Does the Cold Make You Feel Sad? These Winter Tips Will Make You Smile Again
Eat a Clementine
This one’s as straightforward as it gets. If you’re having a bad case of SAD, just eat a clementine! Studies have found that this citrusy fruit can improve happiness, and that is not even the whole story.
According to Verv, additional health benefits of eating clementines include consuming immunity-boosting vitamin C, improved dental health, or liver protection. Because they are filled with balmy essential oils, clementines are also great for helping people relax. Oh, and have we mentioned they are delicious?
Focus On at Least One Positive Thing
Yes, it’s easier to smile when you can go to the beach or enjoy a drink with friends in the afternoon. But even if the cold makes you feel like life isn’t worth living, there are plenty of fun things to do during the winter.
Try to focus on at least one positive thing that will happen every day. It could be something as simple as watching your favorite show before going to bed or enjoying a delicious dessert after dinner.
Write Down Your Daily Goals
One thing’s for sure, whether it’s warm or cold outside: nothing makes one feel better than achieving their goals. And one of the best ways of doing so is creating a list of all the things you need to do, regardless of how small or trivial they may seem.
A to-do list will help you keep your daily goals in check, and you’ll feel a burst of happiness every time you scratch an item off the list. It’s like unlocking a small achievement every day!
Finish What You Start
More than a winter tip to fight SAD, this is a life hack one should always keep in mind. Nothing can make a person feel more accomplished and complete than hitting a milestone. When you set a challenge for yourself, isn’t it great to know you’re up to it?
Try to start by challenging yourself with small, achievable things, and work your way up from there. If you’re the type of person who finishes things, there are no limits to what you can do!
Move, Move, and Move!
Exercising takes some work. For the first few days. But once exercise becomes a habit, working out is not only easy and pleasurable but also extremely advantageous for one’s mental health. The list of science-backed benefits is almost neverending, so we’ll just mention a few.
According to NCBI, exercising routinely reduces anxiety, stress, depression, and negative mood while making one feel more confident. Curiously enough, it’s also one of the best ways to keep the brain healthy and enhance cognitive function.
Sleep Is Paramount
There is no doubt that sleeping correctly greatly impacts one’s mental health. Mind.org states that sleep deprivation increases anxiety, depression, and even suicidal tendencies. This means that wintertime and insomnia make for a nasty SAD-inducing combination.
Get a comfy pillow and mattress and sleep more than six hours per night (according to Rise Science, the average sleep requirement is around eight hours and 40 minutes). If that’s not something you can do, aim for a minimum of seven hours per night.
Enjoy a Vacation
If that wintertime SAD is killing you no matter what, the best thing you can do is enjoy a vacation in a warmer place. It is not just because of the sun, either: going on a vacation is generally great for one’s mental health, as per many scientific studies.
According to Alina Health and APA Divisions, traveling is a major stress-relieving activity because it takes people away from the environments they most commonly associate with stress, peer pressure, sadness, and anxiety.
Chase the Sun
According to WebMD and NCBI, exposure to sunlight boosts both the body’s vitamin D supply and the release of serotonin. So, if you’re feeling winter-sad, that’s probably because your brain is missing both of these chemicals. That is why it’s so important to “chase” the sun, especially during office hours.
If you can, move your workstation next to a window and enjoy the little sun that wintertime has to offer. At home, try to keep the curtains open at least until nighttime.
Find a New Place
The modern lifestyle philosopher Natalie Wise believes that one of the best ways of beating SAD is to add something new to your life. She recommends taking a break of at least half an hour to go to a new place for the first time, even if it’s a place as simple as a coffee shop you don’t usually go to.
If your friends are not in on the plan, just do it alone—perhaps in the “company” of a good book.
Write Positive Notes to Yourself
Writing positive notes to yourself is one of the best ways of fooling your sun-deprived brain into believing there’s no reason to feel sad. Place the notes around the house, preferably next to objects that you use every day: the fridge, the kitchen cabinet, the bathroom mirror, and so forth.
House notes are great for reminding yourself of things you have to do, but isn’t being happy everyone’s top priority? Surround yourself with the quotes and ideas you need in your life.
See the Best in You
It can be a nightmare to wake up early in the morning and go to work when it’s freezing outside. If you wake up feeling sad, just look at yourself in the mirror and think of all the things you value in your physical appearance and personality.
When you’re feeling blue, all you have to do is remind yourself of how wonderful of a person you are. When the world outside looks so negative, it helps to be positive about oneself.
