It’s that time of year again when the clocks have changed, daylight hours are shorter, and lots of people find their energy waning. Feeling unmotivated, bummed, and unenthusiastic is a common occurrence during the winter months for many people. To help combat this, today we’re exploring how to improve mood and energy levels in winter with some tips and techniques you can implement right away. Read on and see how to beat those winter blues!
Note: While some feelings may be the winter blues, prolonged feelings of depression may be indicative of a more serious condition. Please consult a medical professional right away if you continue to feel feelings of depression, sadness, or anxiety.
How to Improve Your Mood This Winter Season
The winter months can be long, cold, and bring out occasional feelings of being unmotivated or sad. If you’re feeling this, know that you’re not alone. In fact, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects nearly 10 million Americans, with women being four times more likely to be diagnosed with it than men.
Whether you’re looking for ways to beat the winter blues or just want to find methods for how to improve mood and energy this winter overall, consider these tips and techniques:
- Make sure you get enough light exposure
- Practice mindfulness and meditation
- Find ways to stay active
- Get a massage to improve mood and energy levels
- Consider ways to be social with friends or family
Soak Up the Sun or Try Light Therapy
One of the biggest factors that may influence your actions for how to improve mood and energy levels in winter is sunlight. We are meant to get out and soak up some of that incredible vitamin D from the sun!
During the winter, cold temperatures and bad weather often result in us spending less time outside. Combine that with shorter daylight hours and you can easily see the potential for vitamin D deficiency during the winter season. In fact, one study noted that roughly 60% of their participants experienced a vitamin D deficiency during winter, resulting in higher prevalence of body aches and other adverse conditions.
As part of how to improve your mood and energy levels this season, try getting outside whenever the weather permits to soak up as much sunlight as possible. If you find you’ve been deprived of sunlight for a while and have negative feelings setting in, you may look into how light therapy works as an alternative.
Different methods of light therapy may include using a light box or even using a luxury massage chair with light therapy features (called chromotherapy). This exposure to light may help make up for the deprivation of natural sunlight and help with how to improve mood and energy levels.
Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
If the winter is getting you down, another method for how to improve mood and energy levels is by practicing mindfulness and meditation. While you may be wondering how sitting in silence could increase energy levels, these positive results of meditation have long been agreed upon by experts.
Learning to channel your thoughts and focus your mind on a mindful approach may help improve symptoms of depression as well as improve your mood overall. You may also find learning how to assess your thoughts without judgment gives you more clarity, leaving you ready to take on any challenges each day brings.
Staying Active During Winter
Finding ways to stay active in winter is another potentially effective method for how to improve your mood this season. We know it can be difficult to feel motivated to work out or stay active when all you want to do is cover up in your favorite blanket and take a nap, but exercising in winter could provide a plethora of positive results.
In addition to simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle, staying active in winter may help you increase your sunlight exposure to combat vitamin D deficiency this season. Keeping active also helps your body produce endorphins, which are natural hormones known to improve mood and boost energy levels.
If you don’t want to go outside to be active, there are also plenty of indoor options for exercising that don’t require a home gym or expensive equipment. Regardless of whether you go outside or stay in for your exercises, it’s all the more important to consider post workout recovery during the winter months. Many people find one of the biggest benefits of owning a massage chair in winter is that it improves their ability for self-care and recovery without having to leave their home in the cold temperatures.
In addition to the effectiveness of endorphins for how to improve mood and energy levels in winter, you may also find staying active helps with other aspects of winter self-care like good sleep hygiene.
How to Improve Your Mood With Massage
Another method for how to improve mood and energy levels in winter is with massage. Experts agree that getting a regular massage is crucial to optimize their potential benefits and keep your body in top condition. If going out in the cold or paying for endless sessions with a massage therapist don’t appeal to you, however, you may want to consider the benefits of massage therapy at home.
The evolution of today’s best full body massage chairs has equalized the benefits of using a massage chair vs human massage. Whether you’re debating between a 3D vs 4D massage chair or contemplating S-track vs L-track massage chair frames, you’ll undoubtedly find a model that will meet all your needs.
Using a massage chair to beat the winter blues builds on studies that have shown the ability for massage to decrease feelings of stress and anxiety while enhancing mood with increased levels of serotonin and endorphin production. With a variety of different types of massage programs available in luxury massage chair models, you can experience exactly what you need to help with how to improve your mood this winter. Other massage chair features like heat therapy, chromotherapy, and zero gravity reclining capabilities further enhance your experience, making a massage chair worth the investment many times over.
Being Social to Improve Mood and Energy in Winter Months
While you may not be the social butterfly of your friend group or family, professionals agree that creating social obligations may help with how to improve your mood in winter. Instead of keeping alone inside, planning a social event may help lift your spirits more than you expect.
Being social doesn’t have to mean planning a party or even getting together with others in person at all. Advancements in technology have made it incredibly easy to communicate with others with video chat platforms like Zoom. For people who may experience social anxiety, virtual hangouts may also be ideal methods for how to improve mood and energy levels without having to physically be in an uncomfortable position.
We hope this guide has given you methods to consider for how to improve your mood in winter. Whether you’re planning a Zoom call with friends, choosing a massage chair for self-care, or finding ways to stay active, learning how to improve mood and energy in winter can go a long way to fight the winter blues. If you find yourself experiencing prolonged feelings of sadness or depression, however, please consult a medical professional right away as it may be indicative of a more serious condition they can help with.
To learn more about incorporating a massage chair to enhance your lifestyle, check out these additional resources:
