Depression and Winter

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

Depression and winter

“The Winter is approaching and so is depression”. These are not my words but rather what John said to his friend at the first day of November. Some people tend to feel more depressed in winter than they do in summer.

I am not talking about seasonal affective disorder which is a disorder that makes people feel depressed in a certain seasons but I am talking about this creepy depressing feelings that you may get in the winter.

Sunlight and depression

Sunlight helps in the production of the hormone serotonin, which is the hormone that regulates your mood and that makes you feel good. During the winter sunlight becomes rare and that’s why you may experience some winter blues.

But the question is, why do some people sometimes experience a joyful winter while others become depressed in winter? Suppose that at the beginning of the winter you found Aladdin’s magical lamp and you were able to ask the Genie to do what you want for you, do you expect to feel sad this winter?

No it can rarely happen simply because you won't be that sensitive to chemical changes in your body anymore. When you feel down or when you have lots of unsolved problems you tend to be more sensitive to new problems and that’s why the drop in serotonin levels can severely affect you because you are already emotionally wounded.

The moral of this story is simple, the more wounds you have the more likely you will become depressed in winter. On the contrary the happier you feel the less likely will winter depression visit you. To make the long story short, start now to solve your problems or at least to take the first step towards solving them. Only then you will become less vulnerable to such winter mood swings.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of depression that occurs at the same time each year. Its symptoms are the same as the usual depression symptoms and sunlight exposure is one of the recommended methods of treatment for it.

Everyone agrees that chemical imbalance in the brain is what causes SAD, however, I think its much more useful to focus on what caused this imbalance than to focus on the imbalance itself.

Make sure you reduce your vulnerability to depression by taking care of your life problems. Even if you didn't find the right solution still this will make you less emotionally vulnerable to new life challenges.

Happiness comes from within

If you are happy and if you have no big life problems that you are ignoring then winter, sunlight and all of these variables will have a very little impact on you. In my book, The ultimate guide to getting over depression i explained how people who are already feeling bad because of unsolved problems are more sensitive to such changes while those who are already feeling good are less sensitive to them.

In short, deal with your life problems, find the real cause for your sadness and these weather changes will have no significant impact on your mood.

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Want to know more?

Yes, How to deal with Winter depression

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