Wake Me Up When January Ends: SAD and why exercise can ease the effects of the winter blues
- Emily
- Jan 24, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 31, 2022
With Blue Monday just passed and the January blues in full swing, what better time to start a conversation about mental health?
Staggeringly, each one of us will experience a mental health problem in some way or another in our lifetime. This time of year is a particular struggle for many, with shorter, darker days and post-Christmas blues impacting our daily life. But what are the scientific reasons for this?
January is infamously the most depressing month of the year. You’ve just had a much-needed break for Christmas where perhaps you spent it with family or friends, indulged in foods and spent more money than you hoped and now you have to return to reality. January comes riddled with guilt as Instagram is full of posts with “new year, new me” captions, year highlights, diet fads and many New Year’s resolutions. The pressure to conform to these trends is high and seeing everyone else’s long list of goals seems miles away from your goals to get out of bed or not take daytime naps. These feelings are not uncommon as many people suffer from the winter blues, but more severe cases could be explained by Seasonal Affective Disorder. Seasonal affective disorder, commonly referred to as SAD, is a condition that involves depressive episodes that typically recur around wintertime and affects 3 in 100 people across the UK. The cause of SAD is still not entirely known but it is thought that the reduced amount of daylight at this time of year is the root of the problem. So why does reduced daylight affect our mood? And what effect is it having on our brain chemistry?
The Brain Chemistry
The circadian rhythm (or our internal body clock) is regulated by sunlight, where our daily biological functions and processes occur at certain points in the day based on our exposure to light. The body clock, situated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus at the front of the hypothalamus, is disrupted during winter as the days become shorter. Typically, when we wake up sunlight enters the retina, from there a signal is sent to the body clock which is then sent to the pineal gland. Here, the secretion of melatonin is inhibited. Melatonin is a sleep hormone that is responsible for you feeling tired. In winter, when we wake up the amount of sunlight is lower, meaning our body clock becomes disrupted with the shift in time and exposure. When the body clock is disturbed and daylight is lower, melatonin continues to be released throughout the day causing us to feel increased fatigue in the winter. During the winter our levels of serotonin are disrupted. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects our mood, sleep, and appetite, the production of which is limited in low light. When exposure to sunlight is decreased the serotonin transporter (SERT) activity is increased, which reduces the active serotonin levels in the body.
So, in winter your body clock is misaligned, your melatonin levels are elevated, and your serotonin levels are lowered, contributing to a lowered mood and increased fatigue you're feeling throughout the day. While not everyone suffers from SAD, the winter months and lack of sunlight can interfere with your mood, tiredness, and stress. There are various treatments for SAD that would be prescribed by a doctor, some being light therapy, talking therapy and in some cases anti-depressant medications.
“If exercise could be packaged in a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation.” – Dr Robert Butler, American Physician.
If you think winter is influencing your mental well-being, what can you do? Light. Try and get out during daylight to help reset your circadian rhythm and reduce your melatonin levels. Exercise. We all know that exercise is good for our physical health, but do we know why it improves our mental health? Physical activity stimulates the release of certain neurotransmitters and hormones such as endorphins, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which all contribute to the regulation of our moods and relieving stress. Partaking in a competitive sport or setting achievable fitness goals can increase your serotonin which will make exercising more rewarding. The burst of happiness you feel after a run (or other cardiovascular exercise) is caused by the boost of endorphins in your body. This is colloquially known as a runner’s high, owing to this feeling becoming almost addictive and making you want to come back for more! Exercise also causes a decrease in the release of our stress hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. So, the release of these hormones during exercise helps to adjust the chemical imbalance in the brain during winter which can then improve mood and sleep and reduce the effects of the winter blues. Along with the release of these hormones, studies have also shown that exercise can help improve the bodies response to anxiety and panic attacks. The strenuous exercise is thought to mimic the responses of anxiety which would then allow your body to learn to manage its responses and therefore deal with them more efficiently in the case of an anxiety attack in the future.
As you can see there is a lot of chemistry going on in your brain at this time of year which could help explain your mood and energy levels. Exercise can help rebalance this chemistry and reduce the effects of the winter blues. Any form exercise can improve our mental well-being, whether that be yoga, running, hiking, or dancing. So, let’s reduce those winter blues – get some light and get moving!
Written by Emily Cuffin-Munday
If you are struggling with any of the topics mentioned and are seeking help regarding your mental health, please speak to a GP or use the helpful contacts below.
Mental Health Charities:
Mind UK https://www.mind.org.uk/
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) https://www.thecalmzone.net/
Youngminds https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
Crisis Helplines:
Samaritans – call 116 123 (24/7), email jo@samaritans.org
CALM - call 0800 58 58 58 (5pm-midnight everyday)
Shout crisis text line – text SHOUT to 85258 (24/7)
Blog References:
Gupta, A., Sharma, P. K., Garg, V. K., Singh, A. K., & Mondal, S. C. (2013). Role of serotonin in seasonal affective disorder. European review for medical and pharmacological sciences, 17(1), 49–55. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23329523/]
NHS inform [https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/mental-health/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad#introduction]
D. Garcia-Arocena (2015), HAPPY OR SAD: THE CHEMISTRY BEHIND DEPRESSION [https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/jax-blog/2015/december/happy-or-sad-the-chemistry-behind-depression]
Healthline [Exercise, Depression, and the Brain (healthline.com)]
American Psychology Association [https://www.apa.org/topics/exercise-fitness/stress]
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