6 Tips on How to Beat the Winter Blues

If you’re like many of us, wintertime finds you with low energy, loss of motivation, and generally feeling blah. Just getting out of bed on those dark, cold mornings and getting ready for work and/or getting ready to send the kids off to school feels like a monumental task. Fortunately, the following simple ways should help to alleviate a case of the winter doldrums.

1. Increase Your Social Interactions: While the temptation is to hibernate during the winter, by remaining socially active, you decrease feelings of social isolation which contribute to depression. Little things, like meeting a friend for a cup of coffee, going to a movie or attending a concert with a friend, can make a big difference, in terms of lifting your spirits. Every week try to schedule several social activities you formerly deemed pleasurable.

2. Increase your Activity Level: While that lack of energy and motivational deficits during winter make couch potato status another temptation of winter, it is well-documented in the literature on depression that increased exercise improves our mood by increasing our dopaminine levels (the body’s natural mood enhancing neurotransmitters). Get moving by taking an exercise class at the gym, getting on the elliptical, or playing a favorite sport like tennis or basketball. If you opt to take an exercise class or play a sport, you’ll get the added benefit of increased social encounters.

3. Increase your Exposure to Sunlight: Get Your vitamin D and increase your serotonin levels (the brain’s natural antidepressant) by going outdoors more frequently on sunny days. Research has shown that as little as a half hour each day of exposure to sunlight can significantly lift your spirits. Ideally, exposure to light in the morning provides maximal effectiveness. Even on those cold winter days, when the sun is out, bundle up and try to get outside. Whether its going for a brisk walk, skiing, snow boarding, or taking the kids sleigh riding, engaging in any of these activities on a regular basis is likely to improve your mood over time, regulate sleep patterns, and decrease perceived stress levels. Combining exercise and the being outdoors will give you the interactive benefits of exercise and increased Vitamin D levels.

If outdoor exercise isn’t your thing, however, you can still get outside by doing errands that allow you to walk from place to place. Even if you are unable to get outdoors, indirect exposure to sunlight via a window can help alleviate your winter blues. When the weather doesn’t permit, another viable alternative is using a light box several minutes a day, which simulates the sun’s ultraviolet rays and has been shown to alleviate feelings of sadness and depression.

4. Make Time for Relaxation: Simple strategies like meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and massage therapy have been known to enhance relaxation and promote an overall sense of emotional well-being. When we feel a sense of tranquility, we are better able to attend to, absorb, and savor the positive aspects of our day and feel gratitude for what we do have in our lives.

5. Plan a Getaway: Sometimes a vacation to a warm destination is all we need in the winter months to allow us to recharge our batteries. If that’s not possible, due to financial limitations or time constraints, a day at the spa can often do the trick.

6. Seek Help of a Mental Health Professional if Symptoms Worsen and Persist: According to the DSM-5 (the diagnostic bible for psychologists and psychiatrists)in individuals with Seasonal Affective Disorder onset of depression typically occurs in the Fall or Winter.

Clinical signs that you may be suffering from depression, rather than just a case of the winter blues include:

*feeling sad most of the day, almost every day
*insomnia or hypersomnia
*fatigue
*marked diminished interest in virtually all activities most of the day, nearly every day
*feelings of worthlessness or guilt
*difficulties with concentrating or decision-making

Based on the DSM-5 criteria, if you experience a combination of the five of the above symptoms over the course of a two week period or more, it is time to seek the assistance of a trained mental health professional.