils. Four oils that claim to help with depression are bergamot, lavender, ylang-ylang, and chamomile.
- Listen to a summer playlist or create your own sunshine vibes playlist.
- Journal about winter. I’ve got a few prompts in my Just for You: a Daily Self Care Journal to get you started.
- Schedule and plan something to look forward to, such as a weekend getaway or family vacation. Life will get busier when the weather warms up so find your perfect rental, list out the sites you want to see, and start to salivate over the menus.
Let me know if you have ideas to add to this list or if you tried something and it worked for you.
Source – Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9293-seasonal-depression
