Where I live, it is very common to hear this phrase around this time of year: “This weather makes me so depressed.” 10 million Americans are diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder. An additional 20% suffer a mild form of it. Should we be calling this a “disorder”? Can we reframe how the body responds to winter?
Winter brings about three marked differences from summer:
- Food scarcity
- Cold
- More darkness
Could these environmental cues mean we SHOULD feel more tired and have a greater desire to hunker down and rest? Picture winter 1,000 years ago in a northern latitude. Food would be scarce. Metabolically, my body would be looking to store away every little extra bit of food I hunted/found in the late summer/early fall in preparation for scarcity. Cold weather would dominate. I would have made a shelter to protect me from the worst of the snow and wind, but even then, my body would have to adapt to a much colder environment. Daylight would have a much shorter window. This means the amount of melatonin my body makes would be much more than in the summer.
Is it possible that the body has very important programs it needs to run in the winter to thrive? YES!
Pathways such as:
Pgc1alpha: mitochondrial health, lowers reactive oxygen species (ROS), NRF2 activation (cell protection pathway)
Ucp1: burn fat to make body heat, improved insulin sensitivity
Foxo3: promotes longevity, autophagy, apoptosis
AMPK: improves insulin sensitivity, burns fat
When do these pathways get a chance to exert their effect? During sleep, when melatonin (a master repair hormone) is elevated. Hence why winter is also dark to promote more melatonin and more sleep.
Now, here’s my advice to feel good during winter (say good-bye to seasonal affective disorder) and maximize all these programs :
- Get as much morning sunlight, especially when UVA is present, into your eyes as possible to boost serotonin, dopamine and endorphin levels
- Get cold-adapted with intermittent cold exposures, which boosts norepinephrine, leading to better focus and cognition and fat-burning capabilities
- Block blue light after sunset and go to bed early. Allow your body more time for rest and repair
