2025/26 SAD thread

[Idstillratherbepaddleboarding]

It’s 1st September tomorrow so we’re back for another year’s SAD thread.

Welcome all old and new who struggles in the cold and dark months for advice and general moaning!

The only rule is no talk of snuggling under blankets, crunching in leaves (which will realistically be a soggy wet mulch, or pumpkin spiced anything!

Advice from previous years’ threads:

A SAD lamp can help as can a daylight alarm clock.
Try to get outdoors when the weather/ light allows it.
Try to keep up with your exercise routine or start a new one!
Remember to take your vitamin D and multi vitamins.
Try to have something to look forward to.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I'm glad you are feeling a bit more bobulated😀

I hope you all had glimpses of sun today as well.

Feeling ok as very sunny here 😎

I think tomorrow looks grey though.

I'm running out of my years supply of vitamin d3 so I've ordered a higher potency in case it makes a difference.

Same here- a lovely sunny day and such a boost. But I've got the SAD lamp and high strength vit D ( I have a range from 400 up to 4000 depending on my need) ready for the next couple of days

My current supply is 1000 but I've ordered 4000... no idea if it will help the SAD but it's useful to support my system anyway, especially as I'm in peri..

I just came across this post and would like to hop on and join you as I also suffer from SAD.

i started going to the gym and seeing a PT (3 sessions) over the week

…. And i think the extra movement is helping me. I take all my vitamins and supplements daily.

I’m in Scotland and it’s getting dark now around 7.30pm 😔

Welcome @Tulipsinmyvase, we’re not much further south and it’s definitely dark well before 8pm 😭. Someone mentioned the clocks going back the other day which made me feel quite panicked!

Morning all. This week has been so sunny and lovely. I walked 18000 steps yesterday which was a bit much after my lurgy but was good to be out in the sun so much.

May I join you?

I have a SAD lamp but haven't managed to find a routine with it that I can stick to (or it gets buried on my desk and forgotten(

When and fir how long do you use a lamp if you have one?

@Lovingthelighterevenings of course! I use mine for an hour in the morning and when it starts getting dark at half 3, an hour from 3-4. Unfortunately, I’m a desk worker so use it while I’m working.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding

Thank you! Possibly a daft question but do you use your light in an open environment?

When I'm WFH I should be able to do this, but when I'm on site I'm either in an open office (no screens) or in mtgs. I'm not sure how that would work - and by the time I'm home it's 6-7pm which is probably too late for my internal clock. I usually don't have a lunch break, but maybe I can focus on getting 30 mins at my desk with a lamp.

@Lovingthelighterevenings do you mean in the office? I use mine but I try to angle it so that it’s not shining in anyone else’s face. People are usually interested and a few people have bought their own after talking to me about mine! Only one rude woman has made a negative comment about it, but she’s generally difficult anyway!

5-HTP and vitamin D are taken. Sad lamp ordered. Trying to get out on my lunch break for a walk in this glorious sunshine, albeit cold - happy Friday everyone !

It’s a stunning day here too, we enjoyed our lunch time walk in the sunshine ☀️.

It's awful here. Grey and miserable no sun at all.

@Idontknowhatnametochoose same here. It's making me feel tired and low 😞

Yep same. Feel really depressed. It's incredible how the lack of sunlight has such an effect.

It really does. The spring before last nearly did me in despite the longer days. There were weeks after relentless weeks of lowering, scowling grey skies, so much so that I got excited by the merest glimpse of a patch of blue. Damp air, rain and mud, so much mud. On and on and on without let up. Not a trace of a sunset for what I think was months.

I got to the point at which, if I didn't see lighter skies at some point in the very near future, I would have completely lost my shit. Not even bright sunshine, just a bit of blue would have sufficed. It was awful.

I'm set to enjoy the rest of September and October if at all possible: a few bright, golden days. When I really struggle is the time when 5pm daylight disappears, not to return for several months. 5pm seems to be my yardstick in my own head, I'm not sure why.

When the clocks go back is when I really feel it, and from that point on I'll be counting the days to solstice when lighter days slowly begin to return.

November is by far my least liked month on the calendar.

It was going dark at half 6 last night 😭😭. I have to go out tonight and I really don’t want to plus my friend is pressuring me to drink and I don’t want to either. And it would be a bad idea due to my medication increase this week. Why do people think their ability to have a good night is dependent on other people drinking, like why does it matter??

@idontknowhatnametochoose @serafinasGoose

i so agree. My mood can change in an instant when the blue and grey come and go. It's tangible.

It's spirit-crushingly grey here today😫 Horrid! I want to weep and go back to bed.

Hi everyone and welcome @Lovingthelighterevenings and @Tulipsinmyvase and anyone else I've missed.

It's sunny but I am down. I put my workout clothes on this morning but haven't managed it. Did haul my ass outside and make myself drink some tea in the sunshine this morning. And I'll walk to do the school pick up in a bit. Have the phrase just keep swimming in my head playing over and over to try to keep myself moving. It being almost a new month isn't helping my frame of mind.

Only went and decided on a sad lamp to buy and saved some money on amazon warehouse and it turned up looking very worse for wear so I've had to send it back. Need to buy again.

So all in all I seem to be stuck in a pity party for one. I hate being like this. Everything just feels so flipping hard. It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.

Hi all fellow SAD sufferer here.
Sunny here today but I'm recovering from a really horrible cold /cough virus. Didn't sleep well last night due to cough, and poor sleep can send my mood plummeting. Walked the dog for an hour this morning and going to walk her again soon, got a load of laundry on the line too. Berating myself for not getting more things done today though, I had a big list but no motivation aaaargh! 🙁

@mrsdiddlydoo sending sympathy and understanding 💐

@SerafinasGoose I completely get it. I couldn't live in a country that only sees 3 or 4 hours of daylight in the winter. I would probably end up committing suicide.

Lovely blue sky here today. I love looking at the flowers and hedgerows. Even seeing red berries against a blue sky cheers me up.

I’m outside as it’s sunny blue skies and warm in the direct sun. But full of panic at this being the last of these days for hmm eight months or so

Beautiful day in south east, if only winter was full of bright days, yesterday was classic SADS-inducing, low grey cloud and rain, fills me with fear and dread, hope everyone is coping