Seasonal depression support thread

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Gas Station Boner Pills said:
If you live in a place that doesn't get much natural sun light in the winter (which can contribute to developing a vitamin D deficiency), and you find yourself feeling depressed (which can be a symptom of vitamin D deficiency), maybe consider looking into the possibility that you have a vitamin D deficiency. Some people can see improvement with supplementation if that's the case, but there is often not a one size fits all solution to depression.
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Where are the studies documenting the effect of vitamin D supplementation on severity of depression? You are treating bad science as facts because it feels good, but your advice is not going to help anyone.
 
This is all probably pretty obvious stuff but sometimes you just need to hear it:
  • Don't drink (to excess at least.) I love alcohol like a child but having more than maybe one glass of wine every couple of days is a surefire way for the fear to creep up on me in the winter.
  • Cardio at least every other day.
  • Don't nap. I love sleeping even more than I love drinking but napping robs me of an already scarce amount of daylight and puts me in a bad mental spot.
  • If you live in a place where it snows, lean into it, don't fight it. Pick a winter sport to do. Snowshoeing, skiing, snow fort building, something.
  • Those sunlamps work really well but a) make sure you're not getting a cheap one that doesn't actually do anything, and b) don't stare at it all day long, 20 minutes is enough.
  • Get winter clothes you actually like.
 
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My seasonal depression is in the summer when its too hot to leave the house in daylight, which also lasts half the year where I live.

I am living my best life in the brief period it's cool enough for me to actually wander about in daylight.
 
Stupid Lisa Garbageface said:
Don't drink (to excess at least.) I love alcohol like a child but having more than maybe one glass of wine every couple of days is a surefire way for the fear to creep up on me in the winter.
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I would agree with this. In the evening I like drinking a hot black tea with honey, freshly pressed lemon juice and a shot of brandy or rum. Recently, I cut out the alcohol, because the last thing I want is creating some sort of habit, even though it is just one shot. It's just not necessary.
 
I'm going to run through the winter. I did that two years ago, and it was great. Every 3rd day I run for 30 minutes regardless of weather/temp. Running in a blizzard is surprisingly peaceful, because all the snow blocks the sound. Wear bright clothing, and beware of snowplows though, leave the earbuds at home. You'd think you would freeze but I've found you just need one thick pair of wool socks over your normal ones, wind breaking pants/coat, and then one of those neck warmers pulled up over your face + scarf, and leather gloves/hat. You heat up and don't want too many layers. I kept track of the coldest temp I ran in, and even though it does get colder here, the coldest day I recorded running in was 12F (about -11C). I don't pay attention to the windchill.

I also have been starting my days off standing outside in my underwear, and doing that Wim Hoff breathing. Really makes you feel energized. I can't seem to force myself to cold shower, but I do seem to be able to stand outside in the cold wind. Why? There's an argument that we spend too much of our time at this even never shifting room temp, so all the small blood vessels and nerves in our skin never get a workout and get lazy/weak. The cold shock is like exercise for your skin/vessels. I think it is stimulating for the immune system. It also makes you feel alive, and the only way to stand it, is to breathe. I can't confirm this yet, but training this way is supposed to make you feel less chilly, because your tiny vessels are stronger, and can better react and preserve body heat.

As for Vitamin D I'm taking more this year, 3500IU + 100mcg K2, so far feel pretty good, and bitch slapped a cold recently. It's funny I was listening to this lecture and apparently Vitamin D has effects on 3% of your entire genome, which is incredibly large. It takes a special person to think being deficient in something so important is good for you, especially when there really is only one source for the vitamin, the sun. People also spend so much time indoors nowadays, so it's very possible most people are running low all year round.

+1 for the plant grow lights. I will usually have a few plants going in the winter, and I like to go under the lights and stare at them like Gollum. It's totally fine to start plants in November to be planted in the coming spring. Peppers for instance do great indoors, and when you put them out fully grown they produce a lot better, I just start them in a bigger pot.
 
Sun tanning for 3 to 5 minutes once every other day does wonders. Not trying to get an active tan, just those few minutes!
Cleaning, or making yourself do something. When I stop cleaning it's hard as fuck to make myself start up again, but when you start, it's easier to keep going after a while.
 
Some great advice in here already, especially making sure to get exercise every couple of days (just walking for 40 minutes will help the various gross substances that make up your body move around in the ways they need to for you to feel alive) and to get as much natural light as you can (you can usually game this e.g. Relocate your desk to the brightest spot near the biggest sunward window you have). Artificial alternatives (SAD lamps and vit D) are a poor subsitutes but if you have to, they may still help to a lesser extent. The idea of cooling your living space so it's not as big a change between outside and inside might be genius - I find if I get congestion over winter it's triggered by temperature changes not simply the cold.
Fresh air is also a massive help if you're cooped up indoors and feeling like shit - CO2 buildup and stuff is probably giving you brain fog. If your home doesn't have some kind of air circulation system that draws from the outside, make sure to open windows daily.
 
Full spectrum bulb during waking time, 100 equivalent watts, reduced to 50 watts two hours before bed, shut off an hour before bed.

470 nm blue LED bulb, ~3000 peak lux, starts at 20% 5 mins before set wake time, increases in brightness slowly over those 5 minutes to simulate a sunrise, reach 100% at wake time.

Only thing I have found that works. Keeps my sleep times synched without drift and the full spectrum bulb is convincing enough that my brain believes its daylight.
 
I'm sitting at work and I have nothing to do. I'm just killing hour after hour until I can go. I'm looking at webcams of places I have been to during my last holiday to kill time and to remember all the nice places. Usually I can occupy this time for some personal projects I work on, but I have nothing to do today (:_(
 
Try to increase your exposure to sunlight as much as possible. Several people have already mentioned vitamin D but there's also another lesser known but equally important substance produced by UV radiation in our skin - nitric oxide. NO is perhaps the most important molecule for the health of our vascular system and acts not only as a vasodilator but is also antiinflammatory under physiological conditions, and chronic inflammation and depression go hand in hand. There are supplements you can take to increase your NO levels (arginine, citrulline) but I believe it's always better to get what you need in "natural" ways.

Diet-wise, try eating more cholesterol, saturated fats and sulphur. Eggs, garlic, etc...
 
I love hiking and hate the cold, but I bundle up a few times a month in the winter and go to a local trail that has lots of evergreens - they make a good windbreak, and I really think seeing green leaves does something to improve my mood.
 
For the uninitiated, what makes a good lamp for this? What features should I look for? Someone upthread mentioned not getting a super cheap one because it's probably ineffective, but I also don't want to spend a fortune.
 
Catastrophes said:
For the uninitiated, what makes a good lamp for this? What features should I look for? Someone upthread mentioned not getting a super cheap one because it's probably ineffective, but I also don't want to spend a fortune.
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I have Beurer day light lamps. They are a bit pricy but really quite effective. They are really bright and will illuminate the whole room.
 
TheCuntler said:
I have Beurer day light lamps. They are a bit pricy but really quite effective. They are really bright and will illuminate the whole room.
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Personally I just bought a bunch of (cheap, Chinese, kind of dubious) LED array lamps from Amazon and put them in mounts all around the room. It gets really bright, but if you care about the aesthetics it might not be a good idea.
 
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