Preventing autumn blues / winter blues?

Yesterday, I didn't wake up until 8.30am. I hadn't set my alarm because in the past few months I always woke up automatically around 07:00 due to the emerging daylight.

Seasonal dip

Today, however, was a different story, as it was raining and it was still very dark outside. For me, this is a sign that the season has started again where I need to pay a bit more attention, because I am quite prone to 'autumn blues / winter blues'. For myself, I now know well how to avoid this.

Symptoms

First of all, of course, it is important to understand what happens when the days get shorter. This is because the 24-hour clock changes and this affects several hormones. During the day, your body makes cortisol and serotonin on and in the evening when cortisol decreases and it is dark, the melatonin produced. In the winter season, melatonin gets a bit more upper hand over serotonin and cortisol.

This may lead to fatigue, lethargy, irritability, increased cravings for snacking and sleep. In severe cases, a disrupted 24-hour clock can even lead to depression.

Light therapy

I myself experienced this once when I returned jet-lagged from Las Vegas at the end of December. There was so little daylight in the Netherlands that I struggled to get out of this so mentally I was also almost out of light. In this case, my cortisol and serotonin were way too low during the day. Fortunately, I was able to pull myself out of this by use a daylight lamp and put myself on a strict regime. With that, I was able to force my body to get back in step.

Tips to prevent autumn blues / winter blues

To prevent or remedy a seasonal dip, there are a few key points to consider:

1. Make sure you have a regular daily rhythm. Staying in bed for too long because you think you need to is ultimately counterproductive. It takes some getting used to getting out of bed while it is still pitch black, but it pays off in the end in more energy and vitality. Also try to go to bed at set times as much as possible.
2. Go outside often and catch as much daylight as possible. In the darkest months, a daylight lamp in the morning is recommended if you are prone to winter dips. More light contributes to more energy and happiness chemicals (cortisol and serotonin)
3. Exercise more than enough every day and work out regularly. Move more and train smartly contributes to more energy and happiness substances (cortisol and serotonin)
4. Monitor your eating habits properly and avoid overeating. Due to cold, less energy and happiness chemicals (cortisol and serotonin), many people have more snacking tendencies and choose heavier meals more often. This calorie surplus often leads to noticeable weight gain only at the end of winter. In fact, to gain 1 kilo of fat, you need to eat about 7,000 kilocalories more than you consume, and this does not happen in 1 day. So if you don't keep a close eye on yourself, this can cause nasty surprises and extra work to lose these kilos again in spring. After all, what doesn't come on, doesn't need to come off.
5. Watch your vitamin D. If you don't go on holiday to a sunny place in winter, you run the risk of building up vitamin D deficiency. So make sure you eat regular good vitamin D sources such as oily fish, eggs and mushrooms. Also, swallowing vitamin D supplementation recommended.
6. For people in the midlife crisis, like me: when you go out dancing, choose daytime festivals and don't go to after parties, because then you'll put even more pressure on your 24-hour clock 🙂 ...