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A cross-country skier is met by a dog during their journey in fresh snow at Capital Hills at Albany during the region’s first significant snowstorm on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren\/Albany Times Union via Getty Images) <\/p>\n
The shortest day of the year is around the corner, and for some parts of the U.S. that means settling in for the long, cold and dark winter.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how experts \u2014 particularly those in Nordic countries that go months with little to no daylight \u2014\u00a0 say you can beat the winter blues and prevent seasonal affective disorder, better known as SAD.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Get good sleep <\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
The dark winter affects people\u2019s circadian rhythms, Dr. Timo Partonen, a research professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, told The Associated Press. When our circadian rhythm is off, it can impact the quality of sleep.<\/p>\n
People tend to sleep longer in the winter, but they don\u2019t wake up refreshed, leading to fatigue throughout the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Partonen recommended trying a dawn simulator, sometimes known as a sunrise alarm clock, to gradually light up your bedroom and ease you awake.<\/p>\n
Be social and exercise <\/p>\n
Being tired and cold can lead to people wanting to stay home, and that means fewer social interactions. People should make the extra effort to maintain social relationships to avoid isolation and exacerbate the winter blues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the numbers:<\/p>\n
Consider inviting a friend to work out with you to prevent the winter weight that people tend to gain. People gain an average of 4-11 pounds in the winter, fed by cravings for carbohydrates, especially in the evenings.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: 31% of teens find AI chats “as satisfying or more satisfying” than human conversations<\/a><\/p>\n Light therapy <\/p>\n Using a light therapy lamp \u2014 ones that emit light about 20 times brighter than regular indoor light \u2014\u00a0 can be helpful in the winter, even if you don\u2019t get SAD.<\/p>\n The light therapy helps to kickstart your circadian rhythm and increases serotonin in your brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Research supports using a light that\u2019s about 10,000 lux, a measure of brightness, for 30 minutes every morning. Your insurance company might even cover at least part of the cost.<\/p>\n Look on the bright side <\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Prioritizing a positive outlook by embracing winter is crucial to combating winter sadness.<\/p>\n Nordic countries are especially good at taking advantage of all that winter has to offer.<\/p>\n Take advantage of both outdoor and indoor hobbies, she said. Inside, channel hygge \u2014 the Danish obsession with getting cozy \u2014 and snuggle up on the couch with blankets and a movie.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t hibernate all winter. Even during cloudy days, a quick walk in the fresh air will help. And if you\u2019re brave enough, do a cold plunge like many people in the Nordics.<\/p>\n The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n Lifestyle<\/a>Mental Health<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article A cross-country skier is met by a dog during their journey in fresh snow at Capital Hills…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,149,259,260,3],"class_list":{"0":"post-337477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-lifestyle","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-mentalhealth","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}