Beating the winter blues

Watch above: As temperatures plunge into the minus-teens and 20’s, people tend to sink into a state of depression. Aaron Streck takes a look at how we can stay ahead of the winter blues with a little activity now.

SASKATOON – The days are getting shorter and it’s getting colder outside. Winter hasn’t even hit yet but people are starting to change their seasonal habits.

“Starting October-November we start seeing changes in mood, people start speaking more about how difficult it is to wake up in the morning to get out of bed, to become motivated, go to work or do the things they have to do,” said Sara Liebman, with the University of Saskatchewan disability services for students.

It’s not easy shaking the winter blues or seasonal affective disorder and not everyone can afford to head south for a week or two.

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“If they have less light and the daylight is less during the winter, those people become very blue, sad and distressed, so one of the ways to over come it is to go outside and get that sunshine if we can,” said Liebman.

“It’s extra important to get out and keep your mood elevated and try and stay active and get fresh air and get outside or maybe you’re used to doing something, maybe golf or something in the summer months, now what is your winter activity going to be,” said Jason Weber, a human performance centre coordinator at the College of Kinesiology .

It might be hard to believe but there are just as many things to do in the winter as there are in the summer, it’s just less convenient.

READ MORE: 5 cold weather exercise tips and guidelines

“I think consistent activity and trying to stay as active as possible are those things we just don’t want to have when it’s the summer months and it’s easy, it’s something we want to build into our lifestyle, have those plans figured out so we can carry through with it 12 months out of the year,” said Weber.

For many, the cold means it’s time to hibernate, if going outside is out of the question there are ways to stay active inside.

“Maybe it’s that time to dust off those things that you might have purchased over the years, a tread mill, an elliptical, a bike, whatever it maybe and start using those things again or really simple to develop a body weight program,” said Weber.