Fall is here! Sounds perfect right? School starts again, you’re back on campus seeing your friends, the weather is starting to cool down, holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas are coming up. You’re super excited at first, except in reality, things aren’t as good as you imagined, which is totally fine! As the weather gets colder, classes start to get harder, days start to feel shorter, it’s okay if you start feeling unproductive, moody or even alone often. If you usually feel this way when the cold weather comes around, you might be affected by something called “seasonal depression”.
Seasonal depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder, is a form of depression that starts around the changing of seasons. usually during the wintertime. Some symptoms can include fatigue, sleeping and/or eating more, feeling of hopelessness, or trouble with concentration and focusing. All these symptoms are totally normal and there’s many ways to help cope and keep yourself motivated during these times.
Prioritize Your Health in All Aspects
Take a mental health break for a day, go out for a walk, go exercise, eat healthy. When we get all caught up with our lives, we forget to have compassion for ourselves and forget to take good care of our bodies and minds. Taking a second to realize what you’ve been doing for your health is very important. We only have one body and one mind, it’s always the number one priority to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.
Connect With Loved Ones
Reaching out and spending quality times with good people is all you need to bring your energy up! In an article written by Sheldon Reid for HelpGuide, who primarily focuses on mental health in fitness, he wrote that “the closer you are with the person you’re interacting with, the more your body releases calming hormones.” Just being around people you enjoy, you can automatically decrease bad feelings like stress and anxiety.
Make Plans
Staying busy and making fun plans will help your brain function better! Sometimes having too much alone time isn’t the best for your mental health. Being alone often can cause depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and even sleep problems. Staying busy and having a routine can make you feel better, especially if the result is productivity. Being productive releases “happy hormones” which are endorphins. Having a good routine and good schedule results in better sleep, creates healthy habits and overall better health.