For many people, fall means the start of exciting new things– back to school, the fun harvest season, and the approach of the holidays and the end of the year. For others, however, there’s a creeping dread that begins as summer draws to a close. People who suffer from seasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during the fall and winter months don’t just dislike the cold weather. They struggle with symptoms of serious depression that keep them from feeling happy and fulfilled during the darkest days of the year.
Luckily, not only is this condition incredibly common, it’s also very treatable. If you have seasonal depression, you’re sure to feel a pit in your stomach as you see the first leaves start to fall, but now is the time for you to start building strong routines and making plans that are going to seriously help you when you’re in the depths of the winter blues. These are a few proactive steps you can take today that will help you a few months down the road!
Light Therapy
While seasonal depression and the biological mechanisms that cause some people to have it aren’t fully understood, the theory that it has something to do with lessened light exposure during the winter does carry some weight. Using light therapy to replace the sunlight that you’ve been soaking up during the spring and summer has been known to help many people with SAD, so now is the time to start getting back into the habit!
Dust off your lightbox (or get a new one, if you’ve never tried it before) and try to get in at least 30 minutes per day of exposing your face and eyes to the bright light. Make sure your light therapy sessions are closer to the beginning of the day than the end– using this technique too late at night can mess with your circadian rhythm.
Regular Exercise
People who don’t hate exercise are few and far between, but the sad truth is that as much as it’s no fun to drag yourself out of bed or off the couch and go for a walk or a workout, exercise does have major benefits on your health and wellbeing, not limited to just your physicality. Exercising, especially a regular habit that includes plenty of outdoor time, encourages the production of chemicals in your brain and body that will combat your seasonal depression, making it one of the easiest and most effective treatments out there.
Exercise is easier to maintain (not to mention more impactful) when you’re consistent with it, so early fall is a good time to start building it into your routine while you still have the motivation. Even something as simple as a walk around the block can get you feeling better– not to mention that the time outdoors, even in the cold winter months, will be particularly helpful for your mood and state of mind.
Maintain Connection with Loved Ones
One of the major tenets of depression is feelings of isolation, and it’s thought that the increased loneliness of winter as people hole up inside their warm houses can be one of the factors that leads to seasonal depression. Maintaining connection with the members of your support system, like family, friends, and loved ones, is no easy task, especially today with everyone’s busy schedules. However, it is vitally important to your mental health, especially when you’re prone to seasonal depression.
When you’re in a depressive episode, your motivation and will to do anything is going to be lacking, which is why it’s a good idea to prepare yourself before the winter sets in by making plans with your loved ones that will keep you in touch throughout the season. Planning regular meals together, or scheduling video calls to catch up, could be great ways to ensure that even when you’re not in the mood to arrange something, you’re still getting important connection and quality time with people who make you feel good.
Start Proactive Treatment
If you and your doctor think that your seasonal affective disorder could be helped by antidepressants, therapy, or other depression treatments like transcranial magnetic stimulation, the time to start is not when you begin to feel depressed, but now. You want these treatments to be reaching their maximum efficacy when your depression is starting to ramp up, so early fall is when you’re going to want to get started!
If you’ve struggled to find relief from traditional treatments for seasonal depression in the past, TMS could be the thing that helps you to finally see results. Make sure you contact us here for more information about how we can help you to get through the winter months this year!