Struggling so much with the endless grey dark weather

Totally hear you OP.

I like the idea of leaning into it with candles and throws, but the reality is I can’t function without decent levels of sunlight. My family have always joked that I’m solar powered, even on a sunny day my mood can sink like a stone if a cloud comes over. SAD lights don’t do it I’m afraid, has to be the real thing.

I’ve learned over the years that winter sun is more important to me than a summer break.

That is really minimising how badly some people are affected by SAD. I expect you think those with mental health issues need to get a grip! If only life was so easy for those affected.

Am in SE and luckily it's the first fully grey day with rain we have really had.
I think we will see that moving North over the next few years, so given climate change you won't have to worry about it soon.

Lumie Vitamin L. It’s about the size of an iPad. Amazon were running deals on them
last week, not sure if it’s still going but might be worth a look.

Yes but it is only just November!

The trees are only just dropping their leaves, they have been beautiful in gold and red for weeks, it's not like it's February and we've had months of dreary grey already. It's been a couple of weeks!

I get it, I do. But if you feel like this this early in the season, you need to get outside more now, before it really does get cold and dark.

And then make your indoors cosy and warm and snuggly with lamps and blankets..

Different thread. Different perspective.

And to think just a few weeks ago we had all the MN trilling about crisp,cold days,tripping gaily through crunchy leaves and long walks in the autumn sunshine to look forward to.🙄

I do a wee intermittent run round my neighbourhood each day trying to improve my Personal Best. Really lifts my mood particularly in winter.

You can’t make it better. It’s seasonal. But it’s pretty mild at the moment so no huge fuel bills,

I am not English. I would have to fly to England first. There are no flights from here between oct and April.

I’m the same OP.

I really do find that vitamin D stops my mood dipping and making sure I am wearing really warm clothes.

I also go for ‘angry walks’ where you start out scowling and cursing the gloom and damp, but after about half an hour the world seems a better place (a good podcast helps) and at the end you get to go inside where it is bright and warm.

Talk of fairy lights, and snuggling under a blankie in your pjs with a hot choccie gives me the ick.

It is today but on Saturday I was still in a tshirt walking the dog in the sun. Where in England are you?

Well in Derbyshire it has been cold wet miserable grey and just horrible all day
A proper foul Monday

I've got a Lumie lamp and find it really helps if I use it each morning

There was a good episode of Sliced Bread on SAD lamps (BBC Sounds).

Where are you in England? Getting outside in daylight (especially for exercise) even on a grey day is the best thing you can do.

Do you have any green/open space near you?

Lumie have been the market leader for a long time, although other brands have jumped on the bandwagon since. I’ve had SAD for 20+ years and my Lumie lamp really helps.

Its been fairly pleasant as November goes here, sure gets dark early but means nights are cosy.

Appreciate i might be a dinosaur but think people with SAD need to grow up a bit.

I will add to the people suggesting a couple of days away abroad somewhere if you can afford it. Not an extreme day trip - that’s a bit daft, but certainly a long weekend away. I favour the south of Spain because of the shorter flight time. It’s something to look forward to and does give a nice boost. Then I keep one of my holiday photos as the screensaver on my phone.

So it would be dark at 5.30pm instead if 4.30pm and darker for an hour longer in the morning? You don't magically get longer daylight hours by moving to BST in the winter

Running has really helped my moods in winter. Lately I've been appreciating the 'nothing days'(as I call them) we've been having, not hot or cold, not really windy, not really rainy, just completely unremarkable weather. It's prefect running weather.

I also have a heated throw, a dog and cross stitch to hunker down with in evenings, that helps too.

My friend does extreme day trips & loves them. Flight outbound is around 6/7am, takes 2.5 hours to get to Spain, spends around 9 hours there then evening flight home. It works for her though I'm not getting up at 3am for anyone!

I heard on a Zoe podcast that the light is about 500x brighter outside (Or something…. But a lot!!) so it’s always good to get out when you can OP… I feel you though

@Namechanged999999 it might be the daftest idea you’ve ever heard but people are doing them, especially if near airports like Stansted . Leave early hours , have around 7 hours at destination and fly home. Not my cup of tea but they are increasingly popular if can get cheap flights. It was simply a suggestion for the OP.

It's not expensive. You can fly Bristol to Lanzarote in Jan and Feb for under £40 return. It's about half the cost of a train from Somerset to London!

Wouldn’t do it myself anyway but I’d be very restricted with flight times. Maybe if near London.