Listen to Your Mom
We don’t mean “listen to your mom” as in “listen to her advice”—even though you should also do that! What we mean is that literally listening to your mom’s voice can engage a variety of brain circuits, reduce stress, and give you a mood boost (as reported by Stanford Med and other outlets).
According to the alternative medicine system of Ayurveda, hearing your mom’s voice can also have a “reassuring and bonding” effect. So, what are you waiting for? Just give your mom a call!
Help Someone Else
Relating to another human being is a powerful feeling, and you’re surely not alone in winter depression. According to Cleveland Clinic’s website, 5% of adults in the United States suffer from SAD, and up to 20% experience a mild form of it.
So, next time the cold makes you feel blue, why don’t you reach out to a friend, family member, or neighbor who might be feeling the same way? You can find comfort in each other and fill that wintertime void.
Green Your Space
Our surroundings can have a crucial impact on the way we feel, and that’s why it’s so important to redecorate the house for winter. You don’t have to be an interior-design expert: all you need is to buy some house plants for your kitchen and living room.
According to Thrive, multiple studies have asserted that “all plants provide mental health benefits.” House plants can not only increase the quality of the air but also make us feel calmer. Oh, and have we mentioned they look gorgeous in any room?
Eat Food With Tryptophan
Trypto-what, you ask? Well, tryptophan is an amino acid used in the biosynthesis of proteins that’s also responsible for synthesizing serotonin (you know, that chemical that makes your brain feel good). Tryptophan is great for people struggling with the wintertime blues, and the best part is that you can actually eat it!
Tryptophan is present in many day-to-day foods, including milk (which is one of the biggest sources of tryptophan), eggs, cheese, nuts, turkey, chicken, salmon, oats, seeds, or canned tuna.
The Power of Music
Even though SAD is driven by environmental factors (the simplest of which is the absence of sunlight), it’s fundamentally caused by what’s happening in our brains at a chemical level. Luckily, it turns out music is the perfect medicine for keeping our brains in check.
Music releases dopamine and oxytocin and lowers our cortisol levels (cortisol is also known as the “stress hormone”). For this reason, it’s the perfect all-in-one solution for a sad winter day. All good songs should do, but some are more effective than others.
Find Your Perfect Morning Song…
Starting the day on a positive note is one of the best ways of avoiding SAD. And what better way to say “good morning” than by listening to a jolly song? According to WebMD, music can make one feel happier and reduce stress levels; that’s why there’s even music therapy for people suffering from depression.
We searched online, and Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me,” Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” Bad Religion’s “Walk Away,” and The Beatles’ “Help” are some of the tried-and-tested tunes that can help you get through.
…And Hum to It
As soon as you find that powerful song that gets you through the day, you should try to sing along to it to feel even better. A 2012 Evolutionary Psychology study asserted that the performance of music could make one feel more positive and confident.
If you’re not a talented musician, don’t worry: just humming along, even if out of tune, should be enough to kick those nasty wintertime blues away. Sing your heart away anytime you can, even if you have to do it while in the shower.
Dress to Impress (Yourself)
We do not doubt that putting on that special-occasion outfit and getting all dolled up can lift our mood. So, why do we only do it a few times per year? If you’re feeling down one particular winter morning, kiss goodbye to your comfy jeans and put on that dress or tuxedo you always wear to fancy parties.
You’ll feel more beautiful, more powerful, and like life’s a little bit less dull. The best part is that the people around you will respond positively to your killer outfit too.
Watch or Listen to Something Funny
There’s no doubt that the wintertime is great for watching sad movies. But why don’t you try something different to beat those rainy-day blues? If SAD is getting on your nerves, the best thing you can do is tune in to your favorite comedy movies, TV series, and podcasts.
According to Neuro Leadership, laughing swaps the cortisol in our bloodstream, causing the release of brain chemicals such as dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin. These can enhance motivation and make you feel more alive.
Be Kind to Others
It’s super important to be kind to oneself, but being kind to others is also a great way of fighting SAD. According to the Mental Health Foundation, acts of kindness can “boost feelings of confidence, being in control, happiness, and optimism.”
Giving compliments to others is also one of the best ways of working towards a happier community. When the people you spend time with it feel good about themselves, it becomes a lot easier to feel good about yourself.
Return to a Happy Place
Cortisol—also known as the “stress hormone”—can increase anxiety and turn our lives into a nightmare. But recalling happy memories is great for reducing cortisol levels, as established by a Nature Human Behaviour study.
Next time you feel that the wintertime depression is coming, just look at old pictures from that special vacation or re-watch a home video from when you were younger. You will feel even better if you do it in the company of a friend or family member.
