Winter blues
Short gray days leave a lot of people slower and lower from November to March, and more light, a steady routine, and regular company can make the season easier.
Winter blues or seasonal depression?
The winter blues are the low, sluggish mood many people feel when the days get short and cold, and daily light, a steady routine, and regular time with people usually help. Seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that returns at the same time each year, is heavier and lasts longer, and it needs a doctor’s care. If the low mood stays most days for two weeks or more, or it keeps you from living your usual life, call your doctor.
You may know the feeling well. The clocks go back in November, and suddenly it’s dark by 5 o’clock. The porch light is on before supper, the walk you took every afternoon in October gets skipped, and the couch and the television start to win. You feel slower, you want to sleep more, and the bread and cookies look better than they did in summer. Then March comes, the light stretches out again, and you feel more like yourself.
For most people that’s the winter blues: real, unpleasant, and manageable with some changes to the day. For some, the winter low goes deeper. They feel down most of the day, nearly every day, lose interest in people and pastimes they love, sleep far more than usual, and feel hopeless for weeks or months. When that pattern comes back winter after winter, it may be seasonal affective disorder, and it responds to treatment. Seasonal depression can also happen in summer for a smaller number of people, though winter is far more common.
When to call your doctor about winter low moods
You don’t have to decide whether it’s the blues or depression. Make an appointment if any of these fit:
- You’ve felt low, empty, or flat most days for two weeks or more.
- You’ve lost interest in people or activities you usually enjoy.
- You’re sleeping much more than usual and still feel tired, or you can’t sleep.
- You’re eating much more or much less, or your weight is changing.
- You feel hopeless, worthless, or like a burden.
- Your low stretches come back around the same months year after year.
- You’re drinking more to get through the dark evenings.
You might say, “Every winter for the last few years I’ve felt low from about November to March. This year it’s worse, and I’m sleeping 10 hours and still tired.” A calendar where you’ve written a mood number from 1 to 10 each morning makes the pattern easy for your doctor to see. Your doctor may also check for other causes of tiredness and low mood, such as thyroid problems or low vitamin D, before suggesting treatment.
If you have thoughts of death or suicide, don’t wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 in the United States now, or call your local emergency number outside the United States.
If you already take an antidepressant or any other prescribed medicine, keep taking it as prescribed through the winter. If you feel your mood dipping as the days shorten, tell the doctor who prescribed it, and decide together whether anything should change. The page on talking with your clinician helps you get ready for that conversation.
How to get more daylight in winter
Daylight helps set the body’s daily clock, which guides when you feel alert and when you feel sleepy, and winter gives you less of it. The most useful time for light is usually the morning. Open every curtain and blind as soon as you get up. Move your breakfast chair to the brightest window, facing the glass, and have your coffee there. Wash the windows on a mild day if you can, since a film of grime cuts more light than you’d think.
Get outside for at least a little while each day, ideally before noon. Even on a cloudy winter morning, outdoor light is much brighter than a lamp-lit room. A 20-minute walk, a trip to the mailbox and back the long way, or standing on the porch with your coffee all count. Dress warmly in layers, and wear shoes with good grip on icy days.
Indoors, turn on the lamps before the afternoon goes gray, rather than waiting until you’re squinting. Brighter bulbs in the rooms where you spend the most time, such as the kitchen and the living room, make a difference you can feel. Pale curtains and a mirror across from a window can also bounce more light around a dim room. In the evening, do the opposite: dim the lights an hour before bed and put the phone away, so your body gets the message that night has come. There’s more on gray afternoons in rainy Sundays.
Light boxes: talk with your doctor first
A light box is a lamp that gives off very bright light, much brighter than ordinary indoor lighting, and doctors sometimes recommend one for seasonal depression. It’s usually used for a set time each morning. Light boxes are easy to buy online, and that’s exactly why it helps to talk with your doctor before you buy or use one.
The right brightness, the timing, how far away to place it and for how long, and whether a light box is safe for you all depend on your health. Your doctor will want to know about any eye conditions, such as glaucoma, cataracts, or macular degeneration, about medicines that make you sensitive to light, and about your mood history. Some people get headaches, eye strain, or trouble sleeping from a light box, and for a few people bright light can push mood in the wrong direction. A doctor can tell you whether it fits your situation, and many doctors use it alongside talk therapy or medicine rather than on its own.
If you and your doctor decide to try one, write down the instructions, including how many minutes and what time of day, and keep the paper next to the lamp. Note how you feel each week, and bring the notes to your next appointment.
Keeping a winter routine when the days are short
Winter tends to blur the days together, especially if you don’t have a job or appointments pulling you out of the house. A few fixed points can hold the day in shape. Get up at the same time every morning, even on dark mornings when bed feels like the only warm place in the house. Eat meals at regular times, at the table. Go to bed at about the same time each night.
Plan the afternoons on purpose, because that’s when the dark arrives and the couch starts calling. Pick a project for the season, such as a jigsaw puzzle on the dining table, a box of photos to sort, a library book series, soup recipes to work through, or a sweater to knit. A project waiting for you at 3 o’clock gives you a reason to stay up and moving.
