Have you ever noticed that your mood changes along with the seasons? That you find it harder to get outdoors during the winter months, when it’s cold and dark? It’s easy to feel that you’re the only ‘fair weather adventurer’, when you scroll through Instagram and see people cycling through the mud and camping in sub-zero temperatures. But you aren’t alone.
Many of us find we have much more energy - and feel more positive - during the summer months. As the days get shorter, that energy becomes harder to summon.
In its milder form, this is often referred to as the ‘winter blues’, while in its most intense manifestations it’s known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD - both of which are remarkably prevalent. A survey conducted by the Living with SAD research group shows how pervasive low winter mood is, with 46% of the 348 participants (living across 91 UK postcodes) demonstrating ‘severe seasonal symptoms’.
People can become really isolated, feeling like they live half their human life in the winter months and then come alive again in the summer
Hester Parr is the Principal Investigator of Living With Sad, based at Glasgow University. “People recognise that this time of year, we often feel differently because there's a lot of rain, there's cloudy skies; we don't want to go outside,” she says. “We feel a bit rubbish and have a low mood.”
“That happens to most people - everybody has their winter selves - but for a proportion of the population, it becomes a much more profound experience that genuinely affects their everyday social relationships and their working life. The people can become really isolated, feeling like they live half their human life in the winter months and then come alive again in the summer.”
What is it about the darker months that has this effect? Is there a way to banish the winter blues?
What are the Causes of SAD?
There are numerous benefits to being exposed to natural light. It stimulates vitamin D production, which helps your body absorb calcium and is essential for healthy bones. It helps regulate circadian rhythms, allowing you to get a better night’s sleep (as opposed to artificial light, which can disrupt it). Sunlight also helps boost serotonin, and therefore improves mood. Conversely, being deprived of natural sunlight will have the opposite affect - and you might find your sleep, mood and energy levels adversely affected.
“Just like there’s a healthy amount of calories, there’s also a healthy amount of light nutrition we need, which has been quantified to be about 10,000 lux a day,” Hester says. “We are definitely deficient in that in the UK. If we sit inside a living room, we might be getting 50 units of lux. In a classroom, maybe 250 units of lux. But being outside, in natural light for a reasonable amount of time, we could get 10,000 units of lux.”
Just like there’s a healthy amount of calories, there’s also a healthy amount of light nutrition we need
'Lux' refers to the intensity of light projected across a given surface area - so a sunny summer's day, where you need sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glare, is much more intense than even the brightest lightbulb.
During the summer months, it’s much easier to get outside and absorb natural daylight. If you’re an adventurous person, the natural world becomes your playground - there are mountains to climb, oceans to swim in, dirt trails to bike. But when it starts getting dark at four o’clock in the evening, that puts paid to post-work adventuring. And of course, rain is always perfectly timed to coincide with the weekend.
Going outdoors less - getting less natural light - will lower most people’s moods. But for SAD sufferers, that low mood is intensified. According to this study, SAD sufferers have difficulty regulating their serotonin levels; they experience a greater drop in serotonin in the winter months than the majority of the population. There’s also evidence that SAD sufferers experience an over-production of melatonin during the dark months, leading to them feeling sluggish and sleepy.
Your risk of SAD is increased by having a genetic predisposition towards it, or by being a woman (who are more prone to depression in general, for a variety of biological and sociocultural reasons). SAD may also present as a comorbidity of other mental health diagnoses, such as bipolar or chronic depression.
Where you live will also have an impact. People at higher latitudes (further from the equator) tend to have higher rates of seasonal depression, as they are subject to less hours of daylight during the winter months. However, there are some northern latitudes where this isn’t the case, such as Iceland and northern Norway. This study shows that there is a greater prevalence of SAD on the East Coast of the United States than in Iceland, despite the former being at lower latitudes.
