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Does the gloomy and dull weather outside take the smile away from your face, and you tend to be sad for no reason? You, are suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), my friend. During winters, you will often find people say that they feel a reduced level of energy with their motivation plummeting and they struggle to maintain routines. You develop several complications which include lack of interest at work, and social withdrawal. You become unmindful at social gatherings or even while partying with friends.
What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?
This type of depression is related to change in seasons, which mostly occurs in winters.
The symptoms of SAD are: Sluggishness Depression Low energy Feeling of hopelessness and worthless Suicidal tendencies
How to beat these winter blues?
Maintain your sleep-awake cycle
Try to ensure you are essentially sleeping and waking up at similar times to maintain your sleep-awake pattern. Do this also for weekends as far as possible. This allows the mind and body to operate in a rhythm that helps maintain a feeling of goodness as well as your moods.
Drink green tea
The nutrients we put in our bodies have a major effect on our emotions. Green tea contains mood-boosting nutrients like amino acid L-theanine, which has been linked to reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Step outside more often
Despite the feeling that you don’t want to go out push yourself to step outside. Don’t isolate yourself and instead choose your own ways of spending time with friends and family or even outdoors.
Get exposure to the sun
Exposure to the sun is rather helpful in beating the blues and is a known method of helping those who struggle to maintain moods, particularly during the winter months when the weather gets cold and dead.
Keep the lights on and draw back the curtains
Don’t keep yourself in dark areas. Instead, choose to illuminate the space you are occupying well with adequate lighting. Bright lights are as helpful as the yellow lights. Also, ensure that while in enclosed spaces don’t keep drawing the curtains to block out the natural light and the sun during the winter months. It is helpful to keep the curtains drawn back instead so you can get constant exposure to natural light.
Do the things that you do like
Break the pattern of staying in bed under the blanket to keep yourself warm. Instead add an activity that you like doing which could add some significant feeling of goodness to your day.
Consciously don’t allow things to pile up
Don’t keep waiting to feel in the mood to do things or for the motivation to come back. Instead take steps to ensure that you are not allowing too many things to pile up. Break up the things you need to do into smaller, manageable bits. Take the help of those around you if you are struggling to manage doing this on your own.
Seek professional intervention
If despite trying out these things you continue to feel low, sad, unhappy, excessively worried or have altered sleep patterns and appetite, don’t hesitate to seek help from a professional. He would be able to help you determine an approach tailored to suit your specific needs at the time in addition to the strategies suggested above.
With inputs from Dr Kamna Chhibber, Head, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare and Sameer Parekh
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