The Mental Emotional Health Blog

It’s already starting to affect me this year. The last few years I have seemed to get a taste of the Winter Blues, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. It usually isn’t bad enough to really nail my functioning and mood, but I have noticed a change already. The form it takes for me includes: tiredness with occasional fatigue, short-term memory challenges, little spurts of irritability, a little more difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, and each day I seem to either have noticeably more or less appetite.

The bad news is I’m expecting this in varying degrees until probably February. The good news is it will end and I am used to it and know what to do, and any of you that suffer through the winter months hoping for longer days can fight back these symptoms too.

Here are some ideas, pretty standard for fighting depression:

• Practice good nutrition, with meals or healthy snacks every 3 hours or so
• Stay hydrated with water
• Go to bed 1 hour earlier than usual
• Exercise lightly or moderately each day (even if it is for 5-10 minutes)
• Every once in a while, change your routine slightly or try something new (such as driving or walking a different way to work than usual)
• Talk with your physician or physician’s assistant now if you haven’t already, and then follow up again if you feel worse as the weeks go on
• Keep paying attention to your personal hygiene and shower daily, it helps
• Travel somewhere sunny and warm if you can

The important thing to remember is to not give up. Symptoms may be happening to you, but they don’t have to define you. Also, improvement is gradual so don’t expect a benefit to your efforts for at least 2 weeks.