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12:00 AM 5th October 2024
lifestyle

Positive Tips To Boost Your Mental Health Against Britain’s Winter Blues

 
Image by Chen from Pixabay
Image by Chen from Pixabay
Darker days and colder nights have arrived and across the nation many will be feeling a winter-related low mood. Mental health expert Noel McDermott explains the difference between the Winter Blues, SAD and depression and looks at how people can boost their mood and rally their spirits in these colder months.

Noel comments:
“First it’s important to remember Winter Blues are normal and do not indicate you have a serious mood disorder, but equally accept it requires some changes and interventions on your part so that it doesn’t develop into a serious problem.”


Winter Blues, SAD or depression
In some ways trying to distinguish one from the other between winter blues, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or major depressive disorder may seem academic as what works to combat them is largely the same apart from a few medical and psychological treatments. So, let's look at what each condition is and how are they the same and how they’re different?

What are the Winter Blues? This is a non-pathological response to less sunlight, possible worries about Xmas expenses, less access to exercise outside, the cold making all activities harder, higher heating bills etc. It’s not surprising that we can feel a little more flat, lethargic, avoidant, but the good news is we can manage this with lifestyle changes and enhancements such as:

Exercise - it’s one of the most effective means of managing low mood. Don’t limit how you view exercise to going to the gym. Dance for example is exercise and 5-10 minutes bopping to tunes in your home will have a very positive effect on your mood, particularly if you turn it into a dance off with your kids! Yoga is very good for lifting low mood and especially so for men https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-075847
Sleep hygiene, relaxation (stress management) and napping - Good sleep hygiene is crucial for health. Reducing stress is also core and learning to relax, meditate and taking naps will all help
Cut down or cut out alcohol…maybe a big ask for Xmas etc but if you are feeling out of sorts you may drink more and that will add to your distress on may levels
Nutrition - eat well and eat reasonable portions - overindulging to comfort can lead to greater lethargy and this leads to less activity and less motivation
Social contact - go out with loved ones more and seek lots of hugs
Buy a SAD lamp (or a daylight bulb)…winter blues often happen because we don’t get enough daylight and it messes with the chemistry in our brains. Buying a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamp or a daylight bulb and exposing ourselves to it for a few hours a day is great to lift mood. If you buy a daylight bulb you can put it into your desk lamp (at work/home) and ensure you get enough daylight
Vitamin D might be helpful to take as a supplement but ask your doctor first

What is SAD? This is an illness (pathology) and is defined as a depressive disorder that is seasonal (some people get it in the summer). It’s important to get a diagnosis from someone qualified to do so and ensure your GP is aware and will help. The symptoms are worse and usually longer lasting than winter blues. People may experience feelings of worthlessness and want to harm themselves for example. The blues come and go, but depression lasts longer and you may need specialist help to manage it better. See the list above for behaviours you really just adopt to reduce the severity of your condition and manage it more effectively. Additionally you can:

Learn about your condition, record it’s patterns, research depression symptoms
Increase your lifestyle treatments proportionate to to the higher risk seasonal changes that can trigger the condition
Learn about cognitive behavioural therapy techniques
Explore using talking therapy
Speak to your GP about medications and supplements that may help (SSRI, St John's Wort, Vitamin D) i
In consultation with your GP look at using medication prophylactically

Depression Explained
This is an illness that needs treatment as well as the lifestyle changes above. It may occur from an event or not, but it is characterised by a number of prototypical symptoms that include, concentration issues, feeling of low self worth, hopelessness, feeling of being a failure and burden, loss of motivation, self harm thoughts or behaviours. It is a very common mental health condition and can be treated very successfully and can respond well to healthy lifestyle changes, talking therapies especially CBT and for some medication. If you are concerned you or someone you love has depression then seek professional help immediately. The longer you wait the worse it will get. Early treatment is evidenced to reduce severity, longevity and recurrence of the illness.

Mental health expert Noel McDermott is a psychotherapist and dramatherapist with over 30 years’ work within the health, social care, education, and criminal justice fields. His company Mental Health Works provides unique mental health services for the public and other organisations. Mental Health Works offers in situ health care and will source, identify and coordinate personalised teams to meet your needs – https://www.mentalhealthworks.net/