Winter Blues

[Buckyball]

Hi People, I am new to the forum.
I am 32 years old, had anxiety on and off for about 20 years.

It is winter. I notice my anxiety level is going up as the temperature drops.

I get racing heart, cold feet and hands in the morning and at night.

Does anyone have similar experience? Any tips to deal with this?

[BballJ]

Hi Buckyball,

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

I know all the symptoms of anxiety you have experienced, I get them too on top of feeling like I am stuck in a freezing cold water and nothing can warm me up, the chattering teeth cause I am so cold is when I know my anxiety is peaking. As far as dealing with it, there are many tips and the major ones are really trying to relax yourself and focus on your breathing... if its at night... just lie flat on your back and focus on each breath, in and out, do this for about 20-30 seconds... just keep breathing in and out, deep breathes... it generally helps to calm you down, I do this myself when I can't sleep. Another thing to research is mindfulness which is something spoken about on these forums a lot.

The biggest thing to deal with anxiety however is seeking help and reaching out here is a great step, my question for you is, have you ever spoken to your doctor about your anxiety and possibly seeing a psychologist about it and working out where it actually stems from and why it comes about in winter?

My best for you,

Jay

[Nervybella]

Hi Buckyball

I totally get where you are coming from.

Working a 9-5 job means I never see daylight, I leave home in the dark, and get home in the dark. It's awful.

When I get home it's too cold and dark to do anything so I just sit, eat dinner and go to bed. I do this exact routine every day. It's mind numbing. I can feel myself heading towards that dark place in my mind again.

As for tips....I wish I knew, because then I could be excercising them myself.

Money thing I try to do is make the weekend ALL about myself. Do what I want when I want for 2 days. Sometimes it makes me feel better, but other times my anxiety about the week ahead gets in the way 😞

Do you have the sort of work/schedule where you can take some time to do things for yourself? I imagine if I had that opportunity I would feel a lot better...

I also like Jays idea about breathing techniques. If you have the time and or space to do so, meditation could also be useful

Best,

Bella