3 simple ways to combat winter depression – and when to seek help

It’s been a brutal winter – even more so for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder.

SAD appears during the fall or winter when daytime hours are shorter. While “winter blouses” can arouse soft feelings of sadness as the weather gets colder, Sad is characterized by a constant depression that lasts at least two weeks.

One of the biggest concepts for SAD is that it happens every year – and there is nothing we can do about it.

Here are my three tips to fight SAD and instructions to seek professional help.

How to tell if you have sad

SAD manifests itself in different ways. You can sleep more, or you can sleep less. You can eat too much or not at all.

People with sad loses pleasure in things that once brought them happiness and joy. They are less active and less motivated. Their humor has changed.

How to fight sad

Don’t worry – there are many things we can do to help manage sad symptoms.

First, it is really important to eat nutritional foods. Some research suggests that highly processed foods can adversely affect anxiety and depression, so we need to focus on whole foods.

Also, make sure you eat regularly. Monitor your habits to see if there has been a change in appetite.

Second, some data show that mild therapy can be effective in treating SAD. Scientists hypothesize that they can correct the circadian rhythms of winter and increase the production of serotonin, the hormone “feel good”.

You should aim to sit in front of a light box that releases 10,000 luxury of light for at least 30 minutes each morning, ideally around 8am

But the optimal way to get easy exposure is to get out, even when it is cloudy.

Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, which can significantly improve your mood. Plus, we know that 150 minutes of exercise a week have a huge impact on anxiety and depression.

If you are staying at home and isolating yourself from others, you will feel worse.

That is why my last tip is activation of behavior. You have to go out and do things – activities you like once – even when you don’t feel like it.

Let’s stop that depressive cycle.

When we seek help

If you are worried, you may suffer from SAD, you should start writing symptoms and mood.

When are you feeling good? When were you feeling less than well?

Typically, we are not very good historians of our feelings because we are in our bodies. Helpful is useful to obtain that objective data when sitting and reflecting.

One of the ways you can do this is to notice your emotions throughout the day using a scale from 1 to 10. In that way you can keep track of change over time.

You should also ask your loved ones if they have noticed changes in your mood.

If people in your life say, “Hey, you know, you don’t look like yourself, you are isolate more, you are staying more, you are not as happy as it used to,” it’s good to seek help.

Never has a bad time to seek help. If you just don’t feel like yourself, get an appreciation. The worst that can happen is that they tell you you are fine.

---

Thea Gallagher, Psyd, is a clinical psychologist and associate professor at NYU Langone. She is also the Wellness Program Director at Department of Psychiatry to NYU Langone.