Struggling with the winter blues? You’re not alone! Read through the different ways light can help you brighten your mood!
It's late in the afternoon, you’re punching out from a long day of work and heading outside. As you push through the door eager to catch a glimpse of the blue sky, the realization hits you. It’s dark out. Shorter days, freezing temperatures, and gloomy weather, all the symptoms of winter are bearing down on you at full force.
The difficulties of the colder months can leave us feeling hopeless. That's why it’s important to find ways to combat the winter blues.
To answer the question at hand, lighting can indeed help us with our winter blues, but there’s more to it than that. In this blog, we’ll go over the effects of lighting and how we can utilize its functions and capabilities in our yearly war against the seasonal sadness that winter brings.
How Lighting and Color Affect Our Mood
Light affects us more than we realize. It can influence our behavior, sleep, and how we interact with the world. Color also influences our mood, so much so, that we’ve assigned colors to specific emotions. Therefore, when combining the two, it’s important to know the different moods they can create.
When it’s cold, we gravitate toward staying indoors, this leads to a lower intake of sunlight. And consequently, when we don’t get enough natural light, our bodies suffers because of it. Thankfully, we have tools at our disposal to help!
Artificial light may not be able to perfectly replace the benefits of natural light, but it can be used to stave off winter's negative effects. By using daylight bulbs to simulate natural lighting, we can train our body to readjust to the natural day/night cycle.
Since daylight bulbs fall within the 5,000 to 6,500 Kelvin range, they tend to have a cooler blue/white coloration. Though warmer toned bulbs may appear easier on the eyes, studies have shown that cooler colored bulbs better serve the purpose of mimicking natural light.
Natural lighting will always offer the most benefits, but when getting outside is more of a challenge than an activity, it becomes important to explore our options and decide what’s best for our situation.
Lighting’s Effect on Seasonal Depression/SAD
Seasonal depression, or more accurately referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), can affect both us and our loved ones. However, there are measures to be taken to fight back against it.
Symptoms of SAD such as a shorter temper, fatigue, and difficulty sleeping can often correlate with receiving reduced sun exposure.
Lighting treatments such as light boxes can be used for 20 to 30 minutes in the first hour of the morning to help our body adopt the proper light cycle. When searching for a box, stick to ones that emit 10,000 lux of light and are specifically designed to treat SAD.
Though winter blues and SAD can be mistaken for the same thing, it is good to know that SAD is typically a recurring disorder that is diagnosable. Whereas the winter blues might be a slight discomfort or displeasure with the colder months.
If you would like to read a blog of ours that goes more in depth regarding the matters of SAD, please click here.
Note: The mentioned/linked products may be used for the treatment of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). LightBulbs.com does not diagnose, prescribe treatment nor guarantee results.
What Can be Done to Help?
It’s no secret that natural light is the sun’s best medicine for our winter blues. By being active outdoors, or by sitting near windows, you can passively increase the amount of sunlight you receive by doing the things you love!
If that’s too difficult for you, the aforementioned daylight bulbs can also be used to help. The early hours of the morning are where these bulbs shine best. If used at the wrong times, like later in the day, daylight bulbs are more likely to disrupt your sleep schedule than regulate it.
There are also many other things outside of lighting that can be done to help! Time spent with family, on hobbies, or decorating the spaces you feel down in might help boost your mood! Don’t be afraid to explore the fun and safe ways that can help brighten your day this winter.
Conclusion
Light can indeed help us as we struggle with seasonal depression. By spending time outdoors, using daylight bulbs, and investing in light boxes for more serious disorders like SAD, we can stand our ground in our fight against the winter blues.
To bring light to the cold winter days ahead, visit lightbulbs.com and have a look through the amazing products we offer!
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