Does winter feel like something to endure or worse, to escape from entirely? For many, the darker months bring a heavy weight of seasonal depression, low mood, and a desperate longing for spring. But what if we've got it all wrong?
Our ancestors didn't view winter as an enemy to flee. They understood it as a necessary, even sacred season, a time for turning inward, for crafting, for storytelling, for rest. Winter was when they honed their skills, deepened their knowledge, and allowed their bodies and minds to restore after the demanding activity of the warmer months.
The problem isn't winter itself. The problem is that modern life expects us to maintain the same relentless pace year-round, under artificial lights, disconnected from natural rhythms, and never truly slowing down. We're fighting against the season rather than moving with it.
Seasonal depression isn't just about a lack of sunlight. It's frequently a signal that your body and mind are craving what winter is meant to provide: rest, warmth, nourishment, meaningful connection, and a gentler pace. In this article, we'll explore how to not just survive winter, but to genuinely thrive through it by working with the season rather than against it.
Inflammation and mental health
Before diving into specific strategies, it's essential to understand something crucial: there's a profound connection between inflammation and depression. Chronic inflammation directly affects brain chemistry, neurotransmitter production, and mood regulation.
High inflammation triggers inflammatory cytokines that interfere with serotonin and dopamine pathways, literally making it harder for your brain to produce the neurochemicals responsible for wellbeing, motivation, and contentment.
In winter, when we move less, spend more time near nnEMF’s and spend more time indoors often under blue light, inflammation often increases precisely when our mood is already vulnerable.
Signs include persistent fatigue, brain fog, joint achiness, skin issues, digestive problems, and mood disturbances.
Start by eliminating the primary culprits... seed oils, processed foods, alcohol, and non-organic produce. Focus instead on whole foods such as wild-caught fatty fish rich in vitamin D, pasture raised red meat, organic vegetables, healing herbs like turmeric and ginger, and plenty of saturated fats.
When inflammation drops, many people report that their seasonal mood struggles significantly improve, sometimes dramatically so. You're giving your brain the physiological environment it needs to maintain balanced mood throughout the darker months.
Gut health (your second brain)
If your gut isn't functioning optimally, your mood simply cannot be optimal either.
Winter often brings additional gut challenges. Less sunlight, more time indoors, less movement. All of these compromise the delicate balance of your gut microbiome, leading to increased inflammation, reduced neurotransmitter production, poor nutrient absorption, and a weakened stress response.
Support your gut by focusing on sealing, consume bone broth regularly, the gelatine and collagen support intestinal lining integrity. Add natural antimicrobials like fresh ginger and garlic to combat potential overgrowths.
When your gut is thriving, your mood follows. It's not coincidental that improving gut health often resolves mood issues that medications couldn't touch, you're addressing the root cause rather than merely suppressing symptoms.
Getting outside
Getting outdoors regularly is one of the most powerful interventions for winter mood struggles. Even on overcast winter days, natural outdoor light significantly helps your mood and body.
Make it a non-negotiable daily practice to spend as much time as possible outside in daylight, preferably in the morning light to start your day right. This could be a walk through your neighbourhood, time in a local park, or simply sitting outside with your morning tea. The light exposure helps regulate your circadian rhythm.
Here's what many people don't realise: despite the lack of vitamin D production this time of year, UVA light is present year-round, even in the depths of winter, and it continues to play a crucial role in health. Unlike UVB rays, which become weak or virtually absent in winter at higher latitudes, UVA penetrates through clouds and even glass, reaching your skin consistently throughout the year.
Winter UVA exposure helps release nitric oxide from your skin, which improves blood flow and supports cardiovascular health. It also provides essential seasonal and circadian light signals that help regulate mood and maintain healthy hormonal rhythms. Additionally, UVA has immune-modulating effects that may help keep immune responses balanced during the colder months when infections are more common.
It's important to understand that UVA does not produce vitamin D, that requires UVB, so winter sunlight can't replace your vitamin D needs entirely. However, in short: even in winter, getting outside genuinely matters. UVA supports circulation, immune balance, and seasonal regulation, even when vitamin D production has dropped to minimal levels.
Hiking and walking provide multiple mood-boosting benefits simultaneously: movement, natural light, fresh air, and changing scenery. Even a gentle 20-minute walk in nature significantly reduces cortisol levels and improves mood. If you can find wooded areas, the phytoncides released by trees have additional stress-reducing properties.
The seaside offers particularly powerful medicine for seasonal depression. The expansive horizon, rhythmic waves, and negative ions generated by moving water all have measurable effects on mood and nervous system regulation. The salt air itself has anti-inflammatory properties. If you live near the coast, make regular seaside walks a priority, if not getting near rivers and waterfalls as the next best thing.
Earthing or grounding, direct skin contact with the earth, helps regulate inflammation and cortisol rhythms. Even in winter, get your bare feet or hands on the earth occasionally. Walk barefoot on grass during milder days, touch tree bark during walks, or sit directly on the ground when possible.
Sunrise viewing
One of the most underrated interventions for seasonal depression is watching the sunrise, or at minimum, getting outside within the first hour after sunrise. Morning light exposure sends powerful signals to your brain's master clock, helping regulate circadian rhythms that govern sleep, hormone production, and mood regulation.
The early morning light contains specific wavelengths that trigger cortisol production (which should peak in the morning for alertness) and suppress melatonin (which should be low during the day). This natural rhythm supports energy, motivation, and a stable mood throughout the day.
