The reasons for fatigue in winter (… and how you’re going to get rid of them)

Outside, the snow is pouring and the eyes are falling.

You recently ripped out trees, now you fail at a blade of grass.

You lack the energy. This constant fatigue can only mean one thing: winter fatigue has knocked on your door and invited itself to your apartment. What you can do about it, we show you in this post.

In a nutshell:

• The darkness makes us wake up badly. In your body, melatonin – the sleep hormone – is released even though you want to get up or are already awake.
• Vitamin D deficiency can occur in winter. This undersupply also causes fatigue, but also depression.
• In winter we eat differently. We eat a lot of carbohydrates to have energy. As a result, we are sluggish and get tired even more often in winter.
• If you are often tired and other symptoms are added, it could be a winter depression.
• Tips that help you against winter fatigue: Go to the fresh air to stimulate the circulation, pay attention to the diet and improve sleep quality.

Why we are tired in winter – 3 important reasons

There are different reasons why you are suddenly tired in winter.

1. Getting up in the dark

Imagine lying in bed and waking up with the first rays of sunshine. This is refreshing and makes it easier for us to get up. But woe it’s still dark. Our body doesn’t like this at all, because melatonin is released. The sleep hormone swirls through our body and instead of jumping out of bed, you turn to the other side again and continue to sleep.

Even on the way to work, darkness makes a dent in our bill and we cannot escape the sleeping messenger material. As you can see, the useful hormone in winter makes us tired at exactly the time we want to wake up.

2. Vitamin D deficiency

You’ve probably heard or read about a vitamin D deficiency in winter. Vitamin D is produced by the sun’ irradiation. We need the vitamin for a functioning immune system.

In winter, the lack of vitamin D is a deficiency. Exhaustion, fatigue and back pain can be the consequences.

3. Nutrition

Even if it happens unconsciously, our diet often changes in winter. You need more energy and automatically take more carbohydrates.

Why is that? When we humans still had to deal with wild animals and daily survival in rough conditions, we ate a small supply to survive.

However, the intake of too many carbohydrates makes us tired. So you should avoid a very heavy meal to avoid winter fatigue.

4. The Winter Depression

Sometimes winter fatigue has a different reason, and that is when it comes to depression. This is true if you are permanently tired and other symptoms are added. Make sure you have the following complaints:

• Mood changes
• Anxiety
• long sleep duration
• Weight gain
• Hunger for sweets

On the other hand, a lot of movement helps. If you feel that the symptoms just don’t disappear, definitely see a doctor.

3 tips on how to get rid of the tiredness in winter

1. Spend time in the fresh air

In the past, parents oftensaid, “Child, go to the fresh air.”

In winter you should take this saying to heart. The time outside usually works wonders and wakes up. We also refuel a decent portion of the sun, by the way, even when the sky is covered. This promotes the formation of vitamin D. Keep outside for at least half an hour. This will drive away winter fatigue and strengthen your immune system.

2. Improving sleep quality

Due to the changes in the lighting conditions, we sleep worse in winter. However, there are some tricks to improve your sleep.

In the evening, avoid alcohol and avoid screens like the devil the holy water. Better grab a soothing tea and a good book. This will make you automatically and naturally tired in the evening. In the bedroom you should darken everything to fall asleep faster. This often also encourages sleep through. Also pay attention to the regularity of bedtime.

3. Switching diet

We mentioned it before: the diet changes in winter – very often unconsciously. Try to pay a little more attention to your diet and eat varied. Another tip: Take nuts such as peanuts, cashew nuts and hazelnuts to you. With this, you put the tired maker melatonin in the barriers. Because these nuts contain tryptophan. This is what your body forms serotonin. This happiness hormone displaces melatonin.

Conclusion

Winter is just around the corner and you get tired. This is quite normal and is related to the time change. Melatonin is released through the “longer” darkness, which is why we feel tired even after getting up. Vitamin D deficiency and diet also play a role in fatigue. The result of a vitamin deficiency and heavy eating is a loss of energy. Winter depression is rare, but possible. Look for other symptoms such as sadness and then see a doctor. Against fatigue help fresh air, an improvement in sleep quality and the change of diet.