Go Tech-free For a Day
It’s amazing to be able to contact friends anywhere at any time using our phones and the Internet. But the use of modern-day technology is linked to higher anxiety levels and can sometimes make us unhappy. If you feel like life’s just getting too intense, try t go tech-free for a day or even a whole weekend.
Going offline can be a stressful experience on its own (the fear of missing out is real!), but it’s also incredibly liberating if you just let it go.
Take a Stroll
We have already established that exercising routinely is one of the best methods for fighting the wintertime blues. But doing something as simple as walking can be as effective as sweating away at the gym. According to WebMD, walking is a boost-lifting activity because it increases blood flow and blood circulation.
Some experts even believe that a nice morning stroll is the best, most accessible, and most complete type of exercise. Additional benefits include heart disease prevention and increased energy levels.
Surround Yourself With Positive People
Well, this one’s almost a given, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless. When you’re feeling down, and the cold is getting on your nerves, calling that friend who’s always ready to have fun can be a great idea. If you’re feeling negative, the best is to avoid other negative people and go for a happy dose of positivity.
Some people just have this inner positive energy that can contaminate others (in a good way). Keep your always-happy friends in check, and give them a call when you’re feeling blue.
Correct Your Posture
We don’t know about you, but nothing gets us seasonally depressed quite like waking up with back pain on a cold winter morning. The fix for this issue? Trying to maintain a correct posture at all times.
Here are some MedlinePlus tips: keep your shoulders back, let your arms hang down naturally, keep your shoulder and feet parallel, and pull your stomach in. When sitting down: keep your back straight, and remember that your posterior should touch the back of the chair.
Get a Furry Best Friend…
If you have friends who are truly depressed, the best thing you can do for them is to get them a dog. Man’s best friend isn’t just cute; it’s therapeutic! Outlets such as Heart.org reported that studies show that dogs are fantastic for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression.
But there’s more: dogs provide their owners with a feeling of responsibility, which inevitably makes them have a more active life. Finally, they’re the ideal solution for the problem of loneliness, especially prevalent among senior citizens.
…Or Watch Furry Friends Online
If you’re struggling with a bad case of SAD, but you don’t have room for a dog in your apartment, there’s a much more affordable and temporary alternative: watching videos of cute pets on the Internet! It turns out everyone’s favorite addiction is good for the brain.
It’s a fact backed by science and shared by outlets such as CBC and CNN. Animal videos trigger positive emotional responses and increase the deliverance of feel-good hormones such as oxytocin. They’re great for passing the time too!
Smell The Daisies
A beautiful natural landscape can improve your mood. So does a happy song. But if our eyes and ears can make us feel happier when stimulated, why not our nose? Surrounding ourselves with lovely scents is not only useful for keeping our nostrils busy, but it’s also great for fighting SAD.
Smells experienced in nature are verified stress-relievers (as per Open Access Government’s website), but a candle with a relaxing fragrance (like lavender and vanilla) should also do the trick.
Find a New Recipe – And Make It!
Doesn’t creating new things make you feel better? To kiss goodbye to wintertime sadness, why don’t you find a new, exciting recipe and attempt to do it at home? It’s not just a productive way of keeping busy but also a treat for your taste buds.
The best part is that making a new recipe is the perfect excuse for inviting some friends or family members over. The only thing better than creating something new is to share it with the ones you love the most.
Sign Up for a Yoga Class
Not all trends are worth following, but yoga is so beneficial for one’s health that we’re pretty sure it’s not going anywhere. If you’re feeling blue this winter, maybe it’s time to listen to your yoga-fanatic friends and sign up for a class. According to the American Osteopathic Association, the mental health benefits of yoga include increased body awareness, improved concentration, stress relief, mental relaxation, and mental clarity and calmness.
It’s also great for stimulating the release of feel-good chemicals such as endorphins and gamma-aminobutyric acid.
Paint the Walls a Happy Color
Did you know that colors can impact our mood? Some experts believe that white spaces in winter can make us feel more isolated, and recommend painting the walls around the house with new, happy colors.
What are happy colors? Well, most sources agree that yellow is the color of “happy, joyful emotions,” while blue is great for relieving stress. Pastel colors can also have a positive effect on our brains, and, as an extra, they look great in any modern house!
Dress The Part
We know that black, brown, and dark-blue clothes look fashionable in any season, but adding more color to your wardrobe can be one of the most stylish ways of beating SAD. As we’ve established, color can impact one’s mood, meaning it’s a good idea to invest in a bright yellow, pink, or orange jacket/sweater.