Watch what you eat and drink in the dark months. Many people crave starchy and sweet foods in winter, and that’s common, but a steady diet of them can leave you more sluggish. Keep fruit, soup, and protein easy to reach. Go easy on alcohol, since it can lower your mood and disturb sleep. If you’re thinking about vitamin D or any other supplement, ask your doctor or pharmacist first, because some supplements interact with prescribed medicines.
Keep naps short and early, about 20 to 30 minutes before mid-afternoon, so they don’t steal from your night’s sleep. If your sleep is off for weeks, mention it to your doctor. Heavy mornings has more ideas for the first hour of a dark day.
Staying connected in winter
Cold weather and early darkness make it easy to stay in for days at a time, and isolation tends to deepen a low mood. Put people on the calendar the way you’d put a doctor’s visit there. A standing weekly coffee, a midweek card game, church on Sunday, or a class at the library gives the week fixed points with other people in them.
On days when going out isn’t possible, use the phone. Pick one person a day to call, for 10 minutes or as long as the talk runs. You might say, “It’s gray and cold here and I wanted to hear a friendly voice.” Most people feel the same way in February and will be glad you called. If a neighbor lives alone, a knock on the door with a bowl of soup can help you both.
Invite people to you, too. Soup and bread on a Saturday at lunchtime, when it’s still light, is easier for friends who don’t like driving after dark. Winter holidays can be hard for anyone who’s lost someone or lives far from family, and holidays alone has ideas for getting through those weeks.
Moving your body when it’s icy outside
Regular movement helps many people with mood and sleep, and winter makes it harder. When the sidewalks are icy, take your walk indoors. Many shopping malls open early for walkers, and some community centers and churches have indoor tracks or open gyms. Walking the hallways of a large store, or laps around your own house, still counts.
Check with your doctor about what kind and how much exercise is safe for you, especially if you have heart, lung, or joint problems. Gentle options include chair exercises, stretching along with a video, a water aerobics class at a heated pool, or dancing in the kitchen to the radio. A class where people learn your name gives you movement and company in the same hour.
Outdoors, falls on ice are a real risk. Wear boots with good tread, use a cane or walking poles if you need them, keep the steps salted, and ask a neighbor to help with the shoveling. Carry your phone, and tell someone where you’re going.
Common questions
What is the difference between the winter blues and seasonal depression?
The winter blues are a common, milder dip in mood and energy during the dark months. People feel slower, sleepier, and lower, but they can still do their usual activities, and daily light, routine, and company usually help. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that comes back at the same time each year. It’s heavier and lasts longer, with low mood most days, loss of interest, and changes in sleep and appetite that get in the way of daily life. If your winter low lasts two weeks or more or comes back every year, talk with your doctor.
What helps the winter blues?
Daylight is the first thing to try. Open the curtains as soon as you get up, have breakfast by the brightest window, and get outside for a walk before noon when you can. Keep a steady routine, with regular times for waking, meals, and bed, and plan the afternoons so the early darkness doesn’t pull you onto the couch. Stay in touch with people through standing dates and daily phone calls. Move your body in a way your doctor says is safe, indoors if it’s icy. If none of this helps after a couple of weeks, call your doctor.
Should I buy a light box for seasonal depression?
Talk with your doctor before you buy or use one. Light boxes give off very bright light, and doctors sometimes recommend them for seasonal depression, but the right brightness, timing, and length of use depend on your health. Your doctor will want to know about eye conditions, medicines that make you sensitive to light, and your mood history, since a light box isn’t safe or helpful for everyone. Some people get headaches or trouble sleeping from one. If you and your doctor decide to try it, write down the instructions and keep them next to the lamp.
When does seasonal depression usually start and end?
For most people with the winter pattern, low mood starts in late fall or early winter, often around the time the clocks change and the days get noticeably shorter. It usually eases in spring, as the days lengthen. A smaller number of people have a summer pattern instead, with symptoms that start in late spring. Because it tends to return at the same time each year, it helps to note the months on a calendar. If you know your low stretch usually begins in November, talk with your doctor in early fall about a plan.
Can you get seasonal affective disorder later in life?
Yes, seasonal affective disorder can happen at any adult age. Later in life, the effects of winter can add up in particular ways: fewer reasons to leave the house each day, icy sidewalks that make walks risky, early darkness that makes evening driving harder, and holidays that bring up memories of people who have died. Depression in later life also shows up more often as tiredness, aches, or irritability than as sadness. If your winters have been getting harder, tell your doctor, and keep taking any prescribed medicine as prescribed.
Learn more from trusted sources
These public health agencies explain depression, sleep, and staying connected in more detail than this site does.
- Depression from the National Institute of Mental Health covers the signs, the types (including seasonal affective disorder), and the treatments.
- Sleep and older adults from the National Institute on Aging explains how sleep changes with age and when to talk with a doctor.
- Tips for staying connected from the National Institute on Aging lists practical ways to see and hear from people more often.
If you need care
If you’re in crisis in the United States, call or text 988 now, before you read any further. You don’t need a good reason or the right words. If you’re outside the United States, call your local emergency number or a local crisis line. A real person can stay on the line with you.
If you’re not in crisis but the winter low keeps hanging on, tell your doctor what your days are like, and keep any prescribed medicine as it is until you’ve talked it over together. There’s more in the depression room and answers to common questions in the depression FAQ. This page is not yet medically reviewed.