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.

That sounds awful @MadameSzyszkoBohusz. I’m finding listening to sleep hypnosis tracks on Spotify helps me to fall asleep in minutes.

I’be also had 3 hours sleep as I didn’t get in from our night out until 2:30 and the dog got me up before 6 😭😭😭. He’s now gone back to sleep now he’s cuddled up with his mum 🙈. Here’s a pic of the offender to show that I can’t be mad at him!

@MadameSzyszkoBohusz
hope your day goes well and isn’t too stressful.

Well I got through it, and I'm home now.

I’ve bought a SAD lamp from Amazon for £29.99 and it certainly see to help. I’ve advised others to buy them in the past and they have helped them but now it my turn. I think just about every is affected adversely by the climate at this time of year but, for those of us who have a tendency towards depression, it can be enough to tip us over to a depressive episode.

Hi can I join in.
I've had SAD for over 35 yrs.got a lamp but it was so bright it made me feel angry.
I may get a sunrise alarm clock.
I've been motivated as I got a new job.
Today was one of the worst though as I felt shattered and irritable for one of the worst ones this year.
I cancelled plans.
Always feel normal again in March.
I do take bit d now though.

@whatisforteamum of course you’re welcome! Does your SAD lamp have different brightness settings? Mine has 3 and I have to use it on the lowest setting or it is very bright!

The weather is horrible here today, pouring rain 🙁 I need to get the dog out, but even she looks unimpressed.
Work txt me to see if I wanted an extra shift today (I’m a day off) but I said no, I feel bad but I just couldn’t face it.

@MissyB1 poor you, it’s fine here but bitterly cold, windy and the fields are very waterlogged, my black lab considered this perfect conditions for zoomies round the field 😂 as he doesn’t cope well in heat being black.

I dunno what’s up with me but I feel super calm and zen today, maybe it’s all the dancing I did on Saturday night. I know that’s a good thing but it’s unnerving when I’m used to feeling miserable 😂.

I'm also in the cold and very wet bit of the country, and I'm properly furious about it. I'm actually, physically, viscerally raging at the weather. That's not normal, is it? I felt actually murderous on the school run earlier.

Does everyone else feel exhausted? I find the cold and darkness so bloody tiring!

Well the weather was grim today! Poured down and i wore trainers to work!

Is everyone taking high dose vit D? I ran out of my vitamins and have vit d in the drawer i need to start taking.

British gas wont send an engineer to fix our gas until December so stressed.

I also have less than three months to find a job until baby arrives and its terrifying but my job is screwing me over and will not give me more hours other than occasional sickness cover plus everyone had flu two weeks ago and brought it in to me.

Is anyone else trying to walk or exercise more? I want to start yoga or pilates and am trying to walk more each day although im still eating pure junk food.

I'm exhausted and keep having to nap all the time. I can't tell if I'm just tired or poorly or if it really is SAD. I'm going to start using my Lumie light again - it's ridiculously bright, but I think I only need to use it for an hour or so. I need to exercise more as well, but I just CBA.

I take 4 vitamin D tablets and an effervescent multivitamin (when I remember 🙈). It does really help to give me some energy! I have to exercise daily or I get really jittery and restless and I have to walk the dog come rain (this afternoon) or shine (this morning).

Does anyone start feeling anxious once it gets dark?

Look at his little face!!! 😍😍😍

Dumb question is it safe to take 4 vit D tablets a day?

@AutumnScream umm I think so because they’re only supermarket ones and you can buy the equivalent strength as 1 tablet but they’re much more expensive!

@Tinkerbellflowers I don’t get anxious, just so tired I could just fall asleep, at 4pm 🙈.

Really feeling it today. Weather just so miserable and DD not sleeping again. At work with the curtains closed and a blanket over me. All I want to do is sleep. One of those days where nothing seems to be going right.

I do a Pilates class once a week and it definitely helps. Its necessary for me anyway as this weather makes me so stiff! I get really bad upper back / shoulder pain in the cold.
Dh and I do big countryside walks at the weekend, although deep mud will start to become more and more of an issue soon.

Oh thats interesting i knew boots do a high strength vitamin d tablet as well as a normal strength one.

I have no motivation to be active at the moment which is a bit rubbish.

I had my worst day so far yesterday. I'd had a work event on the Thursday night and I was so completely drained. I genuinely thought I would have to go home, I had nothing left in me to give. Then we had a bit of a crisis which I'm glad about in a way as I just had to shake it off and get on with it.

I can really relate to this. I watch a lot of Place in the Sun and crave sunlight all the time.
Our house is North facing and in the winter the sun doesn’t even reach the garden. I become really very depressed every Winter. If the sun doesn’t shine I feel suicidal. I did get a SAD lamp a few years ago but it only has one setting and hurts my eyes.

I’m struggling to sleep, this weather makes my joints ache and achey knees we’re keeping me awake the last two nights. I was horrible this morning, ds couldn’t find some of his football kit or his water bottle 🙄 and I lost the plot completely. I just can’t get my emotions on an even keel without sunshine! 🙁

Im sorry the work event sounded stressful and exhausting. Did you stay for the whole thing?

My flat is full of mould so im going to have to scrub everywhere with bleach and mould spray this week when i find time between interviews for a 2nd job. How has 2022 turned into such a shit show.

I had to stay, it was my event. It was a great night but the impact the next day was ridiculous.

I'm trying to plan lovely weekends as I know plans get me though, but that usually means paying out in some way and EVERYTHING is so expensive right now!

On the plus side, we are going into Dec, and Christmas always boosts my mood, I love Christmas.

I have a Sunrise alarm clock, a SAD lamp at home that I eat my breakfast in front of, and one at my desk. My office has no windows so I need it. I went into a different office on Friday and the sun was shining in and it felt so warm, I just sat there for a few mins soaking it in. 🥰