Photo By Gail Worley

Some people have either been diagnosed  — or have a sneaking, yet undiagnosed suspicion — that they’re living with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which is more colloquially referred to as the winter blues. Regardless of your age, your lifestyle or your professional career, you could at any point begin to feel less motivated, lack energy and generally feel lower when the nights draw in and the temperature drops.

With this in mind, just in case this does happen to you, continue reading to discover the top four ways to fight off the winter blues.

1. Start Spring Cleaning: In Winter

Firstly, as your body and your mind are both not happy with the changing seasons, start to break free of society’s constraints and choose to spring clean your entire house in the winter instead. Not only will this serve to occupy your mind, but trimming wayward leaves and bushes from the windows, and cleaning the windows thoroughly as part of your spring-cleaning routine will also let much-needed light into your home.

2. Get Some Fresh Air

The world is always going to look a little darker when you trap yourself in your house for days on end through the winter. Next time you start to feel low and unmotivated, get outside for some fresh air.

Interestingly enough, within leading memory care facilities across the country, the memory care community are often encouraged to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors, either in a group led by a staff member, or by themselves in the gardens of the grounds.

3. Consider Speaking to a Therapist

If you always tend to experience a negative dip in your overall emotional health and wellbeing as soon as winter starts to creep in, instead of suffering in silence, it would be an excellent coping strategy to make an appointment with a qualified therapist.

Obviously, talking through how you feel with trusted family members and friends is also an option, but if you feel as if they either would not understand, or else feel as if you don’t want to burden them, then a therapist is a brilliant alternative.

4. Arrange Lunch Dates with Friends

Even though it may not feel like it before you leave, you are absolutely guaranteed to be much more comfortable and content to snuggle up on the couch with a hot chocolate and a movie on a winter’s night if you have seen friends or loved family members during the day.

When winter is threatening to rear its head, make a concerted effort to reach out to friends, ideally those who live locally, and arrange a couple of social meetups for the following week, every week moving forward.

Social interaction is an absolute dopamine hit, even if you don’t realize it at the time. Just be sure not to simply rely on your friends when you are feeling blue. Stay in touch and catch-up during the spring and summertime, too!