SAD winter support thread

[AutumnScream]

Apologies i can't find last years threads but they were a massive help checking in or just reading how everyone was doing day to day to get through the difficulty of winter. So many of us suffer from SAD and no amount of hyge and cosyness makes up for it.

Hello, so happy to see a thread like this!
Even though I should expect it now, every year it creeps up on me. This year I'm using my lightbox, upped my vitamin d dose. I'm failing miserably at getting the motivation to go out for walks even though I know it'll help. I'm trying to cut back on sugar and processed food as I know it helps me... But again failing because they're all I want to eat. However, trying to focus on the positives rather than failings as much as possible!

Get her a sad light if he doesn't already have it.
Check vitamin d levels
Encourage her to get outside at least once a day, eat vaguely healthy and to exercise. I go from doing all of that in summer to basically lying in the dark eating carbs crying 😂 and I feel so so so much better when I actually do the above but it's very very hard

Absolutely, vitamin D, as much outdoors and sunlight as possible once a day or a sad lamp and talking really helps if she has anyone she can talk to even anonymous online if she wants to join here under an anon name that even you dont know! Or there may be other forums online to help or real life friends.

I had a really bad sleep last night and was awake between 2-4am after waking up then was up again at 5.30 and 7 and just cant sleep.

Have a headache today as well so that's annoying me. On the plus side i have a day off. Im supposed to go to a book club tonight as i havent been since the pandemic but honestly i just cba with it anymore. Its because its on so late in the evening and i hate travelling there now. But i keep promising to go back.

I’m in for the winter, absolutely hate the dark and the cold, have zero motivation and an injured knee. Urgh. Sending solidarity

I’m struggling massively this week too. I’ve got a nasty cough/ cold straight off the back of covid and I feel awful! The nights seem to have drawn in really quickly and the light is gone by 3pm (we live way up north). It’s been torrential rain all week so although the dog still needs walking every day, it’s been more of a muddy trudge and we haven’t walked for as long as we should. I haven’t been able to exercise either due to feeling so ill. The worst thing about mental illness is that the things that really help you are the things you want to do the least. I know if I take my vitamins, I’ll perk up a bit but I can’t even find the motivation to get up and get them. It’s such a simple thing! I’m going to force myself to do it now.

I took on a new role at work in April and I hate it so much, there’s more WFH and I’m so isolated. DH also started a new job in June and he is so stressed so we’re juggling at each other more. I have a new job with the probation service which I’m so ready for but the vetting process takes 3 months 😵. I’ve massively checked out of my current role and I spend a lot of the time just staring at my computer screen, which is no good when I have loads to do.

The cost of living crisis is also triggering my disordered eating, even though we seem to be on an even keel this month. It’s all about control for me and the world seems so out of control at the moment. That’s probably for another thread though, sorry for the massive rant!

@Strangerthings4NW my best tips are: a sad lamp, strong vitamins, exercise and a weighted blanket for sleeping under. Is she on medication?

I’m really feeling it this week, I just want to do very little, stay in bed or on the sofa and eat carbs. it’s like I never fully wake up
from sleep. SAD lamp at my desk (wfh) takes the edge off but not fully, despite having it on until mid afternoon.

I am going to try to get myself out to walk the dog at lunchtime (DP in office so can’t palm it off onto him), I know it will do me good but I feel so resistent!

Is this just a latent hibernation reflex? Maybe it hung on longer for some of us….

Thanks for the link

I know what I should be doing, SAD lamp, daily walks, vitamins, but I have no motivation to do these things.

Yes I totally get this, last week I had zero motivation to do any of the things I know I need to do. Doesnt mean every week will be like that though, this week I gave myself a massive Kick up the bum and got to the gym, it has helped. Just need to get those vitamins down my throat now, for some reason I find that hard!!

The only thing you can do is force yourself 😖.

I’m at the end of my tether today with work 😭. I’d honestly go off sick if I didn’t need a health check for my new job, which will really help with my mental health.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding I really contemplated calling in sick today but didn't. I just worked from bed woth the curtains closed blocking out the dull weather.

I'm off work tomorrow so may take my little one for a walk. As odd as it sounds, she always seems better in the summer then winter, I wonder if she picks up on my moods.

Hello everyone, I'm just checking in. It's so dark when I'm driving home now, it just feels really different.

I'm so cold tonight! I know it's mild for November but trying not to put the heating on too often and the house is chilly - I'm in tracky bottoms, thermal socks, sheepskin slipper, and I've got a jumper under a hoodie under a cardie and I'm still cold!!

Sorry to see everyone struggling already and only in November:(

I now have a cough after everyone at work kindly came in with flu symptoms and kept coughing around me all week. Feel like i may end up with a chest infection. Headachey and cold today as well so feeling pretty miserable. With dss all day and i can't even be bothered to take him out anywhere so we will stay in.

I agree, I feel like my eyes are straining to get more light in by 3pm 😭.

Hi OP

Thank you for this thread. I think I'm suffering from depression or anxiety related symptoms (never diagnosed) and have done on and off for years but never really pursued in getting any help, as back then I was naive and thought I was just having a 'bad' week and it would noticeably get worse during winter. Now, I'm really struggling with the shorter days and darker periods. The thought of trying to go to sleep makes me feel sick!

I'm not too sure what helps me as of yet, but I do enjoy listening to podcasts. One being 'Life Changing' by BBC radio 4. X

@LillyK hi what you’ve written resonates with me too, I always tell myself oh it’s just a bad patch. Thanks for the podcast recommendation by the way, I’ve just looked it up, looks good.

I don't have a SAD lamp, but I find even the difference in normal lighting indoors is astonishing.

It is a gloomy damp and miserable day here today, yet when I went into the kitchen and put the lights on my day and mental health brightened up considerably (we had a new kitchen installed earlier this year and had some really bright under cupboard lights installed. I wish we had done this earlier).

Coming back into the house yesterday evening after a meeting at someone's dimly lit house made me feel more cheerful as we have much brighter lights.

I am very short sighted and need good light to see well in so that is also a factor for me.

Hi all.

Went for a walk today with two of my close friends. I found getting some exercise and direct sunlight has made a world of difference to my mood. Was very dubious as to whether sunlight makes a difference but bloody hell it definitely does! Still do not feel 100% but much better than I did Thursday and Friday.

Have a lovely week everyone x

www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/overview/

@LillyK it is thought that lack of light is a key factor in SAD rather than temperature. I suppose it makes sense from an evolutionary point of view really as when we lived in caves, we’d hunker down and sleep more in winter. I’ve noticed my dog has been sleeping more since the clocks went back.

I've had a cough too AutumnScream. After a week of poor sleep and constant irritation I gargled with salt water 4x a day and after a day it was much improved. It might be coincidence of course, but it worked for me.

Happy Monday everyone. I've got a big work deadline this week and am going away at the weekend, as an incentive. At any other time of the year it would be an incentive but when I'm sad it feels like another thing I have to do, more of a burden, when all I really want to do is lie under the duvet and consume vast quantities of carbs.

Today I'm going to spend an hour outside at lunchtime to try and get some better light. What is everyone else going to do this week to keep going?

Well I forced myself out to the gym this morning after the school run. Did a bit on the treadmill and had a swim. But coming back home my mood just plummeted again! The dog needs a walk now and I'm trying to motivate myself to get out with her. It's partly that I know I've got loads of housework to do when we get home, In summer thats no problem, now? well now I can't bear it!!

I can’t bear another week sitting in front of this computer. I just can’t do it 😭😭😭.