When the entire world around you looks grey and grim, why should you dress accordingly? Kiss goodbye to winter depression by spicing up your monochromatic wardrobe.
Fix Those Tiny Annoying Issues
There’s always that one thing around the house that keeps getting on our nerves, whether it’s a messy pantry, a broken remote control, or a leaky faucet. Small as they are, these ongoing issues do have an impact on our mood and can potentiate SAD.
But why don’t you tackle these tiny annoying issues once and for all instead of continuing to ignore them? You will feel renewed as soon as you finally fix those little problems that have been bothering you for ages.
The Gift of Giving
According to ThinkHealth, studies have asserted that people who give back have “better mental health outcomes” than people who don’t. This means that offering something to someone is an excellent way of making yourself feel better!
With this in mind, why not try making some homemade cookies and give them away for free to neighbors, friends, and family members? Giving gifts to others is great because it establishes empathy between the person giving the gift and the person receiving it.
Don’t Be a Resentful Person
“Don’t be a resentful person”—that’s easy enough to say, but way harder to do! Even though resentment isn’t directly linked to any specific mental health condition, it does impact one’s happiness and quality of life in ways that can lead to SAD.
To fight resentment and work towards more authentic and meaningful relationships, you must speak your mind! Again, this isn’t easy. But the trick is not to let things slide; if someone did something that bothered you, just let them know the truth.
Breathe Anxiety Away
It’s amazing: we spend our lives breathing, but we hardly think about it. Unsurprisingly, though, breathing correctly can have a positive impact on our mental health and make us feel more positive during wintertime.
When you’re feeling anxious, the best thing you can do is breathe calmly. According to Diversus Health, deep breaths send signals to our brains that “tell” our bodies to relax. This is more than a great winter tip for happiness: it is a go-to solution whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Get an Activity Calendar
“Make something new every day”—now that’s a well-known secret to happiness! However, it’s not easy to come up with a new challenge every day. Luckily, an activity calendar should help anyone get the inspiration to do something new daily.
There are many types of activity calendars around, and they always have a new daily suggestion for you in-store. Trying to do everything the calendar wants can be exciting—stepping out of your comfort zone is a good way of having fun and increasing self-confidence.
Eat a Clementine
This one’s as straightforward as it gets. If you’re having a bad case of SAD, just eat a clementine! Studies have found that this citrusy fruit can improve happiness, and that is not even the whole story.
According to Verv, additional health benefits of eating clementines include consuming immunity-boosting vitamin C, improved dental health, or liver protection. Because they are filled with balmy essential oils, clementines are also great for helping people relax. Oh, and have we mentioned they are delicious?
Reconnect With an Old Friend
Have you ever thought about an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while and felt sad? That happens to everyone. But if you’re missing someone from your past, why don’t you go ahead and send him or her a text message?
We know it can be stressful to reach out to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. But what’s the worse thing that can happen? Strong social connections are one of the core principles of a happy life.
Get Organized!
In an article brilliantly titled “The unbearable heaviness of clutter,” The New York Times reported on how clutter can induce a psychological response. Increased levels of cortisol make us feel more stressed, meaning that keeping things organized is a good way of avoiding SAD.
Organizing takes some energy, but it’s worth it! Start by cleaning the things that matter, like your office’s desk, living room, or kitchen. This tip will not only make you feel happier but also more productive.
Snap a Selfie
Not all people are into selfies, but some scientific studies have concluded that taking selfies can enhance one’s mood. The news was shared in outlets such as Hey Sigmund and Psychreg, and—remarkably—taking selfies can make one feel happier even if he or she is faking a smile!
We know: this one sounds a bit strange… But why don’t you try it out? Who knows? Maybe a selfie with a friend is all you need to beat those nasty wintertime blues!
Smile – Even if You Don’t Want To!
In the same way that taking selfies (even if you don’t want to) can trick your brain into believing you’re happy, so does putting on a fake smile. Fake smiles have a bad reputation, but it’s always better to pretend to be smiling than to feel those wintertime blues coming.
It turns out that all kinds of smiles (even fake ones) can positively impact the mood of the person smiling. This surprising scientific finding was reported in a CNBC article after publication in the Experimental Psychology journal.
Find a Movie/TV Show That Speaks to You
It’s not just the lack of sunlight: all sorts of problems can make one feel blue during the coldest months of the year. But why not push SAD away by finding a movie or TV show you can relate to and finding solace in it?
Google should help you find what you need. For example: if you’re going through a bad breakup, why don’t you search “best movies and tv shows about breakups?” It can be beneficial to watch stories of people who have similar problems.
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