How to stay upbeat during the dark evenings

Staying positive during winter 

Our productivity shouldn’t be dictated by daylight, as demotivating as darkness can be. Setting an early alarm and sticking to a routine will give you much more get up and go, however you choose to fill your schedule. Buy yourself an extra half hour of time in the morning and invest it into doing something you love. It’s an easy way to make the whole day feel more fulfilling. 

Home workouts and gym classes are two great activities to do first thing – or alternatively, fit them in later in the day. Making time to move is really important. Exercise warms up the body, while giving you a much needed energy boost when it might be more tempting to retreat back to bed. This doesn’t have to mean a high-intensity session – even a brisk walk round the park will fire up those endorphins and significantly improve your mood.

Then there’s making the most of the weekends. Get out in the great outdoors, and make up for those lost hours – it’ll charge you up with positivity for the week ahead. Taking control of your schedule allows you to work around the light we do get, and get that comforting coming home feeling without resenting more time inside.

Things you can do on dark winter evenings

Feeling uninspired by a scroll through Netflix in the same old spot? Here are some ways you can take your winter evenings up a level.

Make the most of the light we have

Being told to get outdoors only goes so far when the rain is pouring down and the temperatures are near freezing. Sometimes it just isn’t an inviting option. It’s why it’s hugely beneficial to make sure you’re getting as much daylight into your home as possible. Natural daylight helps our circadian rhythm, so as well as simply stopping you feeling overwhelmed by darkness, it will help you sleep better and wake up easier.

The first steps to doing this are simply making sure light’s getting through your windows. That goes beyond opening the curtains in the morning – give any surrounding plants a trim to make sure they’re not obscuring any light, and freshen up the windows with a good clean. A great interior decor tip is to hang mirrors on walls opposite large windows – then the sun’s rays will bounce off the mirrors and multiply around the room.

Then there’s the option of changing your windows and doors entirely. Some just aren’t big enough to let a lot of a light in, when there’s alternatives that flood the room with sun – a perk in both the winter and summer months. Think large French windows, sliding patio doors, or even a full conservatory for a real sun trap. Of course, different solutions will suit some spaces more than others – so if you’re unsure of what would work best for your home, feel free to get in touch with the Otter Windows team.

Try and incorporate one or two of these ideas into your routine to fight your way through the winter blues. Summer will be back before we know it!