Thank you to all who offered their advice and experiences on the Winter Blues entry I wrote on Friday. All were really appreciated and was nice to know I’m not alone in this.

I’ve been feeling a bit better over this weekend, partly because I spent a large chunk of the afternoon outdoors on Saturday while the kids played with their friends, so I got more daylight exposure than I normally would in the week.

I’m still undecided about the light box – £200 is an awful lot of money to spend if it’s not something I’m going to feel comfortable using daily or if other things will help first, so I’ve been doing the following:

• I’ve gone on a News Fast. I’ve removed all the news/politics style podcasts from my ipod and minimizing my trips to news websites. I know it’s important to know what’s going on in the world, but I’ve been feeling a bit bombarded with it all at the moment. I can’t personally change the situation in Burma, or set new carbon emissions restrictions to stop the Earth going into meltdown and I think a few months of not letting the more depressing news items reach my head it may help my mindset. In their place, I’ve subscribed for a whole myriad of fun podcasts including a Spanish course and a comedy show. I intend to keep my brain active but focussed on positive things.
• I’ve spent £40 on replacing all the normal energy saver bulbs downstairs with daylight energy savers that are a bit higher powered. Not as strong as a lightbox, but I think in terms of eye strain and mood, it’ll be better for me having a whiter spectrum light. I already have these on the stairs and in the kitchen and the contrast between walking out of the white light into the yellow darker light is really stark. It’s a colder light, but much much nicer on the eyes. I feel a bit guilty that I’ll be using more electricity for them (I’ve gone for 25W energy saver in the study, and 6x9W energy saver candle bulbs in the lounge) but they’re still much less than a “normal” bulb.
• I’m working through an online CBT course available for free on Living Life to the Full. CBT stands for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy which is all about learning new skills to combat depression. It’s written by a psychologist and any info you provide to them is completely confidential. Seems good so far, although I’ve only just started it.

I’m going to give all those a go for a month. If I’m still struggling, I will look at light therapy as the next step.