How to beat seasonal affective disorder

Lots of people hit a slump at different times of year depending on how that season affects them. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that recurs at the same time of year and can affect an individual in lots of different ways.

Symptoms of SAD include:

• Having trouble with sleeping and waking

• Feeling tired and lethargic

• Feeling anxious and experiencing a low mood

• Difficulty concentrating

• Gaining weight

SAD is treatable by a variety of methods. If you visit your GP, you could be prescribed antidepressant medication, light therapy or talking therapy. Initially, it may be recommended that you experiment with various lifestyle measures to see if you can resolve it with simple changes.

Here are our top tips to get through this winter...

1. Go outdoors Adapt your day times to be active and outside during the hours of daylight. It may feel like a downer to be getting up in darkness and leaving work or uni in darkness also, but make the most of the brightest hours and get outside.

2. Stay warm and snug Being cold, especially in cold weather, can make you feel worse than you should. Stay warm and snug, wrap yourselves up in blankets and grab a hot drink.

3. Eat healthily It can be tempting to comfort eat to get yourself through, but making sure you maintain a healthy diet can be extremely beneficial. Eating healthily will allow your body to uphold the energy it needs.

4. Talk it out It could take a while to be referred for a talking therapy by your GP, but in the meantime you can still be talking to friends and family and even joining a support group if you believe it's necessary.

5. Take some vitamins There's no definitive information as to whether vitamins can help SAD, but they're certainly not going to harm it. Vitamins can help you feel more active and generally a lot healthier, so the effects are likely to help even if there's no evidence to prove it.

If you do feel you are struggling, more than can be helped by lifestyle changes, then please contact your GP for a consultation.

(Thanks to the NHS and Bupa for all information included)