Natural Approaches to Your Winter Mental Health

Mental health is so important for overall well-being.  Your mental health symptoms may become physical as well – putting stress on your body, mood, and emotions.  Between pandemic fatigue, seasonal depression, and social isolation, there are already records numbers of Americans struggling with mental wellness.  How can we keep ourselves out of a rut and provide self-care in large doses?  As many know, exercise, a healthy diet and supplements can help tremendously.  Hygge, long practiced in northern Scandinavian countries that see little sunlight in the winters, works wonders.   Here are a few more ways to boost your mood and help cope with depression and other mental health issues.

What is depression?

Feeling depressed is not just a week or two of sadness, it is a serious medical illness that affects how you think, act and feel. Depression can cause negative outcomes in your life including losing interest in the things you once loved, decreased appetite and energy, and can prevent you from functioning at work.

Types of depression

• Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Persistent depressive disorder
• Postpartum depression
• Psychotic depression
• Bipolar depression

Depression symptoms

Symptoms that last for two weeks or more can indicate depression:

• Feeling sad
• Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed
• Weight loss or weight gain
• Food cravings
• Loss of energy
• Increased fatigue
• Sleeping difficulties
• Oversleeping
• Feeling guilty or worthless
• Hopelessness
• Difficulty thinking or concentrating
• Difficulty making decisions
• Weakened immunity
• Thoughts of death or suicide.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is like depression but usually happens in the winter months when there is less sunlight.  Known as “winter depression” or the “winter blues”, this kind of depression can also happen in the summer months for people that live in places that are too hot and have to avoid the sun.  Winter depression lifts during spring and summer.  The most common symptoms are increased sleep, social withdrawal, low energy, and weight gain.  General depression symptoms as mentioned before are also experienced and vary from person to person.

Seasonal depression can be caused by an imbalance in your circadian rhythm due to a lack of sunlight. Lower serotonin levels and disrupted melatonin levels in your body.  In addition, those who live far from the equator, have depression already, or have a family history of depression are more often diagnosed with SAD.

Natural Approaches to Seasonal Depression

Light therapy

Many people with seasonal depression do not produce enough vitamin D. We produce vitamin D in our bodies with sunlight – which is decreased in the winter months. Light therapy helps to increase the sunlight we get:

• Wake up early and take a walk every winter morning when there is a bright light.
• Create a sunroom in your house and try to spend time in it every day.
• Use a lightbox with at least 10,000 lux for about  half an hour to an hour each morning.

The “Sunshine” Vitamin

Your body cannot produce vitamin D without adequate amounts of sunlight.  Many Americans have a deficiency of vitamin D levels. Vitamin D supplementation can improve all types of depression and help reduce the risk of autoimmune disease, bone disease, cancers, and cardiovascular disease.  Very few foods have vitamin D and some are only fortified with it such as milk and cereals. Foods that are a good source of vitamin D include salmon, herring, sardines, cod liver oil, egg yolks, and mushrooms. The recommended daily value is 1,000 IU of vitamin day if you do not get enough sunlight.

Stay active

You may be super active during the spring and summer months and then find yourself less active in the autumn and winter. Depression can make you feel even less motivated to exercise. Try to commit to exercising a few times a week and change up your routine. Take that new yoga class or pick-up basketball at your local recreation center. In addition, exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight, possibly reducing the weight gain common with SAD.

Talk about it

• Talk to your doctor, SAD is a form of depression and is best diagnosed by a mental health professional.
• Regularly see a therapist, you may find that talking to someone professional may help – many therapists are offering teletherapy and many insurances are covering these medical costs
• Talk to friends and family, you may feel better after getting some of your feelings out in the open
• Keep a journal and talk about it on paper

Supplements and herbs for winter depression

• Maca – reduce depression, anxiety, and stress.
• Vitamin C – supports normal immune function.
• Zinc – supports mental functions and depression has been associated with low levels of blood zinc.
• SAM-e or S-adenosylmethionine – boost mood (caution: SAM-e should not be taken with anti-depressants).
• St. John’s Wort – antidepressant affects.
• Medicinal mushrooms, i.e. reishi, maitake, and Chaga – boosts the immune system.
• Echinacea – boosts the immune system.
• Rhodiola and Ashwagandha – adaptogenic herbs for stress.
• Kava root – reduce anxiety.
• Gingko Biloba – reduce anxiety and stress.

