The slow drag into the winter season is possibly my least favourite time of year and there are explanations to why these months feel more sluggish. I’m not hating on watching Gilmore Girls, wrapped up in a cosy blanket or drinking over priced seasonal coffees as a coping mechanism. However, understanding why we feel the way we do can help clear the clouds of our mind and ensure we are feeling our best.
1. Back to school syndrome
The sight of a newly ironed school uniform hanging up or turning the keys in the lock to your new University house all scream September. Going back to an educational setting can bring up feelings of pressure and anxiety that have been bottled down on a long summer. Someone described the week just gone as feeling like a rugby ball hurtled across a pitch, and that is pretty accurate. There is no sense of a structured routine as the air is still full of unsettlement and surprises ahead. From a different outlook, this is also exciting if we embrace the change. Yes, it is daunting to start new types of work but what’s the worst that can go wrong? If you have made it to third year, you have been doing something right anyway. I also believe in the healthy 3 of sleeping, eating and exercise (can be hard as a student, we know) as a solid basis for making things feel a bit more comfortable.
2. SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or winter blues?
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder, mainly associated with weather changes. The symptoms can be a lack of sleep, loss of appetite, lower mood and activity levels. This term was first coined in 1988 in The Times UK, to correlate afternoon workers and daylight. However, everyone knows this phrase so well that it can be mistaken with the ‘winter blues’. Sarah Jarvis, from the Jeremy Vine Show says ‘to have genuine SAD, a patient must have suffered depression two years running’. So, a lack of sleep could mean winter blues but not being able to get out of bed for a prolonged period could be a sign of SAD. It is estimated that 12.5% of the UK population have winter blues and 3 to 5% have SAD according to Jarvis.
Personally, my mood doesn’t particularly fluctuate during these months as I am a busy person so try to keep my schedule full. Yet, the rattle of my Vitamin D tablets every morning or the fizz of my Berocca suggests I have a fear of getting mood changes. I try to run away from having it, hoping that if I do everything right then I won’t be affected - exhausting right? Or, we can just accept that every month has good and bad days. But, science does back that the colder and darker evenings do require a little more self care this month.
3. Calendar countdown
‘How are we in September already?’ quickly moves onto ‘what’s your Halloween costume?’ to ‘it’s 10 days till Christmas’. There is a stickiness from September to December that means all the months feel glued together in celebrations. It is almost like the year speeds up towards the end and it can start to feel like another year has just whizzed by. We then start to worry that we haven't even achieved enough by the end of the year. But, I think a bit of feeling existential towards the end of the year is normal and actually can be useful to reflect on how much you have learned over the last few months. This reason is really out of our control and I think finding ways to keep busy and present is the best to overcome the fear of another year being over.
4. Christmas cheer
I love getting in the Christmas spirit yet I have also had a string of bad luck around this time period as well. One recent Christmas I had COVID and distantly heard all the Christmas pop songs on the radio from my bed. Then, another Christmas involved a lot of drunken wine nights whilst I wasn’t in a very healthy situationship. So, the time crunch starts now from September to not evolve into Scrooge by Christmas morning. For most of us, there’s always a really nostalgic feeling about Christmas which is why the days feel intensified and more important to make special. On another note, taking the pressure off the Christmas build-up is equally important in order to not try to control the way things happen. My lack of luck around this time frame tends to be romanticised in my head. Actually, if we are all grateful for the little things leading up to Christmas, such as making our playlists more festive (sorry housemates) then we can't really go wrong.
The takeaway is that addressing the feelings that arise this month is important to moving forward and keeping ourselves healthy. Online there are lots of articles or Tik Tok videos that have self care ideas and ways to stay active in these next few months. If all of us are in it together then as the seasons change we can all take a deep breath of the new air together.