In every online community I’ve ever seen, winter depression has been a noticeable thing, and this site is no exception. The combination of weather and being indoors, having to deal with shitty family over the holidays, being lonely over the holidays, etc. is bad enough, but I feel like this year is worse than usual due to the election and other events.

I don’t know if recent bad vibes might be in part due to this, but regardless, please treat both yourself and others with kindness, at least as much you’re able to. Also, don’t hesitate to open up to people you trust if there’s anything on your mind you want to discuss.

Does anyone else have any good tips for dealing with it? Please let us know in the comments, and thank you for reading this.

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[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Get a happy light, if you have poor sunlight exposure for your eyes (cloudy, especially in the mornings), start using one when you wake up. Ideally have it placed towards the upper end of your vision. I don't remember the right amount of lumins, might be 10k but just make sure you get the right kind of light.

Take supplements, vitamin D and maybe fish oil (or whatever vegan supplement is equivalent, sorry I'm not sure). Honestly take a multi vitamin if you're at all unsure about the quality of your diet, at least for the bad months (I'm not a big believer in multivitamins but depression/seasonal depression is a multi-pronged thing you need to deal with, you need to seek out as many small improvements you can even if not all of them work). If you feel like you don't eat a lot of fiber at least start supplementing fiber as well.

If you have issues with your sleep/sleep schedule getting weird I would suggest taking melatonin about 1 hour before your intended sleep time, nightly. The main problem with melatonin supplements is that they are dosed way WAY too high, probably because the people who researched the correct dose ended up doing a trademark on it (or something like that). The correct dose is about .25mg or so, much smaller than the doses you normally find. My suggestion is to buy this bottle: Life Extension Fast-Acting Liquid Melatonin – https://a.co/d/7Z7LALB , this comes as a liquid with a dropper and you only need about 3-4 drops to have the right dose, it's also just a ton of melatonin for the price and will last you a very long time. For me this keeps my sleep super regular, gently nudging me to sleep at the correct time, but I can also stay awake if I really want to until the melatonin wears off (it should only really noticeably last for a couple hours). Being consistently well rested is important for anxiety/depression.

On that note I would also suggest making absolutely sure you don't have any sort of issues with breathing while sleeping. Sleep apnea is also pretty bad, although admittedly resolving it can be kinda hard, especially without health insurance helping. Regardless, sometimes even doing something small like training yourself to sleep in different positions can make a large difference.

[–] AnExcellentSteelHorse@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

By upper end of your vision do you mean, ideally the light should be above your eye level? I have one but my thinking is too disordered to remember to use it

[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yes should be shining like right in the upper part of your vision, ideally