Do you feel blue even just thinking about the seasons changing to fall and winter?
You’re not alone. It’s estimated that 10 million Americans have seasonal affective order (SAD). When you have seasonal depression, you experience emerging feelings of sadness and daytime fatigue. Your weight may also fluctuate as you consume more carbs when the daylight savings time sets in as the seasons change to fall and winter.
The great news is that you can do an abundance of activities when you feel season depression creeping in.
5 Activities To Fight Off Seasonal Depression
Try any or all of these activities when you are feeling blue and SAD:
- Try Aromatherapy
An affordable option, aromatherapy can help you feel better when you feel the onset of seasonal depression. A study from the Journal of Natural Medicines found that poplar tree essential oil is helpful when you feel SAD.
Aromatherapy has a sedative effect, as it helps ease stress and anxiety since the essential oils influence areas of the brain that controls your mood. Other oils to try include bergamot, lavender, mandarin, neroli, and sweet marjoram.
- Exercise
Moving your body has so many benefits, from improving your physical health to your mental health. With SAD especially, working out helps you stop gaining weight, which is a common side effect of seasonal depression.
If you can, work out or go for a walk outside. If it is too cold or snowy, ensure you do your exercises near a window. On your treadmill or exercise bike, or while doing your HIIT routine, feel the effects of the sun coming in and enjoy the outside world.
- Add Light Therapy
To help you recover from SAD symptoms, get a light therapy box. It mimics natural sunshine, stimulates your circadian rhythms, and helps stop the release of melatonin.
When suffering from seasonal depression, it’s recommended to use your lightbox for 30 minutes daily, usually early in the morning when you get up.
- Do Therapy Writing
Writing in a journal daily helps you get all of your negative thoughts out of your mind and onto a piece of paper. Try to find a quiet space, and write freestyle for 20 minutes. Just let your thoughts pour out, with no worries about writing perfectly with the correct spelling, grammar, and sentence structures.
Remember, the paper can’t judge you so that you can be honest. After you’ve written down your thoughts, let it go by crumpling up the paper, saying goodbye, and setting it alight.
- Refuse To Be Bullied By SAD
Be proactive and get the upper hand over seasonal depression. One way to do this is to ensure you have a fully booked schedule.
You don’t even have to plan to go out to events with friends and family all the time, even scheduling activities you enjoy works. For example, you plan when you are baking your famous gingerbread cookies.
This keeps you busy and your mind off the approaching fall and winter blues.
SAD No More
It’s easy to let the cold of fall and winter squash your inner sunshine and make you feel depressed. By being proactive, doing exercise, exploring light and aromatherapy, and writing in your journal daily, you can help offset the winter blues.