Expert reveals tips to embrace the ‘dark days’ to improve winter well-being

Those long dark nights, that biting grey sleet, the sheer lack of sunshine… for many the impending winter months fill their soul with gloom. But psychologist Dr Kari Leibowitz, a self-confessed winterphobe, insists we can take a more positive approach to this challenging season.

Dr Leibowitz grew up in a beach town near New York. But, in 2013, she moved to Tromso in Norway, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, to research the impact long winters have on mental health. There, during the two-month Polar Night, the sun doesn’t rise at all.

Yet during the year Leibowitz spent living in Tromso, she discovered that its inhabitants took an inspiringly positive approach to the season.

And she is convinced we can all learn to adopt a “positive winter mindset”, transforming our mental and physical health in the process.

“We can shape how we experience the season,” Leibowitz explains, adding that this positive mindset can help us weather all of life’s storms. “The same practices that help us embrace and enjoy winter can help us through difficult seasons of life.”

Dr Leibowitz admits when her application for the Tromso research fellowship was approved, her first thought was, “Oh my God, what have I done?” She recalls: “A lot of people asked me, ‘So you’re going there to study why they’re not depressed, and then get depressed yourself?’. Was this going to ruin my life?”

But the experience changed her life for the better: “It was one of the best things I’ve done.

“It gave me tools to find opportunities in winter and at other times of challenge and struggle.”

After a year in Tromso, she spent six years studying the power of mindset at Stanford University. “Our mindsets are core assumptions we make about the way things work in the world, and they influence us in ways that are often unseen and unnoticed. So is winter limiting, boring and depressing? Or a special, wonderful time of year, full of opportunities?

“When we have this mindset that winter is dreadful, we are more likely to notice the cold, the rain and the grey. That reduces our motivation and energy, and that influences how we feel – more down, more lethargic, more depressed.

“We are less likely to meet up with friends or go for a walk or do things that make us feel good. Our expectations lead to physiological changes in the body. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

However, she explains, if we cultivate a positive mindset to shift our attention, it can positively impact our emotions, motivation and behaviour.

“You’re setting off a cascade of behavioural, emotional and psychological processes that shape the course of your life on a daily basis.”

So how can we reframe the way we look at winter? When the clocks go back, she says, start by making plans to look forward to. “On the first warm day of summer, you might have a barbecue or go to the beach. For winter, you can plan a dinner party and eat by candlelight, have people over for a movie night, or go to the sauna.”

Another suggestion is to introduce annual winter rituals – visit Christmas markets, have a seasonal movie night, host a hot chocolate party, or embrace Jolabokaflod, the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books on Christmas Eve.

Winter is also a time to embrace rest: “A lot of people feel their energy dip in winter and see that as a problem or a sign of depression. But it’s really natural, and we could meet that as an opportunity. This is the season to slow down, either by sleeping more, taking baths and
making nourishing, warming foods. Watch a movie or read that stack of books on your shelf.

“It’s a really good time for slower hobbies – crafting, cooking, baking. I’m an amateur ceramicist and I don’t want to be in the pottery studio when it’s sunny outside.

“I talk to a lot of musicians, poets and painters who do a lot of their creative work in the winter.”

She suggests finding creative ways to adapt your favourite summer hobbies for the cold weather – wrap up warm for beachcombing, hiking or even a picnic. Keen gardeners can use the time for planning or starting seedlings indoors.

And getting outside as much as possible, whatever the weather, is crucial. So embrace friluftsliv, the Norwegian habit of enjoying “open air life” all year round and engaging with nature. “Bundle up, dress appropriately, put on your raincoat and rain boots. Even if you’re only out for 20 minutes, coming home to a warm, cosy night – or going to a cosy pub – feels so different because you’ve been outdoors.”

She adds that we Britons have an instinctive flair for “hygge”, the Scandinavian practice of slowing down, relaxing with friends and embracing a cosy atmosphere. “Scandinavia gets all the credit for winter cosiness but the UK does it really well. It’s beautiful to walk down a high street and see the windows and candles and nice pubs.”

Studies have even shown that cancer patients cope better with treatment if they adopt the mindset that the disease is manageable.

“There are lots of things in life we can’t control,” says Dr Leibowitz. “But given the reality of a situation, how can we adapt it in a way that is useful, rather than fighting against it?”

Her attitude to winter has changed so drastically she even got bored of the sunshine when she lived in California. She now lives happily in Amsterdam, where she enjoys appreciating the pleasures of each distinct season. “My attitude to winter has completely shifted,” she says. “It has changed my whole life.”

How to Winter by Kari Leibowitz (Pan Macmillan, £18.99) is out now. Visit www.expressbookshop.com or call Express Bookshop on 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on online orders over £25.