Does the Cold Make You Feel Sad? These Winter Tips Will Make You Smile Again
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!
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.
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