Are you affected by the wintertime blues? If so, do you reach for a comforting drink in an effort to feel better?  You will probably have found it unfortunately doesn’t work.  Have you considered how your drinking patterns may actually be directly influenced by the shorter days?  Do you drink more in the extended hours of darkness?

No matter where we live, we are all affected by the seasonal changes.  Some of us dearly love the warm weather during spring and summer.  But we still have to deal with the onset of colder and shorter days that accompany the change in seasons.

Do you feel the winter blues come over you when the days grow shorter and darker and colder? Is a few extra alcoholic drinks a way you use to avoid the negative feelings of the wintertime blues? Do you drink way more alcohol during the winter months than the warmer months? Does alcohol actually keep you warm and help to ward off the winter chills?  Perhaps you have an association with drinking more alcohol anytime the weather is miserable outside.

The problem is that the seasons change back to sunny and warm again, but our habit of drinking too much alcohol can persist long after the winter blues have gone.
Worse than that, how do we know that the wintertime blues are not actually caused by drinking too much alcohol?  Perhaps it’s not quite so much of the wintertime blues that are affecting us, but the excess of alcohol!

Why do we feel the wintertime blues?

It is true that many people experience a phenomenon where they feel a heightened sense of depression or anxiety from the change of seasons.  When the days grow shorter, and the darkness seems to extend for an eternity until spring re-appears, they feel low.  It is usually associated with the onset of winter as the season changes from autumn to the depths of winter.  Depending on where you live, you’ll be more or less affected.  If you happen to be further away from the tropics, then of course, you will be more susceptible to the wintertime blues.  Where the hours of darkness actually become longer than the hours of daylight, it can be a challenge to remain cherry.

The clinical term for this affliction is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short.  This rather unfortunate acronym is perfectly named.  It perfetly describes the general feelings of anxiety and discontent that is causes amongst its sufferers.

Winter is Natural – drinking alcohol is not natural

However, this is actually a perfectly normal.  It’s a natural reaction to the changing of the seasons.  And the animal kingdom has its own version of SAD called hibernation.

Rather than being overcome with discomfort, the animal kingdom recognise the impending onset of winter. They prepare to overcome the bad weather and lack of food by reducing their energy output, slowing their heart rate and digestion.  And ultimately, their activity reduces to what we know as hibernation.

Even though it is doubtful whether early humans would have experienced hibernation, it is true that we often suffer some changes in physiology during winter.  Furthermore, this could certainly affect our moods during the winter months.  The trouble with these normal and natural reactions to our environment, is we humans tend to react inappropriately to the natural signs around us.  And for many of us, the temptation is to mask the wintertime blues.  We do this by drinking more alcohol in an attempt to feel better.

Alcohol is not helpful for dealing with SAD

Too often we mistake the feelings of anxiety and discomfort with the very same symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol.  Unfortunately, when we get stuck in a vicious cycle of drinking too much, it becomes difficult to cut back.  Because the nasty withdrawal symptoms make it near impossible to do so.  Compound these withdrawal symptoms with the onset of the wintertime blues and there you have a very high risk of overdoing the alcohol.

Alcohol does not help the wintertime blues – so how should we do it?

The key is the very thing that makes us feel the wintertime blues – the lack of daylight.  We all know that feeling of warmth and well-being that floods over us when we bask in the warm sunshine.  There is no better feeling than finding a small patch of sunlight on a cold day.  Being able to feel the suns’ rays to remind us that spring is on the way.  It is one of the simple pleasures in life!

Well guess what – you need that sunlight to increase your Vitamin D levels in your body.  Without it, you genuinely do not feel 100% compared to when your Vitamin D levels increase.  To achieve that, you need a little sunshine each day.  But you definitely don’t need to drink more alcohol in a sure-to-fail attempt to feel better.  If sunshine is not readily available, as often it’s not, Vitamin D supplementation is highly recommended.  Ask your health professional for assistance.

Get proper rest, exercise and nutrition

I know it makes you feel bad when the days are short and the nights are long.  But staying up late drinking does not make you feel better.  The opposite is true, because drinking too much makes you feel bad.  Go to bed early at night so that you can wake up fresh in the morning, and appreciate the day time hours when the sun is up.  Do this instead of walking around with a hangover from drinking too much.

If you already get regular exercise, then keep going and try not to lose it during the wintertime blues.  Exercise is vitally important for a healthy body and mind.

If you don’t get enough exercise, then you are missing out on the benefits of exercise.  Natural body chemicals, known as endorphins, are produced when you move your body.  Endorphins and other feelings of enjoyment and happiness tend to provide the best natural antidepressant effects. Don’t rely on alcohol to give you happiness.  Alcohol will will interfere with your natural chemical balance, and leave you feeling worse than ever.  Alcohol actually depletes important vitamins in your body, leaving you more susceptible to illness and disease.  This includes mental illness.  Optimum nutrution is critical to avoid alcohol dependence and poor mental health.

Medical Treatment

When all else fails and you recognize a significant downward spiral in mood or sense of well being, do seek professional help.  If you a see a medical doctor, get their assistance.  Some people prefer the natural, nutritional approach to wellbeing.  If this is the case with you, seek out a holistic practitioner, one who will guide you with nutrition and supplements.  The above three things do wonders for most people, but if your SAD gets out of control and you feel despondent or helpless, please go see a professional.

Winter and alcohol

Maybe one of the reasons you drink too much alcohol in the winter is to overcome the wintertime blues.  But if  you’ve come to realize that you’re still unhappy, then is the problem actually being caused by the wintertime blues?  Or is it caused by alcohol?

Life is too short to suffer the wintertime blues.  Don’t fall into the trap of drinking too much alcohol in a vain attempt to fix the problem.  It will only make it worse.

If you’re really serious about quitting alcohol, then there is a much better way to quit and feel good about yourself when you do it.