← Dr. Trish Leigh Podcast
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If you've been feeling heavier, slower, or mentally foggier this winter, it might not be true organic depression. It might be an overstimulated brain. Most people assume it's seasonal depression, but for a lot of people, it's actually winter overload, a miswired nervous system that can't get the regulation that it needs. So if you feel low in energy or unmotivated or emotionally flat right now, there is a neurological explanation, and this is not your fault. Welcome back to another episode of the podcast with me, Dr. Trish Leigh. Today we are breaking down the difference between the true winter blues and a dysregulated brain. And then, of course, most importantly, what you can do to reset it. I was thinking about a line from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. You may have read it. It's very popular. And this is what the line says. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Now, that is a very important line. The winter season, when it comes around, it's where you can really feel all of that. You can feel your systems might not be working like they did in the other seasons, or they're just not working up to par. Your nervous system, your habits, your routines, your behaviors, all of that determines how you feel. And if your brain is stuck in strained brain or drain brain that we have talked about a bunch of times, you don't rise above winter. Your systems pull you back into survival mode for a few very important reasons that we will discuss. That's why at winter time, so many people mistake brain dysregulation for depression. So let us dive in to the deeper neurological reasons why this is happening now. I refer to it as the hijack. Right? The winter can hijack your brain in three major ways. Number one is during the winter, there's less sunlight, right? The sun doesn't come up as early, and it stays and it goes down earlier, sometimes by 4:30pm so when there's less sunlight, there's actually less dopamine and less serotonin. Your mood circuits basically lose their fuel. That can be very important because dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, that is the fuel of those reward circuits in your brain. Now, remember, we're trying to reset those pathways back to your real life. And if your real life is dark and cold, you this can be more difficult. Number two is because there's more isolation and there's less connection. For me, I've told you before, and I think I told you again last week when we Were talking about moving into holiday time. I always go on what my kids have called because I think it's a meme on my winter arc. And so what I'm naturally doing is creating a different rhythm for myself during the winter because I know I'm going to be home alone or just with my husband and. Or just my one daughter who's left now because the rest are in college. And it's going to be dark early. It's going to be cold. So I get up earlier, I make more projects, what I call executive function projects in my program. And so I get psyched about different things in my real life during the winter than I would in the summer, which it's more going out with my friends. All of these play into each other. So number two is there's more isolation and less connection. So even small reductions in social contact can impact your emotional regulation. So we're gonna have to make a plan for it. Number three is there's probably more digital stimulation. So we talked last week about the difference between slow dopamine and fast dopamine. Fast dopamine comes from those dopamine spikes. You get them from scrolling, sugar shopping, binging, and all of it miswires those reward pathways in your brain. Now, again, all three of these go together, right? Less sunlight, so you're getting out less, which means you're on your screens more. But this is what I want you to know. Winter doesn't inherently create depression. It weakens the brain systems that keep you regulated. This is a system issue. But you, my friend, have the power through neuroplasticity to upgrade that system. We will get there in a minute. That's the hijack. So the second thing I want to talk about is the miswiring. How does that miswire your brain during the winter? That overload can affect you at a true neurological level. So let's talk about this. You might feel an energy crash. Low dopamine equals lower motivation. So you just might have less energy. You might experience emotional blunting. Your nervous system goes into conservation mode, kind of like hibernation. That's why I go on my winter arc. You may have cognitive fog, lower prefrontal cortex activation. Now, if you're struggling from strained brain or drain brain, you inherently have lower prefrontal cortex activation. How would you have strained brain or drain brain? It could be from your screen use. Overall, we know all screens are supernormal stimuli. We know that exists on a continuum, so especially all the way up to social media and then explicit matter that will impact Your brain, and there's many scientific studies show that it decreases