Seasonal depression in the fall, when the shorter days get to you

It usually starts sometime after Labor Day. Nothing bad has happened. You just notice it is dark when you leave work, you want to sleep a lot more than you did in July, and the plans you made on a good week now feel like chores. If this happens around the same time most years, it is probably not just a mood.

A lot of people shrug it off as the fall blues. For some of them that is exactly right. For others it is a pattern that has a name, seasonal depression, and it is worth knowing which one you are dealing with before the clocks go back in November and the evenings get shorter still.

Why the season does this

The short answer is light. Between late September and December you lose a surprising amount of daylight, and most of what is left happens while you are indoors.

• Less morning light makes it harder for your body clock to know when the day has started, so waking up feels like wading through something.
• Darkness tells your body to make melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. Longer evenings mean more of it, earlier.
• Reduced light is linked to lower serotonin activity, which is one reason the low mood often comes with craving bread, pasta and sugar.

Add the end-of-year pressure, the holidays approaching, and the sense that the year got away from you, and it is not hard to see why this time of year lands heavily.

Fall blues or seasonal depression

Feeling a bit wistful, slower, more inclined to stay in: that is a normal response to the season. It comes and goes, it lifts when something good happens, and you still get through your week.

It is worth looking more closely if several of these are true:

• You feel low most days, for more than two weeks at a stretch
• You are sleeping much more than usual and still wake up tired
• You crave carbs constantly and your weight is creeping up
• Things you normally enjoy feel like effort rather than relief
• You have started cancelling plans and letting messages sit
• Your body feels heavy, like your arms and legs weigh more than they should
• The same thing happened last fall, and it quietly eased off in spring

This list is a way to notice a pattern, not a diagnosis. If a lot of it sounds familiar and it is getting in the way of work or relationships, a doctor or therapist is the right next step. Seasonal depression is well understood, and there are good options.

Start with light

The most useful single change is getting more light into the early part of your day. None of it requires special equipment to try.

1. Get outside within an hour or two of waking, for twenty to thirty minutes if you can. Even an overcast sky is many times brighter than indoor lighting.
2. If your commute is in the dark both ways, take a walk at lunch. For some people in November that is the only daylight they see.
3. Move your desk or the spot where you have breakfast next to a window, and open the blinds as soon as you are up.
4. Keep evenings dim. Lower the lights an hour before bed and turn your phone brightness down, so the difference between day and night stays clear to your body.

Light boxes are widely used for seasonal depression. If you are thinking about one, it is worth asking a doctor first, especially if you have eye problems or a history of bipolar disorder, because timing and brightness matter.

Protect your routine

• Keep your wake-up time steady, weekends included. Sleeping in three hours on Saturday tends to make Monday feel worse, not better.
• Move a little every day. It does not have to be a workout. Getting off the bus a stop early counts.
• Book plans ahead while you have the energy. When mood drops, the first thing that goes is reaching out, so a standing weekly plan does the work for you.
• Go easier on the year-end scorecard. Low energy in this season is physiology, not proof that you are lazy or behind.

When not to wait

If you are sleeping so much you are missing work, if your eating has changed a lot, or if thoughts of not wanting to be here are showing up, please do not write it off as the weather. Seasonal depression is still depression, and it is treated seriously. If it comes back every year, a doctor can also help you plan ahead so the next fall is easier.

Somewhere to put it

Part of what makes this hard to talk about is that it sounds small. Saying you feel low because it gets dark at five tends to get a joke or a suggestion to take vitamin D, and then the conversation moves on.

Writing it down somewhere without your name attached lets you say how heavy it actually feels, without having to justify it. You may also find you are far from the only one going through the same season.

If the heaviness does not lift, please do not carry it by yourself.
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