Try to view the sunrise or get outside within 30-60 minutes of waking, even for just 5-10 minutes. No sunglasses, your eyes need to receive the light directly. This single practice can dramatically improve sleep quality, daytime energy, and overall mood regulation within just a few days of consistent practice.
Fire gazing and fire pits
There's something primal and deeply soothing about watching flames dance. Our ancestors gathered around fires every evening, it was central to survival, community, and comfort. Modern research shows that watching fire has measurable effects on relaxation, blood pressure reduction, and mental state.
The flickering light of fire operates at a frequency that naturally induces a meditative, relaxed state. Unlike harsh blue light from screens, the warm, red-orange spectrum of firelight signals safety and rest to your nervous system. The sounds of crackling wood and the warmth on your skin add additional layers of sensory comfort. Additionally the natural infrared light produced by firelight has immense benefits from the body from eyes to even thyroid health, helping the mitochondria in your cells do their work!
If you have access to a fireplace, fire pit, or chiminea, make evening fires a regular winter ritual. Invite friends or family to gather around, or simply sit alone with your thoughts and a warm drink. The combination of warmth, light, fresh air, and the meditative quality of watching flames provides a powerful antidote to winter darkness and isolation.
For those without real fire, even candles provide some benefit, the warm light is far preferable to bright overhead LEDs in the evening. Fire connects us to something ancient and fundamental, offering comfort in knowing you're engaging in the same practice humans have used for hundreds of thousands of years.
Connection as medicine
When seasonal depression hits, the natural instinct is often to withdraw and hibernate alone. While some solitude is healthy in winter, complete isolation actively worsens mood and mental health. Regular connection is essential medicine,not optional.
Research consistently shows that social connection reduces chronic stress hormones, which directly improves mood, cognitive function, and resilience. Loneliness and social isolation are strongly associated with increased inflammation, the same inflammation contributing to depression. People with strong social bonds show measurably lower levels of inflammatory markers and report significantly better mental health outcomes.
But quality matters more than quantity. Meaningful conversation over a shared meal, laughter with close friends, or genuine phone calls provide far more benefit than superficial interactions.
Winter provides perfect opportunities for deeper connection: invite friends for fire pit gatherings, organise regular dinners, start a book club, or commit to weekly walks with a friend.
The act of gathering around shared food carries additional psychological weight. Our ancestors always socialised around meals, it was when stories were told and bonds strengthened. Try to prioritise regular communal meals during winter, even if simple. The combination of nourishing food, warm environment, and genuine connection is powerfully mood-supporting.
Embracing winter's true purpose
Here's perhaps the most important shift: winter isn't meant to be endured or escaped. It's meant to be embraced as a necessary season of rest, restoration, and turning inward. Fighting against this natural rhythm, trying to maintain summer's pace, is a primary reason why seasonal depression feels so overwhelming.
In nature, winter is a time of dormancy. Trees conserve energy, animals hibernate, seeds rest in the earth. This isn't weakness, it's essential preparation for spring's growth. For humans too, winter is traditionally a time for slowing down. Before electric lighting, people naturally reduced their pace, went to bed earlier, and conserved energy. They moved with the season rather than fighting it.
Give yourself permission to do less. Go to bed earlier without guilt. Reduce your social calendar to only commitments that genuinely nourish you. Say no to unnecessary obligations.
This is also the perfect time to work on crafts, skills, and creative projects that require patience and sustained attention. Our ancestors used winter for making tools, crafting clothing, developing skills, and creating art. These activities provide purpose and accomplishment while respecting winter's inward-turning energy.
Consider taking up: woodworking, knitting or sewing, writing, drawing, music, cooking, or learning a new skill. The process matters more than the product, it's about meaningful work that allows for flow states and visible progress. Winter is also ideal for planning and dreaming about the year ahead without pressure to execute immediately.
Movement and detox pathways
While embracing a slower pace, movement remains essential for mental health, but it doesn't need to be intense. Gentler, more intuitive movement often serves winter depression better than aggressive exercise regimens. A daily 30-minute walk provides more mental health benefits than occasionally pushing through exhausting workouts.
Find movement you enjoy... gentle hiking, restorative yoga, dancing, swimming, tai chi, or simply walking. Pay attention to your body's signals. Winter is excellent for developing a more intuitive relationship with movement.
Hit the sauna or hot bath for much needed detoxification during winter, make sure to move to stimulate the lymphatic system, stagnation will lead to a build up of toxins and therefore impacting mental health.
Seasonal depression isn't a personal failure. The epidemic of winter depression points to something deeper... we've lost our relationship with the natural rhythms of the year.
When you address the root causes, chronic inflammation, gut dysfunction, natural light deprivation, social isolation, and the relentless pressure to maintain summer's pace, you often find that winter becomes something entirely different. Not something to dread or survive, but a genuinely valuable season with its own gifts and wisdom.
Winter teaches patience, rest, introspection, and the value of turning inward. It teaches us that darkness isn't something to fear but a necessary counterpoint to light, that stillness isn't laziness but preparation, and that slowing down isn't weakness but wisdom. This winter, approach it differently. Get outside daily for light and fresh air. Tend to your gut health and reduce inflammation. Gather regularly with people you care about. Watch fires and sunrises. Work on crafts that engage your hands and mind. Give yourself permission to rest more, do less, and turn inward without guilt.
You might just find that winter stops being something to endure and becomes something to genuinely appreciate, a necessary season of restoration that makes spring's renewal possible. The darkness isn't the enemy. The fighting against it is.