structure and function in the prefrontal cortex. Inherently less activation you may also experience in the winter because of these neurological changes. Some stress sensitivity, tiny things can feel completely overwhelming. If you feel overwhelmed, you are dysregulated. A regulated brain could never feel overwhelmed. You also might have more avoidance and numbing behaviors. Withdrawing, scrolling, procrastinating. Again, going back to the hijack. This is not a personality issue. It's neurophysiology. It's your nervous system that has been miswired by overstimulation and now is having even more difficulty dealing with winter and the changes that it puts on your nervous system, the changes in the challenges. So in my practice, which is a global online practice, I help people all over the world. I use brain mapping, and it's incredibly helpful. I can show you exactly what pattern your brain is stuck in. I can show you if you are using strain brain. Strained brain is a brain that's running too fast and too slow. The pendulum effect is how I call it in my book, mind over explicit matter. It's when you feel agitated and anxious and irritable. You feel exhausted and fatigued and stressed all at the same time. And if you stay in that mode too long, you tip into what I call drain brain. Drain brain is difficulty feeling calm and needing to go to something like explicit matter to make yourself feel good for a beat. It leads to numbness, flatness, lack of motivation. You may even feel frozen brain, right winter, it's getting icy out. Brains can shut down. Your brain can be locked in neuro rigidity of overwhelm, freeze mode and paralysis. Now, of course, the goal is what I call the green zone. It's balanced. You feel calm, you feel motivated, you feel clear. You sleep like a baby throughout the day. You're calm and focused. But if something stressful happens, you respond. You don't react. You're able to handle it and get back to business on that project that you set for yourself this winter. These are all really important aspects. So winter doesn't inherently cause depression like we've already talked about. Winter reveals the miswiring that has been there all year long. The brain map shows you what it looks like and what you need to correct it to rewire it to feel better. Now let's move into the rewire part. This is really important. I'm going to give you some strategies and tell you basically what your brain needs to offset this greater amount of dysregulation that can happen during Winter time. Then I'm going to give you your brain hack strategy. Now, we said less sunlight, more isolation, less. Less getting out, more screen time because of that. So if those are the problems, you know what I always say, where the problem is, so is the solution. So, number one, more light. Get some morning sunlight. You could also benefit from bright light therapy. We talked many times about how I use light to ease into my day, to brighten up my day and then ease out of my day. I have infrared lights that I use. I always have all my blind light blinds open, and I sit near windows to get natural sunlight. During these colder, shorter days, make sure you get exposed to sun. And I know you might live in a place like Buffalo, New York, where there's not a lot of sun. But like when I talked to my parents the other day and they told me out their window it was so sunny. And I asked them what the temperature was, and they said 17 degrees. Yep, it's still cold, but bright and sunny. And that goes a long way. Okay, that's number one, get some light, right? If there's less sunlight, get more of it when it's out. Number two, get slow dopamine connection. So we said isolation happens more. Then part of the solution is slow dopamine connection. That can be with yourself, your creativity, your purpose, and then, of course, with the people that you love. So creativity, do something that you enjoy. I went and made wreaths with my best girlfriends over the weekend. I'm going to put a photo of me. It was fake snow. Me in the snow with Chanel behind me and my wreath. It was, yes, it was a big greenery wreath when I started, but I decorated it. Not a thing I totally enjoy doing because I'm logical and analytical, and my favorite thing is to think about neuroscience. But the wreath was created and I had a really good time doing it. Number two or B on this is going to be movement. I move my body every single day. Your body is one of your greatest tools. Along with your mind. You have to protect those tools. Move the bod. Gratitude. Every day I look around and I am so grateful for the life that I am creating and the support that I have in it. Ritual. My precious dog, Chewbacca. He's going to be 12. Every year we discuss how old he actually is, and the kids think he's 13, but I'm pretty confident he's 12. Anyways, he's developed these anxious behaviors. He looks out the window, he barks randomly at nothing. The other night, he was licking the air, totally True story. Three o', clock, he licks his paws. Sometimes. Three. Finally, at three o', clock, and he's had to go out a couple times, I get up, I let