Fun Fact: It feels like “the days are getting shorter.” Hard Truth: we still have 24 hours a day! While the sun shows up later and bows out early, this doesn’t mean you have to! Here in the NEK, Vermonters aren’t naïve to the dramatic shift in seasons; days that feel shorter and nights that feel too long. We add all these endless stretches of cold and unpredictable weather together, and it can create real challenges to the mind, body and soul. However, this doesn’t make us immune either. When the winter blues go from feelings into something more, it may not be just your mood, it may be Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder) describes SAD as “a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons,” noting that symptoms often appear as days darken and can include “low energy, problems sleeping, changes in appetite, weight gain or loss, and feeling hopeless or worthless.” These symptoms don’t appear in a vacuum, making their disruption sometimes hard to pinpoint. Fact: reduced sunlight disrupts our circadian rhythm, it alters our serotonin (feel good chemicals) and affects melatonin (chemicals that regulate sleep and alertness). Harder truth: for some this makes winter’s emotional weight a true condition needing attention, which is both understandable and treatable.
In a personal essay shared on HealthyWomen.org, writer Jules Simon, a self-proclaimed runner, wife and “dog-mom,” described how each winter brought an intensity of fatigue, sadness, and brain fog she couldn’t explain. “I felt more than just bummed out… I was depressed and often barely able to get out of bed,” she wrote, adding that her symptoms “really increased during the winter months.” Sound familiar? Her story echoes what many Vermonters quietly experience each winter, whether they name it and claim it like Simon. Thinking it might solve the problem, the Simon family moved from Michigan to sunny Texas hoping it would be the answer to all her Seasonal Affective issues, but that just wasn’t the case. “It was a couple winters ago when I felt my old gloomy symptoms return…I was also dealing with other health issues, including chronic migraine attacks. As the winter blues kicked in, my migraine attacks got far worse. I wound up visiting a handful of doctors to try to get to the bottom of what was going on with the persistent migraines…Eventually, I found a PCP that I really connected with who, over time, picked up on a pattern: I had symptoms of depression all year round, but my symptoms really increased during the winter months.”
This is when life completely changed for her as she started to treat her symptoms and change her life. This is now something Simon manages, saying, “I can’t let the SAD win. Otherwise, I will have such a small and, well, sad life. So, I gear up for winter like it’s an endurance sport unto itself.”
Just like Simon, we live in a place that makes us more susceptible to the woes of SAD, and unfortunately, trends show Vermonters and especially those in the NEK are less likely to “gear up for the winter,” like her. Psychology Today highly suggests people don’t bury their head in the snow over SAD, especially people like us, they shared in an online report, (psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder), that SAD affects people “more severely the farther they live from the equator,” and that low sunlight can trigger biological changes that “impact mood, emotion regulation, and motivation.” For people like us on the 45th parallel, this information can help us gear up, rather than give in.
Where’s the light in the darkness here? YOU hold the candle on this one! Even if light seems limited, you aren’t! You still have the same number of hours in a day to take action and create a momentum towards a life you love living. While advice often focuses on sitting near a window or swapping out lightbulbs, there are many powerful, lesser-known strategies that support winter mental health:
1. Movement: A brisk walk at lunch, stacking wood, shoveling a path, barn chores: HELPS. Movement boosts serotonin and it doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to happen.
2. Creativity: Stimulate your brain which winter often numbs. Play music, sketch, knit, refinish a piece of furniture, bake something new, rearrange a room. Creativity always brings light from the inside.
3. Nourish: Comfort food season can leave you feeling sluggish. Focus on proteins, whole grains, vegetables, and seasonal fruits. Eat how you want to feel!
4. Connect: Winter can shrink our social world. Loneliness worsens seasonal depression. Schedule standing check-ins with a friend. Join a Wellness Center class. Call your neighbor. Connection is sunlight in a different form.
5. Routine: consistent wake times, morning exposure to daylight, a walk after breakfast, planned hobbies, structured time with loved ones. Routine your way to resilience.
Most importantly, if your winter mood becomes overwhelming, persistent, or interferes with daily functioning, talk with a healthcare provider. Jules Simon says this saved her life! SAD is real, treatable, and nothing to face alone. Light fades, you don’t have to!