Snow reflects and amplifies the available light, which may explain why snowy places see less seasonal depression
“One reason for this might be because these cultures have a different kind of relationship with the cosy nature of winter,” Hester says. “The Danish hygge idea is very prevalent. People learn to relish winter and that interior time in a different way. But they may also be more kitted out and enjoy going outside and thinking about winter as a playtime. Snow reflects and amplifies the available light, which may explain why snowy places see less seasonal depression.”
You might not be able to control the weather, or where you live. But you can take a lesson from 'winter-loving' cultures, and begin to develop a more positive mindset towards the winter months.
Wintering Well
A lot of research into ‘cures’ for SAD focuses on light therapy (using SAD lamps, which simulate natural daylight), talking therapy, prescribing antidepressants or vitamin D. While these might be effective, Hester’s Living with SAD research group is more focused on helping people living in Glasgow and the West of Scotland engage positively with winter through a series of creative and therapeutic exercises. Central to this is spending more time outdoors.
“Our project is about increasing the time we spend outside and the amount of natural light we get during winter,” Hester says. “It's about finding a new routine that gets you outside; finding favourite places through which to witness the changing season, but also to regard light.
It's about finding a new routine that gets you outside; finding favourite places through which to witness the changing season, but also to regard light
“Of course, this can be difficult. We have these really idealised winter images in our heads - lovely blue skies, crisp frosts and nice knitwear - but winter can often feel sludgy, wet and grey. It’s about accepting that often our reality is different to that idealised version, but still finding that sense of adventure, and reasons to get outside and explore.”
Hester’s research group has developed a number of creative activities to help get people outside during the darker months, including writing a letter to winter about your feelings towards the season. Another activity is ‘sky framing’, where you use a cardboard frame to look up at the sky, noticing its subtle shifts and changes.
“It's to help you move away from going into winter thinking, ‘well, that's it. It's just going to be dark grey, miserable, and all I'm going to do is look down as I stumble about my life,’” Hester says. “Instead, this is about deliberately going out and looking up and realising the sky might be grey but the clouds are moving, and there are lighter patches too. It's such a simple, tiny little trick; you're experiencing winter, but not trying to change it - you’re trying to change your mindset instead.”
It can be hard to get outside during the day if you have a full-time job, but Hester recommends trying to go for a short walk before work if you can. Morning sunlight is particularly beneficial for your mood and energy levels.
“Look at the forecast and choose a day that doesn't look too bad,” she says. Then go out for a walk and try to find some light, take a photo of it. That's your very first step. And then, over the next few weeks, you can make a ‘light map’ of your neighbourhood - places where you can best see the sunrise or sunset.
“Getting out, particularly on a dark morning, is one of the hardest things to do. But if you go out at first light - which is actually quite late in Scotland - you’ll start to see how it changes slightly every day, which will give you a sense of excitement. It’s a metaphor for the whole year, and how it’s going to change.”
If you’re still struggling to get outdoors, Hester recommends inviting people to come with you. Not only will you have someone to enjoy type two fun with, but you’ll also be able to support each other when someone isn’t quite feeling up to it.
“In those really hard months like January and February, it's important to get together with other people to talk about how you’re feeling,” Hester says. “Sometimes it's just about being brave enough to say that the winter really, really depresses you. You might be surprised at the amount of people who respond to that. Other people might have some shared tactics and tips for what gets them through that you can adopt.”
And of course, not every winter weekend will be rainy. There are moments of beauty in the winter months too, be it a subtle pink sunrise or cobwebs beaded in frost. Longer nights means more opportunities for stargazing and searching for the aurora borealis.
So, don’t shut your curtains and sleep through winter. Lace up your hiking boots, put on your waterproofs, and go out on an adventure. Even if you don’t find the idealised winter wonderland you’re searching for, your mood will be all the better for it.
- The Living with SAD Research Group has developed a number of free resources to help you through winter. This includes Light is a Right: a Guide to Wintering Well, containing creative prompts and resources, and an online CBT course dedicated to helping overcome SAD.
Inspired to get outdoors this winter? Check out our Sub Zero Adventures and Winter Sun Adventures.