Suddenly, the cold and dark season arrives. For many, this causes their mood to plummet, and some even experience seasonal depression. Numerous processes take place in the human brain that trigger what is known as winter depression.
We'll explain what happens to your body during the dark season and offer 5 tips and remedies to combat it.
Table of contents
1. This is what happens with winter depression
Most people have already experienced the bad mood during the winter months. Seasonal affective disorder , also known as winter depression, is a depressive mood characterized by reduced energy levels , malaise, and a depressed mood , among other symptoms. Winter depression is often accompanied by an increased need for sleep and a large appetite .
This will likely cause you to gain weight and feel like staying home. Why is this? Winter negatively impacts your hormone balance and your immune system .
A study by the journal Acta Psychiatrica has documented what happens in your brain during this time and found the main reason for winter depression: the trigger for the bad mood is primarily the lack of light .
Vitamin D , which is produced in the skin through sunlight, is responsible for the production of the serotonin transporter 5-HTT, which in turn supplies your brain with the happiness hormone serotonin . [1]
If there is a lack of light in winter, your body may produce too little serotonin and your mood may fluctuate.
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Another reason for winter depression is related to the lack of light. Your body becomes unbalanced during the winter months.
This disrupts your day-night rhythm because it is simply dark for too long and too little of the “daytime hormone” serotonin is released .
When daylight is lacking , the body releases increased amounts of melatonin —the human sleep hormone. This is why the dark season can make you even more sleepy and listless.
Not sure how well you're currently getting enough vitamin D? Vitamin D test strips are a great way to check. These allow you to quickly and easily check your blood vitamin D levels and thus better address a potential deficiency.
Even though the lack of light and thus vitamin D appears to be the primary cause of winter depression, there are other factors that can negatively impact your mood in winter. Learn what you can do about it in these 5 tips to combat winter depression.
Take-Home Message #1 : In winter, when the days are shorter, your body lacks the vitamin D produced by sunlight. Too little of it results in a deficiency of the happiness hormone serotonin. This makes you unhappy. Whether you're currently suffering from a deficiency can be easily checked with vitamin D test strips!
2. Tip 1 against winter depression - Vitamin D
Vitamin D is, of course, the most important tip for actively combating winter depression. But what exactly can you do? First, you should try to get enough vitamin D naturally.
A study by Harvard University has now given the guideline that one needs to expose oneself to the sun for 15-20 minutes daily in order not to suffer from a deficiency. [2]
The problem, however, is that large areas of the skin must be directly exposed to the sun to produce sufficient vitamin D. In the winter months, so many minutes of continuous sun are very rare, and it's also quite cold and uncomfortable.
Therefore, there are other ways to meet your needs , for example with VITAMIN D3+OIL . Liquid sunbeams contain the ideal dose of vitamins D3 and K2 to not only replenish serotonin stores but also support bones and the entire immune system.
For optimal absorption, both ingredients are dissolved in MCT oil , so that only 1-2 drops daily are sufficient to replenish your vitamin D stores.
If you want to check whether you actually have a vitamin D deficiency , you can get a blood test from cerascreen as well as the vitamin D drops in a vitamin D package specially put together for the winter.
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3. Tip 2 against winter depression - light therapy
Another helpful remedy for winter depression is so-called light therapy, which is used as a treatment for seasonal depression.
The therapy treats the effects of the dark season and compensates for the lack of light you experience in winter. The most common and practical application of the therapy is in the form of a " light shower " or daylight lamp .
Daylight lamps are extremely bright , producing between 2,500 and 10,000 lux . By comparison, normal room lighting only produces 300 to 500 lux . The light hits the retina and exerts its power by promoting the breakdown of melatonin .
Therefore, the therapy is especially recommended in the morning. The excess melatonin from the night is broken down by light therapy, which can lead to a positive mood boost.
4. Tip 3 against winter depression - Sport
A study by the University of Brasília found that physical activity can alleviate the symptoms of winter depression . [3] The reason for this lies in the cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters released during exercise . These include not only the happiness hormone serotonin , but also dopamine and adrenaline .
Maybe you've experienced this yourself: you feel more alert and in a better mood after exercise . It doesn't just mean toiling away at the gym for two hours.
You can choose which sport you enjoy best and adapt the activity to your fitness level. Even going for a jog is enough; the main thing is to get your circulation going . This is a quick and easy way to combat winter depression!
5. Tip 4 against winter depression - Meet your friends
Even though it's tempting to go straight home after work and spend the evening on the sofa, you should try to stay active and maintain your social contacts .
Whether it's a chat with friends or a visit with family, your loved ones are the best medicine against the winter blues.
Did you know that laughter triggers a range of hormonal and neurological reactions ? It increases the release of endorphins , which simply make you happy. And if you do choose the couch, simply invite your friends over!
6. Tip 5 against winter depression - nutrition
A side effect of winter depression can be an increased appetite. Therefore, it's doubly important to pay attention to what you eat, because healthy foods are especially scarce during the winter months. Vitamin intake, in particular, is often deficient in winter , as people reach for fruits and other foods less often.
But there are good alternatives that will provide you with essential vitamins and antioxidants even in winter. These include pumpkin , sweet potatoes , and swedes .
And anyone who follows such a healthy diet can also indulge in chocolate, as it contains the serotonin-building amino acid tryptophan . Ideally, you should choose dark chocolate, which has a higher cocoa content and thus also a higher tryptophan content.
7. Conclusion
The cause of so-called winter depression is primarily the reduced sunlight. The longer periods of darkness can cause your hormone balance to become unbalanced, causing you to produce more melatonin and less serotonin. This can then affect your mood.
If you implement our 5 tips during the winter months, you will struggle less with mental depression in the future.
8. Sources
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27553523
[2] http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/time-for-more-vitamin-d
[3] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ricardo_Oliveira13/publication/256296191_AEROBIC_TRAINING_AND_THE_CHANGES_ON_THE_SERUM_LEVELS_OF_SEROTONIN_AND_IN_THE_SYMPTOMS_OF_DEPRESSION_IN_ELDERLY_WOMEN/links/02e7e53167e5459477000000.pdf
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