As the winter months settle in, many people find their moods changing with the shorter days and colder weather. Seasonal affective disorder can play a major role in how people feel at this time of year. The condition highlights how important it is to find ways to maintain wellbeing during the season.
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00:00Seasonal affective disorder is often linked to the lack of daylight in winter,
00:05leaving people feeling low and lacking energy.
00:08In Birmingham, people are sharing how they notice changes in their mood
00:12during this time of year and what they're doing to stay on top of it.
00:16It's just the weather and the fact that everyone...
00:20The rush of Christmas is over.
00:22I'm quite lucky that I have my birthday at the end of January,
00:25so it's not quite over for me.
00:27I really try and get into New Year's resolutions,
00:31try and do running in the morning.
00:34I did attempt swimming at one point.
00:36It's not really a thing for me anymore.
00:38Eating better, sleeping more, prioritise your sleep.
00:42But, yeah, just kind of the classic things you go onto Google and search,
00:46and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
00:48I don't find it shifts significantly these months.
00:54But, yeah, I've got an eight-and-a-half-month-old baby at home at the moment.
00:58So, yeah, this year's very different to any other year.
01:02I love the summer and I love the sunshine and the daylight.
01:05So, yeah, when it's dark and wintry, it's horrible.
01:08Get a loomy light. It's amazing.
01:11I don't know if I've ever told you about this, but it literally lights up
01:14so it feels like in the morning it's all light and bright and it's like summer.
01:18Lovely. Really helps you get out of bed.
01:20Yeah, that's a tip from me. What about you, Lou?
01:22A hot tip from me is to go to Tenerife and get some sun on the 1st of January every year.
01:27So, I have to say I'm not feeling the blues this January.
01:30I feel tickety-boo and I've been singing all the way here.
01:34Well, we've come here for the weekend to see Strictly, so we've come that way.
01:39I find that the dark weather definitely does affect me,
01:42definitely getting up in the dark mornings, going to bed,
01:45and it was just dark all the time, rainy.
01:48So, yeah, we do things like we go shopping.
01:50We enjoy the sales and we try and get out in the fresh air
01:54and try and make the most of the brighter days, yeah.