It’s almost the winter solstice – the very darkest day of the entire year. During the winter, many people start to find themselves feeling a bit sluggish and low on energy. Often, your mood may be affected – you may feel a little depressed during this time of year. This even has a name – seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
Honestly, there are a lot of reasons people might feel sad around this time of year. Some people may find the holidays a little depressing because of grief – they might miss someone who used to be there to share the holiday season. Others find themselves wishing that they’d had the “perfect” family that they see in movies, and it may hurt that they don’t feel closer to their family. There can be a lot going on.
But one of the reasons that many people feel depressed around this time of year is more of a biological reaction. The lack of sunlight actually impacts the nervous system, causing many people to feel somewhat depressed. I generally experience this myself in the winter.
Why does the winter darkness impact your mood? And more importantly, what can you do to feel better?
How darkness affects the nervous system
Light has a significant impact on the functioning of the nervous system. Let’s take a moment to think about what happens when sunlight hits your eyes.
First, light hits the retina, which is the tissue at the back of the eye that detects light. The retina has a huge number of connections to various parts of the brain. Of course, the eye connects to the visual cortex, which is the area that processes the information and allows you to see. But there’s a lot more to it than that.
The retina also connects directly to the suprachiasmatic nucleus – that’s the region of the brain that governs your circadian rhythm, or your day/night cycle. This area of the brain creates melatonin, which is a hormone that triggers your brain and body to get ready to go into sleep mode.
Bright light suppresses the production of melatonin – it’s normally produced later in the evening, when it’s dark and it’s getting close to bedtime. But in the winter, without so much of that bright light, your brain can make more melatonin. This helps to explain why many people feel so sluggish and low on energy in the winter. You have a lot more melatonin, which makes you feel tired.
More recently, researchers have discovered that the retina connects directly to various parts of the prefrontal cortex. This is the area at the front of the brain, and it’s involved in cognition (thinking and problem solving) and also in mood. It’s believed that these direct connections between the eye and the brain could explain why light has such an impact on mood for many people.
In the winter, you’re getting a lot less light. This means that there’s a lot less stimulation of the pathways that connect the retina to other areas of the brain. That also helps to explain why so many people experience “brain fog” and mood changes in the winter. Areas of the brain related to thinking and mood are not getting enough activation.
We still need more research on the specific effects of light on the brain, but what we know for sure is that how much light you’re exposed to can have a major impact on your mood. So if you’re not getting enough light, what can you do about it? We can’t change how much sunlight there is in our area – but we can use a simple technology to simulate the sun. This is called light therapy.
How light therapy can be helpful
Light therapy uses a light box, which is just what it sounds like – a small box that gives off bright light. You simply sit in front of the light box for a period of time in the morning. The specific amount of time you need depends on how bright your light box is, with brighter lights requiring less time of exposure. You’ll usually need at least 20 minutes each morning.
The light box is small enough to place on your dining room or kitchen table, so the easiest way to use it is to have your breakfast and/or your morning coffee while sitting in front of it.
When you use a light box, it activates the same pathways in your brain that sunlight would normally activate. This is why it’s best to sit in front of the light box in the morning – it helps to reset your brain’s pathways by simulating a bright sunny morning. The bright light prevents the production of melatonin, so you definitely wouldn’t want to use the light box in the evening – this might keep you from falling asleep.
Light therapy is surprisingly powerful. In fact, many studies have shown that it’s as effective as antidepressant medications at relieving symptoms of depression. To be clear, I’m not saying that you should avoid seeking treatment for depression, especially if you have depression that’s not seasonal (meaning you feel depressed all year, not just in the winter). However, it’s also clear that light therapy can have a huge impact on a person’s mental wellness.
For me, I use my light box every morning throughout the winter. I actually have two light boxes, one upstairs and one downstairs. I use the upstairs one to help me feel ready to get out of bed when I wake up in the dark. When my alarm goes off, I turn on the light box for ten minutes, and it gives me the energy I need to get going.
Then I do my morning workout. After that, I grab my cup of coffee and my journal, and I sit in front of the downstairs light box and do a few minutes of journaling. Journaling is a very important part of my morning routine – I’ll talk about this more in a future post, because it’s truly one of the most powerful transformational techniques I’ve ever discovered. During the dark months, I do my journaling in front of the light box for an extra mood and energy boost.
When I spend time in front of the light box on those dark winter mornings, I really can tell the difference in my mental state for the rest of the day. It helps give me energy and gets me going.
Don’t be afraid to seek extra help
If you find that you’re feeling very down during the winter, don’t be afraid to seek professional help with this. Light therapy can make a huge difference – I know that it has for me, and you may want to give this a try too. But many people also benefit from seeing a counselor or a therapist, and some people benefit from medications as well. If you feel that you need more help, don’t hesitate to reach out to someone.
I’m also available for personal health coaching, to help you find ways to optimize your lifestyle to support your mental and physical health. The holiday season can be a particularly challenging time to stay healthy, so you might want some help in creating routines that will work for you. You can get on my calendar here.
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