Living in Denver, we like to brag about our “300 days of sunshine.” It’s one of the main reasons people move here. But there is a downside to that statistic: it tricks us.
Life is going alright and there are plenty of winter activities, we tell ourselves we have no reason to feel down. Yet, come late January, a lot of men in the Highlands start feeling… off. The holidays are over, the ski traffic on I-70 is brutal, and it’s pitch black by 5:15 PM.
If you are noticing a shift in your mood right now you aren’t alone. Plenty of guys deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression related to changes in seasons.
However, the reason many men miss the signs is that we are looking for the wrong symptoms.
Sad or Mad
When we think of depression or the “winter blues,” we typically picture someone crying, staying in bed all day, or feeling overwhelmingly sad. While that can happen, that is not always how it presents in men.
Many of us pick up messages and rules along the way to suppress sadness. So, when our brain chemistry shifts due to a lack of sunlight, it manifests through the only “acceptable” negative emotion for men: Anger.
In my practice, I often see male SAD symptoms look like this:
- Irritability: Snapping at your partner for small things (like how they loaded the dishwasher) that wouldn’t normally bother you.
- Apathy: A loss of interest in things you usually love. Maybe you usually hit the gym three times a week, but lately, you just can’t be bothered.
- Fatigue: You sleep for 8 hours but wake up feeling like you ran a marathon.
- Isolation: You stop answering texts. The idea of meeting friends at a brewery feels like a chore rather than a relief.
If you are feeling mad rather than sad, you might really be dealing with seasonal depression.
Hustle vs. Biology
In neighborhoods like the Highlands, there is a culture of high activity. We are expected to be professionally successful, physically fit, and socially active.
When winter hits, our biology naturally wants to slow down (think hibernation), but our modern lives demand we keep sprinting. We wake up in the dark, commute in the dark, and work under fluorescent lights. This disrupts our Circadian Rhythms—the internal body clock that regulates sleep and mood.
When you fight your biology with caffeine and willpower, you eventually crash.
3 Tactical Ways to Beat the Winter Slump
You don’t have to pack up and move to Arizona to fix this. Here are three tools to help regulate your system through the rest of the Denver winter.
1. Get Light While You Can
This is a physiological necessity. When you wake up, your brain needs sunlight to trigger cortisol (the wake up hormone) and set the timer for melatonin (the sleep hormone) later that night. Sunlight is also vital for mood regulation. Early in the morning is ideal, but really any sunlight during a shortened day is to our benefit.
2. Walk, Even If You Don’t Want To
When it’s 20 degrees out, the last thing you want to do is walk the dog or do a lap around Highland Park. Do it anyway. Movement is on the short list of things that almost always help improve our mood. One walk may not be enough to make a considerable difference, but it does point us in the direction of making improvements.
3. Check Your Fuel
We tend to crave carbohydrates and sugar in the winter (biology again—we are trying to pack on fat for the famine that isn’t coming). While comfort food is great, a diet of heavy carbs and alcohol will spike your blood sugar and crash your mood. It is a great season to indulge, which makes it even more important to be mindful of how those indulgences are affecting our mood.
Don’t White-Knuckle It Until Spring
Spring is still a couple of months away. “Toughing it out” usually results in damaged relationships and poor work performance.
If you recognize yourself in the symptoms of irritability, anger, or deep fatigue, let’s get ahead of it. Seasonal depression is highly treatable. As a therapist specializing in men’s issues and depression therapy, I can help you build a strategy to navigate the winter without burning out.
