Understanding and Easing Seasonal Affective Disorder

SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of depression that gets its name from the pattern it presents around the seasons. It's also known as Winter Depression, because symptoms are usually more apparent and more severe during the winter months, although a smaller number of people experience the reverse, feeling low in summer and lifting in winter.

The exact cause of SAD isn't fully understood, but it's often linked to reduced exposure to daylight during the shorter autumn and winter days. The leading theory is that a lack of light may disrupt the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that helps regulate:

• production of melatonin

• production of serotonin

• the body's internal clock (circadian rhythm)

There are many treatments for SAD, including lifestyle changes, light therapy, talking therapies, and antidepressants. But alongside the clinical picture, there's a lot we can do ourselves to work with the season rather than against it — shifting how we relate to the darker months, not just how we treat the symptoms.

Mindset Shifts: Working With the Dark, Not Against It

So much of our suffering in winter comes from resisting it, treating the dark months as an obstacle to push through rather than a phase with its own value. Nature doesn't fight the turn towards winter; it slows, sheds, and conserves. Trees don't apologise for losing their leaves.

A gentle mindset shift is to ask: what if this season isn't something to survive, but something to listen to? Winter has traditionally been a time of rest, reflection, and turning inward, long before electric light convinced us we should be "on" all year round. Giving yourself permission to have less energy, want more sleep, and crave quieter days isn't a failure of willpower. It's often your body doing exactly what it's designed to do.

Embracing the Change of Season

Resistance to change is often where a lot of the low mood settles in, not the darkness itself, but the grief of what the darkness has taken from us: long evenings, ease of movement outdoors, the simplicity of summer.

Try marking the transition rather than ignoring it. Some people find it helpful to have a small ritual as the clocks change — clearing away summer things, bringing in candles, changing bedding, adjusting routines, a way of consciously saying "we're moving into a new phase now" rather than being dragged into it. This taps into something the Celtic Wheel of the Year understood well: the year isn't a straight line, it's a cycle, and each turn asks something different of us.

Focusing on the Joy

It's easy for winter content to become entirely about coping, but joy matters just as much as management. Look for what autumn and winter offer rather than only what they take away: the particular comfort of a warm drink held in cold hands, the softness of low winter light, the excuse to slow your pace, the cosiness that only comes with darker evenings.

Deliberately building small pockets of joy into short days, a favourite playlist, time with people who feel easy, a hobby that has nothing to do with productivity — helps counterbalance the pull towards flatness. Joy in winter often needs to be invited rather than waited for.

Gentle Movement

Movement matters for mood regulation, but winter isn't the season for pushing hard. Ideal movement in the darker months tends to be rhythmic, grounding, and forgiving rather than intense:

• Walking outdoors in natural daylight, ideally earlier in the day when light is strongest

• Slow, restorative yoga or gentle stretching

• Dancing around your kitchen to music you love

• Swimming (even cold water, for those who find it energising rather than depleting)

The goal isn't performance. It's reminding the nervous system, through movement, that the body is safe and supported — something that matters more in winter, when everything already feels a little harder to do.

Breathing Techniques

The breath is one of the few tools we carry with us everywhere, and it has a direct line to the nervous system. A few simple techniques that can help lift heaviness or settle anxiety in the darker months:

• Physiological sigh – a double inhale through the nose followed by a long exhale through the mouth. Excellent for a quick reset when low mood tips into overwhelm.

• Extended exhale breathing – inhale for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 6 or 8. A longer exhale than inhale signals safety to the nervous system.

• Box breathing – inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Steadying, especially before bed or in low-light mornings.

A few minutes of intentional breathing, done consistently, can shift the internal weather even when the external weather won't cooperate.

A Note on Essential Oils

Several essential oils are often used to support low mood, including Bergamot, Geranium, Ylang Ylang, and ever-reliable Lavender, a real all-rounder. It's worth being honest about the evidence here: most research into essential oils and mood is small-scale and specific to aromatherapy, rather than the kind of robust clinical evidence behind treatments like light therapy or talking therapies. That doesn't make them without value; many people find genuine comfort and relaxation in their use, but they're best thought of as a supportive, sensory addition to a wider toolkit, not a treatment for depression in themselves.

SAD, like the season it's named for, isn't something to fight through gritted teeth. With the right support — lifestyle shifts, movement, breath, mindset, and yes, a little Lavender, it's possible to move through winter with more ease, and even find moments to genuinely enjoy along the way.