Your tips for combatting SAD please

[Thecha]

Has anyone found anything that actually helps seasonal affected disorder?

I get this every year, only realised it was a thing about 3/4 years ago. I try to walk to and from work (2 hours) every day as I really enjoy the time to focus my mind, get some sunlight etc but it is, of course, miserable when it is pouring it down and it's an unsafe walk when it is dark out.

I find myself day dreaming about spring already and I am dreading the clocks going back on Sunday.

All I 'look forward to' at work is getting home and pjs on, and while it's nice to be cosy and watch a film in the autumn/winter, the reality is I feel like I just rot.

I do love a hot bath so I think I will order some nice bath bombs etc (any recommendations?) to have a treat to look forward to.

I do have a sunlight lamp which makes getting up in the morning much easier, but I still feel depressed once I'm out of bed.

I find Winter so hard. I take vitamin D , not sure how much that helps.
I'm going to try a SAD lamp on my desk while I work for a few hours a day this year. Just started with it.

@ThePoshUns I also take vitamin D but like you said, not sure if it helps. Please do let me know how you get on with the SAD lamp! Just 157 days until the clocks go forward haha

Vitamin D
Daily outdoor exercise during daylight hours
A sunrise alarm clock
A SAD lamp on desk
Allow yourself to snuggle into the winter but only after a certain time eg 8pm
Antidepressants or St Johns Wort if it affects your mood too

I found that I needed the sun lamp on for a couple of hours daily. I have a Lumie lamp.

Having winter hobbies, boxsets to binge - especially good are programmes with beach or beautiful scenery (Death in Paradise, Ben Fogle, Inspector Montelbano).

Get up/go to bed at the same time, eat healthily, not too many carbs etc...

All that plus a mega dose of vitamin D (as per my doctor's advice as I am dark skinned and work indoors) really helps.

It's shit, isn't it? And not helped by the people who will surely be along shortly to bang on about cosy and snuggling and hot choc under their blankies. Urgh.

You are doing the right thing in walking to work and getting as much light as you can. If you can get out even for 10 minutes at lunchtime that will help too.

A special lamp will also help, mine is like iPad size and shape and you can just have it on near you rather than staring directly into it.

High dose vit D, doesn't have to be an expensive brand, I get mine from Home Bargains, it's less than £4.

Try to plan nice things to do particularly in November which is the worst month as it gets dark so much more quickly. Not necessarily outside things, just things to look forward to.

And finally, just count the days to the solstice. 58 days away, then it will start getting lighter again and by mid-January the light will be really noticeable.

@KnottedTwine
We may have the same lamp?

www.beurer.com/uk/p/60805/

Yes mine looks very similar to that. I use it 15 minutes-ish a day on days when it's too dull outside.

Can you afford a winter sun holiday?

Do you not have any hobbies? Do stuff you enjoy. Baking bread or sweet treats, knitting, crochet, sewing, jigsaws, board games, playing instruments, painting, drawing, yoga, watching films/TV/YouTube.

I suffer with this bad each year (I was just searching on how to combat it and came across this post) I never know when it's going to hit. It's mostly after daylight savings. Sometimes it's after new year. So I have a holiday booked next week. I get out each day for an hour on lunch. Years where it's not been so bad is where I've been getting up for the gym each morning but this year I've fell out of it and crawl out of bed at 8am. It's hit so hard this year.

Anti depressants late Sept to early Jan.suffered for almost 20 years and tried all the things mentioned here but ADs are the only thing that truly work for me.i still use my light box in the morning.I felt really depressed,like I could not get out bed,my legs amd arms felt havey like I was walking trhough mud,crying from around 4.30pm on,not wanting to go out and massive carb cravings.ads stop that and allow me to function almost normally. Still dont like going out when it's dark.

Anti depressants from mid October to mid March. I've never needed them since a particularly bad time in my 20s so I think eliminating as much other stress as possible should help. It was like my life was too hard and I couldn't cope with the lack of light too.