Do You Feel Like Curling Up under a Blanket for the Winter? Here’s Why
You may notice yourself feeling sleepy and dopey during the day over the winter months. If so, you probably wish you could hibernate all winter long.
Do you actually need more sleep during the winter?
Many sleep doctors would say that you should stick to a regular sleep routine no matter what the season.
The reasoning is that it is important to maintain a consistent sleep schedule in order to maintain your circadian rhythms – your internal biological clock that prescribes your daily behaviors, including when you feel awake and energized and when you sleep.
Despite this, people do sleep more on average during winter months in northern climes.
One study showed an increase of up to two hours during the winter compared to summer.
Our circadian rhythms are controlled by outside factors, most predominantly natural light.
During the winter we naturally want to slow down a bit, to retreat into our homes, and to comfort ourselves against the cold and dark with the warmth and stillness of taking a hot bath, sitting by a fire, or enjoying a good movie or book.
So perhaps our bodies know something that sleep experts don’t?
Our society is heavily biased against the idea of sleeping differently according to the season.
With the capacity to maintain indoor environments the same no matter what time of year, and with everything in civilization ticking along, regardless of what is going on outside, needing more sleep would be highly inconvenient.
However, there is a basic biological reason why we want to sleep longer during the winter months.
Why do we feel sleepier during the winter?
It’s all because of a lack of exposure to natural light.
There is less daylight available during winter months and, also, we are less likely to spend time outside. Depending on where you live and especially your latitude (how close you are to the North Pole), this difference could be quite extreme.
For example, where I live, in Ottawa, Canada, there are 7 hours less daylight on the shortest day of the year compared to the longest day of the year.
Daylight tells our bodies that it’s time to be active.
Daylight, and light in general, triggers us to produce the hormones we need to feel that “get up and go” required for daytime activity.
When we don’t have much exposure to daylight, we fail to produce enough activity hormones (like cortisol) and we continue to produce our “sleepy time” hormone, melatonin. This can cause us to feel sleepy during the day, especially during winter months with less exposure to light.
During winter, not only is there less available light - but we are also less inclined to get outside.
It's cold, it is dark in the mornings and evenings, and there are generally fewer places to enjoy the outdoors. No patio cafes, parks are not very inviting, and who wants to sit on their balcony in the freezing cold?
In fact, for most, the overall strategy when it comes to being outdoors in winter is to minimize this as much as possible.
Many people get practically no time at all outdoors during winter - it is possible to drive our cars from one indoor parking garage to another and avoid being outdoors altogether.
How much is too much sleep?
One outcome of being exposed to less light during winter months is Seasonal Affective Disorder, otherwise known as SAD.
People who experience SAD tend to sleep more on average than those who do not have this disorder. Whether this is an outcome of, or contributing factor to the development of SAD is unknown.
Although it doesn’t feel enjoyable, it is possible that SAD is actually a positive adaptation to a time when living in colder, darker conditions meant less available food.
An outcome of feeling depressed is not wanting to do much. Keeping still and staying in bed would keep energy needs to a minimum. It seems that this is exactly what happened in earlier times, documented in records from pre-industrial rural Europe.
What you can do to get more energy during the winter
Nowadays we no longer need to feel depressed all winter long in order to preserve scarce resources.
And although we get even less light than our ancestors did due to all our modern conveniences, we also have workarounds.
Whether you want to overcome the depression and apathy that comes with SAD, or just want to have more energy during winter, you can do this by exposing yourself to more light.
Here are three ways to fully wake up by getting more light during the day:
Get outside
Yup, it’s cold!
But you’d be surprised how a quick 10-minute walk in the morning can wake you up and get your body going.
You’ll get a three-fold set of benefits, daylight in your eyes, movement, and invigoration from cold air on your face. All three together will wake you up. Better than a cup of coffee, I promise!
Use a Light Therapy Lamp
Perhaps, like me, you live so far north that when you get up it's not even light yet in winter. You may also experience mobility issues with going outside – like the possibility of slipping on ice.
A light therapy lamp mimics daylight with full-spectrum light. This can be placed near where you are sitting to give you the light that triggers your body to know it’s time to send out “wake-up” hormones.
This is also a very effective therapy for people prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Ensure you have good ambient lighting during the day
If you spend your day in an office – either at home or at a workplace – make sure it is well-lit. Ideally, position yourself near a window and if that isn’t possible, get full spectrum light bulbs for overhead lighting.
We have moved on from times when “hibernating” all winter was a way to survive.
Now we can strike a balance between a natural slowing down that is an in-built seasonal rhythm - and the context within which we live in modern life.
We can do that by honoring both.
We can slow down a bit and sleep a bit longer during the winter.
We can also enliven ourselves by getting outside and also by exposing ourselves to daylight-mimicking technology.