Tips for Coping with seasonal affective disorder

 Guest article by Kimberly Hayes, Chief Blogger, publichealthalert.info

Seasonal affective disorder can leave you listless, depressed and feeling lost

What is seasonal affective disorder?

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) describes the symptoms of depression that many people feel when the winter months roll around. Although science hasn’t been able to pinpoint an exact reason why this occurs, it’s thought to be a result of shorter winter days and lower levels of sunlight. This confuses our internal clock and throws our hormones out of balance. The symptoms can be quite debilitating, including fatigue, difficulty concentrating, extreme sadness, and feelings of hopelessness. Fortunately, many people have found relief by engaging in wellness-focused activities and altering their daily routine to focus on self-care. Here are some actions that you can take to stave off the winter blues this year.

Prioritize Self-Care

Self-care is important for supporting our general wellness year-round, and it’s even more essential during the wintertime. When it gets cold out and the stress of the holidays are bearing down on us, it’s easy to skip the daily workout and indulge in tempting holiday treats. This can worsen any emotional or mental health problems you may be having. So, try to make a point of engaging in self-care every day during the winter months. This could mean scheduling time for exercise, creating a healthy eating plan, carving out 20 minutes for meditation, or just making a point of enjoying your favourite hobbies despite your busy schedule.

Exercise

There is evidence that exercise can be helpful for people who suffer from seasonal depression. This could be because exercise causes the release of feel-good hormones in the brain and lowers levels of stress hormones coursing through the body. If the weather is keeping you from getting outside for a walk or a run, check out some of these fun indoor workout ideas. You should still try to get outside for a walk in the park when possible, as being in nature has very positive effects on our mood and stress levels.

Choose Your Food Carefully

What you eat plays a profound role in your mental health, so it’s important for people with depression to consume foods packed with brain-friendly nutrients. For example, deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids, which you can get from fatty fish like salmon and tuna, have been linked to mood disorders.

There may also be a link between vitamin D deficiencies and SAD. Although the benefits of vitamin D supplementation for treating the disorder are unclear, many people have found this to be helpful for improving energy and mood when sunlight is scarce.

Complex carbohydrates can also be good for supporting a balanced mood since they help boost hormone production in the brain. Just steer clear of simple carbs like sweets, white bread, and pasta since these cause an inevitable drop in blood sugar, which will only make you feel worse.

Improve Your Sleep

Research has shown that people who suffer from SAD tend to have poorer sleep quality. Although the link between sleep and the winter blues is unclear, we do know that sleep deprivation disrupts the communication between areas of the brain involved in mood regulation. This will reduce your ability to control your emotions during the day and wreak havoc on your cognitive skills. If you wake up feeling tired and get hit with fatigue in the daytime, you may benefit from improving your sleep quality. To do this, try practising good sleep hygiene:

• Use your bed only for sleep.

• Create a relaxing bedtime routine.

• Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

• Keep your bedroom as dark and quiet as possible.

If you only have trouble sleeping during the winter, your body might be having problems regulating sleep hormones due to seasonal light changes. This may be improved by light therapy or melatonin supplementation.

Since it can be difficult to engage in these wellness actions when you’re battling the winter blues, try to form healthy habits that you can maintain all year long. Start with small, easily achievable goals and build on these as you become comfortable with the changes you’re making to your routine. That way, when winter rolls around next year, you’ll be equipped with the automatic self-care habits that can help you cope with SAD more easily.