Blue Monday is behind us and the days are getting longer, but the wintry gloom hasn’t dissipated quite yet; up to a third of Britons are struck by seasonal affective disorder (SAD). There’s no test for it, but the depression-like symptoms include sleeping, eating more and low mood specifically during the winter months.
In these darker days exercising outdoors can give you a boost, as can keeping a regular sleep cycle. For some people — me included — going for a jog at minus 1C would be a personal hell. Helpfully, light therapy using an SAD lamp or light box, designed to mimic the bright light from sunshine in summer, can help to mitigate the symptoms of SAD. Indeed, John Lewis reports that online searches
