Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and moreStay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more With the nights drawing in, it’s easy to get the winter blues – but the garden can help ease those dark days and help those with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), experts say.“Gardening is one of those amazing tools to have over autumn and winter,” says clinical psychologist and SAD sufferer Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald, whose new book The Gifts Of Winter aims to help people uncover seasonal joy, rebuild energy and reconnect with others.Gardening has help with her own struggles with SAD, she agrees.“Gardening gave me hope in winter. I used to observe winter through a misted-up window, cranking the heating up and thinking, ‘I can’t wait for this (period) to be over’.“It was getting dogs and going out in the garden with them in the morning and spending time outside in nature which served as a reminder that there’s so much growth happening in this season and that winter arrives on the shortest day and every day it brings a little more light. Gardening brought me in tune with that.”Fitgerald says there are three components which can affect your mood, winter blues or SAD, where gardening can really help.Serotonin production“We rely on serotonin to feel good and without it our mood takes a dip. This is lowered over autumn and winter, partly due to a lack of vitamin D but also due to lots of different factors.”She says that physical contact with soil brings us into contact with a bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae which helps the brain produce more serotonin, generating more feel-good hormones in your brain.You don’t have to have your hands in the soil for hours on end to feel the benefit, she stresses.“It’s more about frequency rather than length of time,” says Fitzgerald. “It’s not a case of, if I put my hands in the soil for an hour I’m going to get more benefits than five minutes. It’s more that regular contact with bacteria. Get your hands dirty to feel better.”Stress hormone reductionThe reduction of cortisol, your stress hormone, can be brought about by being in nature, she points out.“When we are very anxious or stressed or inflamed with lots of cortisol, anxiety and depression are best friends. Where one goes, the other follows.“Contact and being in nature is shown to reduce cortisol, so just being outside, being among plants and the natural cycle of life, can reconnect you.“In autumn and winter we really lose touch with the rhythm of nature’s heartbeat, even though our lives don’t really change. We get up for work at the same time, if it’s dark we put the lights on, nothing really influences our rhythms.“Yet when you’re outside in nature, gardening really reconnects you with that seasonal living and you get that reconnection with nature.”Dopamine hit“The production of dopamine in the brain comes from a sense of satisfaction. We know that if we grow something on a windowsill, or nurture a plant that was maybe looking a bit sorry for itself and manage to give it another zest for life, that sense of satisfaction gives us a dopamine hit in the brain.“Our relationship with dopamine these days is a bit skew-whiff because smartphones have wreaked havoc with out dopamine receptors. So when we have an end product and a sense of satisfaction, it gives our brains a feel-good boost.”Planting bulbs and preparing your garden, even just doing a little bit of tidying, can bring a sense of satisfaction, she says.Tips on alleviating the winter bluesGet out thereJust walking around the garden in autumn and winter can help manage your mood, says Fitzgerald.“We are really missold winter because we are told it is a dead, barren season when nothing happens. It’s just not true. If you walk around your garden in January or February you start to notice tiny buds, tiny spurts of growth.“We all celebrate the beauty of spring but that growth didn’t happen overnight. All that development happens over winter, very gently. That time in the garden realigns us. It changes our winter mindset.”Find a winter wellbeing calendarThe UK gardening for health charity Thrive has a winter wellbeing calendar specifically tackling the fact that it’s a particularly difficult time for many people.“There are so many different activities you can do, from winter nature photography to cloud spotting or making frozen plant art,” suggests Milly Sell, information service lead at the charity.Take exercise outdoors“As the shorter days kick in, it’s tempting to snuggle up, hibernate and be more sedentary, but a bit of movement – it doesn’t have to be heavy physical activity – even things like a short stroll around, will release endorphins, which support mental wellbeing and reduce that sense of fatigue that can come in the winter months,” says Sell.Find motivation“Motivation is a huge question when the weather isn’t appealing,” Sell agrees. “A good tip is to think small.“Sometimes there’s this idea that if you are going out to do something it has to be something big or lengthy. But sometimes, just put a coat on, stand in your outdoor space and look around.“What often happens to people is that once you start doing the thing, then the motivation follows. Start it small. Be kind on yourself and the expectations of what you are going to achieve.”It might be as simple as breaking the ice on a birdbath, or topping up your bird feeders, but it will get you outside.“You may not be digging a new bed in winter, but you can go and check and enjoy seeing what the garden is giving and sometimes it surprises you with the colours and what’s actually growing. Some flowers bloom through the winter, then you get those little heralds of spring which can be really uplifting.”Join communitiesCommunity gardens, allotments and gardening clubs are a good place to connect with others, especially if you feel isolated in winter, says Sell.“You might want to sort through your seeds and do a seed swap with people or get together with others to visit a winter garden,” she suggests.The Gifts Of Winter by Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald is published by Penguin Michael Joseph, priced £16.99. Available now
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How gardening can help banish the winter blues