Practice Hygge

If you have not heard of this Danish concept of hygge (pronounced hoo-ga), you will soon.  You may have heard that people in Denmark are among the happiest in the world and experiencing hygge during the winter months is part of the reason why.  “Hygge is such an important part of being Danish that it is considered “a defining feature of our cultural identity and an integral part of the national DNA,” according to Meik Wiking, the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

Hygge comes from the Norwegian word for “well-being” and describes the part of Danish culture of warm and cozy lifestyle since the 1800’s. Stay indoors all day and relax.

• Curl up with a good book.
• Put down your phone.
• Invite friends over for a Netflix binge – don’t forget the hot chocolate!
• Keep things simple and do things that bring you joy and comfort in the winter months.
• Create a hygge atmosphere in your home – bake a sweet treat, drink some mulled wine, and light some candles.
• Knit a huge blanket or sweater (store-bought is fine) and snuggle up with it.

Discover how to practice grounding

Also known as earthing, is one of the best ways a human can connect themselves to earth and invite nature into your well-being.  It may sound odd, but something as simple as walking barefoot on some grass or sand can be an incredibly healing practice.  Ecotherapy which is grounding as healing can improve mental health, boost self-esteem, reduce social isolation, reduce anxiety, and improve physical health.  Of course, in the winter months going barefoot isn’t usually an option, but there are a few ways you can incorporate earthing into your day:

• Get some houseplants and spend some time touching them, talking to them, and caring for them.
• Open the curtains – let the sunshine in and better yet take a walkout in the sun.
• Play in the snow – go sledding, skiing, or just have a snowball fight with your kids.
• Light candles – the element of fire is a big part of nature – meditate while watching the flame and connect to it.
• Soak in the tub – water is part of nature as well, take a long bath and focus on how the water feels around you.
• Eat earthy foods – such as turnips, pumpkin, beets, and potatoes – cook them slowly.
• Take a vacation – to a warmer climate where you can go barefoot.

Meditate

Meditation is a practice where someone uses a technique and trains the mind to focus or use mindfulness to gain awareness and calmness. The word meditation is from the Latin word meditation, which means “to think, contemplate, devise, ponder.” However, because there are so many different traditional uses and approaches to meditation, it has been difficult to concretely define.

According to Yoga International, “Meditation is a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is different from the normal waking state.” It is a time to feel awakened inward, silent the mind, and focus on your internal world rather than the external.

The benefits of mediation include:

• Reduces depression and anxiety
• Natural stress relief
• Decreases pain symptoms
• Improves sleep.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a traditional use of plant extracts for holistic healing to help improve wellness in the body, mind and spirit.  Some of the best essential oils for depression include:

• Atlas cedarwood – from an evergreen tree native to the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Cedarwood has been used for thousands of years by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. It is often used while meditating during moments of chaos because it helps dispel negativity, grounds one, and helps bring the focus inward.
• Clary sage – is made from an herb in north Africa since the 4th century BCE. Clary sage is used for stress relief and is perfect for times of emotional turmoil, exhaustion, and when work is causing you to be burned-out. A good choice for nearing a year into a world pandemic.
• Lavender – an ancient herb used for calming properties to relieve anxiety, improve mood, promote relaxation and decrease stress.
• Wild ginger – has been found to have antidepressant properties and may slow the release of stress hormones.

Whichever approaches you to embrace during your mental health wellness journey, remember to be kind to yourself and understand that sometimes it just will take one day at a time to feel better and get closer to the end of the winter.  Always consult your healthcare practitioner if you are experiencing depression symptoms for more than two weeks.