We are approaching the shortest day of the year, and as the nights get darker, winter blues affect many of us. As I get up for work at 4:30am, it's pretty much always dark for me first thing, but for many people, trudging to work and home again in the pitch black leads to an increase in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). It can affect anyone, and the NHS says symptoms include a persistent low mood, a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities, and sleeping for longer than normal. Looking at my average sleep statistics, I definitely don't have any worries on that front.
Whilst you should obviously contact your GP if you're seriously worried, for the rest of us with a mild case of the winter blues, there are things you can do to manage the darker days, and maybe even embrace them.
Psychologist Kari Leibowitz reckons rather than succumbing to a darker mood, the trick is to find different hobbies like snow sports, knitting and cooking. Apparently, the Norwegians have virtualy no daylight in the depths of winter, and she says: "they're looking at winter as a time of year that's full of opportunities". If you focus on what you can do rather than what you can't, she says that's the key. This could include winter walks, movie date nights, and cooking a new meal. Ice skating is also mentioned, but having tried this once and spent the whole hour clinging to the edge like a barnacle on a fishing boat, I think I'll give this one a wide berth.
Kari goes on to say: "So often we only focus on the things that are harder to do in the winter when really there's a whole world of seaonal activities that feel better when it's cold out". In the chat with BBC News, she also says just like animals and plants, we should be slowing down and changing our behaviour, and getting more rest and relaxation. Dr Em May Armstrong is described as a 'plant researcher' (cool job title for the LinkedIn), and reckons the key is finding the balance between resting more and becoming too lethargic.
The key, apparently, is "active dormancy", mixing a slower lifestyle with activities that keep us mentally stimulated. Suggestions include knitting, repairing clothes or preparing for the year ahead. GP Gavin Francis concurs on the planning front, suggesting that planning activities in advance, spending time with those who make us feel good, and mood-boosting activities are all strong shouts. Other hot tips include getting a good night's sleep, avoiding too much booze, and maintaining a healthy diet. Francis comments: "These things are not rocket science, but they're really fundamental to having a good, healthy circadian rhythm and a good healthy psychology through the winter".
One thing I've been trying to do is watching a bit less rolling news. It can be tempting as a politics junkie to stick Sky News on at all hours, but I find increasingly that events are pushing my buttons. The current assault on the BBC by a predictable chorus of commentators, who have been running negative stories on the corporation for years, is fairly bleak and depressing. I wouldn't seek to mount a defence on the dodgy edit done for a Panorama show around a year ago that sparked the recent row, as it was just plain daft and misguided. The US President's full speech from which the clips were taken used the word 'fight' roughly 20 times, and just an unedited excerpt of his own words would have made plain to most folk the intended tone, in my view. The Beeb sadly hasn't done itself any favours here, but to suggest wholesale bias is frankly ludicrous, in my book. I reckon I'll take up knitting or something, rather than scrolling social media and getting cross when our 49-day Prime Minister Liz Truss tweets her latest thoughts on Auntie.
YouGov did a poll in 2023, and found Generation X-ers like me apparently prefer to go for walks in winter, compared to any other time of the year. Museums, concerts, and shopping are all popular in cold weather too. I love the cinema all year round, as you know, and it's one place where I definitely can't check the rolling news coverage and get cross! Let me know your top tips for tacking the winter blues...it's alex.cann@notreallyheremedia.com to drop me a cheeky E-mail, or find me on 'X'.
Alex Cann's weekly blog - 9th January
