Taking vitamin D?

Start going for walks in the morning and evening. Retrain yourself from thinking that dark outside = sleepytime.

Lookup seasonal affective disorder. SAD.

Could try light therapy. Buy a specialized light and spend time under it reading a book.

Also winter sports. Skiing etc...

Movement. Getting warm from moving myself helps me infinitely. Falling motivation for that, give a sauna a go.

Go outside while there is daylight. It's a small counter to the darkness without any side effect.

Do you try to force a daisy to bloom in winter? Do you insist a bear comes out of its hibernation? Must the bee produce honey or cicada buzz out of tune with its own nature?

We, too, have our seasons. It’s okay. Winter is a season of winding down, of the rest phase before renewal. Our societies demand we maintain productivity when our bodies tell us otherwise, and we do what we must to keep food on the table and a roof over our head but beyond that it’s okay to rest.

The Danes and Norwegians have a concept called hygge that embraces the cold weather season. It’s also why a lot of northern hemisphere countries (can’t speak for elsewhere, feel free to chime in) make it a season of lights and festivity.

I’ve also got seasonal affective and take vitamin D, and the reasoning above is how I cope with each year. Accepting the hibernation feeling and adapting with gentle love instead of force is not weakness.

Take vitamin D3 with K2 (basically everyone is low, and the k2 massively increased absorption), try to get out and get at least some outdoor time ideally with sunlight (even if you're covered up, the fresh air will do you good), try to set aside time for part of the day to explicitly avoid a screen. Something like yoga would be great, exercise in general, but yoga gets those good stretches to get the lymph moving

Eat well, sleep well, exercise - you know, all the stuff you already know but could always improve on. Do extra self care and make time to socialize

Maybe see someone to get on a SPARI/SNRI/SSRI, or increasing your dose during winter months. Or just schedule therapy... Even if you don't have a specific goal to work on, talking to someone can help ground you

I know it's nothing groundbreaking (and things we all should be doing more of), but depression is depression... You can reduce symptoms through good habits and coping strategies, but as I'm sure we both know, it both is and isn't as simple as that

Just try to refocus on whatever helps you and be as active as you can going into it

Winter is my favorite season; my mood improves during winter so maybe my tips will help you.

1. Make it a season of celebration rather than isolation: • A lot of things are closed during the winter, a lot of sports and activities, but other things open up, like winter sports, snowboarding, ice skating, skiing, and so on.

2. Hot cocoa, hot tea, hot coffee, lots of nice hot drinks and blankets.

3. Vitamin D, white LEDs or full spectrum lamps

4. Christmas theme (if you're into that) movies or other stuff if you're into that, bright colored lights

5. Keep in touch with people online and offline, find reasons to do things

So if your favorite thing about fall is pumpkin spice, make winter have its own "theme".

Get a bright light therapy box. Seriously. And do it now. You can get em for like $40. Cheaper if you talk to your doctor.

Half and hour at 10,000 lux, don't look directly at it. Guarantee you, you will feel better.

Sounds like you need a sport that can be done in the winter. Indoor sport. Swimming, racquetball, etc.

In the winter, you get less sunlight into your eyeballs, especially with the closed-off caves we live in these days. Which means your body doesn't inhibit melatonin production properly. Which means you never properly wake up.

I have a really bright room light to combat that. Daylight lamps for desks are also available. Heading outside around noon is also a good idea.

Take vitamin D and use a sun lamp for a little bit every day. Try to get some exercise and some fresh air on a regular basis.

Other than that, I’d recommend trying to keep in mind that you are a large mammal, and many large mammals evolved to instinctively be much less active in the winter. Don’t push yourself too hard to be productive when nature is against you. Drink some warm drinks, cuddle a dog under a blanket, and catch up on reading books and watching movies you’ve been meaning to get to.

Lotta comments here talking about vitamin D. It's not going to hurt you, but the evidence that it improves mood is pretty slim at best to be honest.

Happy lights are great as is spending time outdoors/moving around. Try biking or walking to work if you can.

You can take antidepressants just during the winter or year round if you end up liking them. I didn't even feel depressed but got on an sri for anxiety and it really increased my energy and concentration.

Other than that, taking care of yourself in general, seeing your doctor when you need to, etc. Any unmananged chronic health conditions you have can make you feel worse in general. If you're a young person with a uterus, you probably have iron deficiency which can really affect mood and energy.

You can find SAD lamps made for this. I think there are even some that attach to your body. "Verilux HappyLight" is the best I could quickly find, not recommending it exactly, just as a starting point.

But I agree with the person who said "movement". I get that's kinda a "solve your problem by solving your problem" piece of advice, but it's just kinda how it is. It just sucks a little but forcing your way through will make it better, and eventually you grind the habits in

Seasonal depression. Really bright lights on a timer in the morning.

I used to use those halogen work light set up beside the bed with a special dawn simulator timer. But it looks like they are out of business. In the end, I just moved to Florida to avoid winter,

here are some commercial dawn simulators. Go for maximum lumens
https://www.amazon.com/dawn-simulator/s?k=dawn+simulator

If it ever snows, try to get out to local walking spots to take pictures.

Invest in good winter gear so you don’t have to feel trapped inside, and can feel cozy even when it’s cold. Leggings are very important, especially ones that are both warm and moisture wicking.

when I started wfh I basically locked myself in a dark room for daylight hours 5 days a week and gave myself SAD after a month or so. going crazy following the light suggestions from these articles helped a ton

https://meaningness.com/sad-light-led-lux https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens

What if you lowered the heat and forced yourself to move to stay warm?

Check your vitamin d levels

You don't. We're biological mammals and expecting that we act the same in spring, summer, fall and winter is insane. Change your expectations of yourself depending on the season.

Eating fish (vitamin D) regularly and making more of an effort to get outside during daylight hours seems to work for me. Vitamins/supplements are okay but aren't a replacement for real nutritional sources.

Before that I used to eat less fish and mostly managed to get outside after daylight hours - definitely had the same sort of low mood / being sluggish and unmotivated as you describe.

Cocaine.

Fuck all this advice, leave. Go where you are happier with the weather. That is the only solution.

I specially looked for very powerful bulbs (23W LED) to put into the main ceiling lamp in each room and have a bunch of lamps on smart plugs to come on early before it gets dark. Made a big difference for me. Exercise and hot drinks really help too.

I know the days of driving to the factory when it's dark out and leaving when it's dark are coming for me soon. It sucks. I try to cozy up and do more comfortable leisure activities in the winter, esp with my dog who loves to cuddle. It's written into us as a species.

Make sure to have weather appropriate clothing and get outside even when it is cold. Anything short of sleet/ice/blizzard is perfectly fine for the average mobile person getting out for at least a short walk outside as long as they are dressed appropriately and there aren't massive drifts.

If mobility is an issue then getting out when it is cold, but not dangerously slick, is still a good idea.

One thing most people don't know is that cold weather gear needs to match the weather and the level of effort being made. Walking in wind requires a lot more insulation and wind protection than shoveling snow without wind because effort heats up and sweating is dangerous when it is cold. Keeping dry is critical, both from external moisture and from sweat!

Improve the lighting temperature and hours you're exposed to