Happy days

Nothing banishes the winter blues like a blustery stroll on the sands says Janet Deacon

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A recent report by global public opinion and data company YouGov suggests that two-thirds of the UK population feel significantly less happy in the winter than they do in the summer, with around one in three of us genuinely struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder, otherwise known as the winter blues.

The long, dark days, the cold and the damp: they’re all more manageable towards the end of the year when we have the festivities of Christmas to add sparkle to our days.

But come the beginning of a new year, when spring seems like a far-distant prospect, and some of us find it hard to cope.

While some pooh-pooh SAD, as it’s known, as a first-world problem, the NHS takes it seriously – and the good news is that one of the NHS’s main suggestions to combat SAD is ‘lifestyle measures – including getting as much natural sunlight as possible, exercising regularly and managing your stress levels’.