him out. I'm exhausted, right? Because it's like having a baby. Three o', clock, he's licking, licking, licking. My husband turns the lights on to see what part of himself he's licking. He's not licking himself at all. He's licking the air. And I looked it up, and that's an anxious behavior sometimes because they feel nausea. But sometimes when dogs get older, they do this. So part of the recommended solution was more ritual. And the next thing that's coming up, but. So we made a plan. I made the plan. I got everybody else to agree to it, that we make sure he gets fed at the same time, we make sure he gets out for a walk at the same time. We make sure that, you know, he kind of has this grounding ritual. Our rituals are really grounded, but it has changed. There's a lot less people in the house, so he has a lot less stimulation. So we made a plan to give him more stimulation. Rituals are your friends. They are discipline. And, you know, I always talk about it as a flexibly scheduled life because, you know, you don't want to feel Uber locked into it, but at the same time, it grounds you. They're anchoring events. The next one is time outdoors. So we've got to get Chewbacca outside. You got to get yourself outside, even if it's cold. Get the proper gear. I've talked about it here before. Get a warm hat, get warm gloves, get long johns, get boots that are lined. Declan's going to Vermont on a ski trip, and we just got him and Saoirse because she rides horses. We got them heated vests. Yeah, they're an investment. But you know what? Now they can go outside and enjoy themselves without freezing their booties off. Get the right gear, and you can be outside and enjoy it. Especially if you're in a cold, you know, gray place like Buffalo. Even though they did win the game again last week. Right? Go Bills. Because they are on a roll and it snowed throughout. That entire game was an awesome game. Okay, rhythmic movement. Now, we talked about light movement. Rhythmic movement, especially if you're not doing it in a super stressed way, will engage the parasympathetics and help you rest and relax. Walking, stretching, yoga rhythm. Think of it like that. Any steady, patterned motion, it stabilizes dopamine and serotonin, and it can really help give your System a boost and engage that parasympathetic. More relaxation in the system. Number four, structured connection. One scheduled social check in every week. I meet the besties every weekend. We basically have been doing that since we became besties. And if we go two weekends, it's a stretch. So make sure you get it in there. Even small interactions count. So, you know, make sure you do it. If it's not scheduled, it's not real. Get it scheduled. 5. Sensory calm. Soft lighting. I already told you I use lighting very intentionally. Soft lighting in the morning really kind of brighten things up across the middle of the day. Soft lighting again in the evening. Warm textures. I told you about the artificial candles. I have minimal stimulation. Simpler spaces in winter to help your brain regulate, create calm in your home. It can really go a long way. Okay, so your winter doesn't need intensity, it needs rhythm. If you're wrapped up in the cycle of explicit matter, your brain's getting too much intensity. It's getting over stimulated. And then winter comes along and it's dark and there's more isolation and you might be tempted to go, you know, troll and scroll and seek, but this is a better option. The better option is to do this. Your brain hack of the day. Your four minute winter warmup in the morning. You ready for it? One minute of deep breathing and inhale for four counts and and exhale for six. One minute of sunlight or bright light. One minute of gentle movement and one minute of intentional connection. It can be a gratitude text, it can be a wave to a neighbor. It can even be just a micro interaction with someone in your home. All of this boosts serotonin, dopamine and vagal tone all at once. It will go so far you don't even realize how far four minutes can go. All right, so if you're not sure whether your winter slump is depression, overstimulation or a miswired nervous system, or if you are sure winter's impacting you more because of your explicit matter or your screen time habits, then a brain map will show you exactly what's going on. It reveals whether you're in brain, your brain's in strain brain drain brain or in freeze shutdown. And then you and I can meet. We can spend an hour together and I personally can tell you exactly what to do next. So go over to drtrishlead.com, check out the one on one clinic. Schedule A meeting with me. The first step is to talk with me anyway. So that would be wonderful. The link is here in the show notes. And as always, control your brain, or it will control you. Stay with me because next week on the Dr. Trish Lee podcast, we are going to talk about family of origin dysregulation that happens when you get together with your families. And I've got an awesome episode coming, so make sure you stay tuned and get yourself ready for your family holiday time. All right, I'll see you then.