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How Seasonal Changes Can Affect Our Mental Health

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

Seasonal changes can affect your mental health profoundly. Get tips on dealing with seasonal effects on Mental Health on HealthyPlace.com

How Seasonal Changes Can Affect Our Mental Health

The effects of seasonal changes on our mental health can be profound. Many changes accompany the shifting seasons: the length of daylight; the intensity of the sunlight; our diet; our routine; how and where we spend our time.

As late fall turns to winter, it's common for people to feel tired, unmotivated, and depleted. Anxiety can increase, too, because these changes can create a vague, unsettled feeling. Also, symptoms of depression can begin or increase. There's a specific disorder called seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that is directly tied to seasonal change.

The following tips help enhance mental health through the changing seasons:

  • Create a new routine that helps you enjoy things despite the early darkness (reading, board games, crafts, puzzles, etc.)
  • Work in movement throughout the day (brief walks, stretches, climbing stairs, etc.) to keep your energy level constant
  • Stock up on a variety of favorite teas or coffees, depending on your personal caffeine tolerance
  • Be mindful of what you eat, for diet affects mental health
  • Identify what you love about the season, and be intentional about incorporating that into your life.

Here are some other ideas on how to deal with the winter blues and those seasonal changes that affect our mental health.

Related Articles Dealing with Seasonal Change and Mental Health

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: What helps you deal with your own unique mental health challenges that are caused or made worse by seasonal changes? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

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Share our Stories

At the top and bottom of all our stories, you'll find social share buttons for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites. If you find a particular story, video, psychological test or other HealthyPlace feature helpful, there's a good chance others in need will too. Please share.

We also get many inquiries about our linking policy. If you have a website or blog, you can link to any page on the HealthyPlace website without asking us beforehand.

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

  1. The Relationship Between Bipolar and Anger / Aggression
  2. Hormones and Women’s Mental Health
  3. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Test

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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Stand Up for Mental Health

Thousands Have Joined the Stand Up for Mental Health Campaign

But we still need you. Let others know there's no shame in having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, trichotillomania, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia or any other mental illness.

Join the Stand Up for Mental Health campaign. Put a button on your website or blog (buttons for family members, parents, mental health professionals and organizations too). We also have covers for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

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Latest Mental Health News

These stories and more are featured on our mental health news page:

  • Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Benefits People With Depression, Anxiety
  • Selective Media Coverage May Cause Us To Forget Certain Health Facts
  • Interrupted Sleep Impacts Mood More Than Lack Of Sleep, Study Finds
  • Memory Complaints May Indicate Greater Dementia Risk Decades Later
  • When It Comes To Children's Ability To Think, Weight And Activity Level Both Matter, Study Finds
  • 'Love Hormone' May Stimulate Release Of 'Bliss Molecule'
  • Lifestyle Change Could Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index

APA Reference
(2015, October 30). How Seasonal Changes Can Affect Our Mental Health , HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, December 21 from https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-health-newsletter/how-seasonal-changes-can-affect-our-mental-health

Last Updated: November 3, 2015
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Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD

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