How to beat the winter blues (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

How to beat the winter blues

9:01am Tuesday 25th November 2008 in Doctor Tom By Dr Tom Smith

It’s that time of year again. We dread the cold weather, worry about the flu, never seem to feel the sun on our skin, and can’t bear the thought of all that Christmas shopping and organisation. And the current financial crisis is adding to our burden. Miserable, isn’t it?

Well, no, it isn’t. I’ve been struck by how cheerfully we seem to be taking our daily chunks of bad news in the press and the broadcasting media. There’s no evidence, from what I hear from my GP colleagues, that people are generally more depressed than usual. In fact surgeries are relatively quiet for the time of year – maybe people are just too busy to visit the doctor.

Sometimes when the national news is uniformly bad, as it seems to be nowadays, the whole population takes a ‘we are all in it together’ attitude, and make the best of things by being nicer and friendlier. It certainly happened in wartime – amazingly, as the bombs were raining down and families were divided by military service, there was less depression than in the more affluent years in the Sixties.

The same spirit was reported to prevail throughout the worst of the Northern Irish Troubles. When people are facing real adversity together they have a better sense of community, and that appears to raise their spirits.

Of course, that’s a generalisation, and it is only too easy to fall into a low mood when your income is dropping and prices rising, and the weather is unendingly bad.

The worst time in winter comes after New Year, when all the celebrations have died away, we find we are a bit short of cash, and there’s nothing to look forward to, at least until April, when we expect the weather to improve.

So how should we make the best of things this winter?

The first priority is to make plenty of time for friends and family. Get out together, or spend time together talking and laughing. If the teens in the house are always on the computer, try to ration the time to an hour at most, and to plan activities that you can all do together.

They don’t need to be expensive – take the advantage of any improved weather by going out for a walk or a cycle run. Exercising regularly doesn’t simply keep you fit – it also lifts your mood. And if you do it with a friend, the lift is higher.

Your response is predictable. ‘I can’t be bothered to make the effort to get out of the house/chair/or even bed’, I hear you say. ‘It’s too cold/wet/windy to go out’ is the next response. But it isn’t always wet and windy, and you can always wear warm clothing in the cold. Once you are out and about, you will enjoy it – no, really you will.

If the weather does become unbearable, then there are still plenty of places to visit – sports arenas, cinemas, theatres, concerts, or just a good restaurant – all places that help you forget what is going on outside, and will transport you out of your everyday problems.

If that isn’t feasible, then what about arranging a meal at home with a few like-minded friends? Sitting alone night after night in front of the television with your ready meal on a tray on your knee can set you on an inward-looking path to a low mood.

We humans need company: we are social creatures, and friends are very important to our continuing wellbeing.

Good company becomes so much more important to us as we grow older. Yet so many of our older citizens spend far too much time on their own: they have few visitors apart from their carers and the meals-on-wheels people. They perform a marvellous service, but they aren’t quite the same as a good neighbour or a relative coming in to see them for a friendly chat and a cup of tea.

So can I make a plea? If you think someone is having a bad time over these days running up to Christmas, try to make friendly contact and help in some way to improve his or her day. Age doesn’t matter, circumstances do.

You will find the benefit runs in both directions: you may well gain as much pleasure and satisfaction from your action as the person you are visiting. You may even save a life. Depression kills, and lifting it with a human touch can work wonders.