"I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf"
Macbeth, Act V, Scene 3 Here, Macbeth reflects on the 'autumn' of his life, weary of the life he has made for himself and knows a final conflict lies ahead. The "autumn years" of one's life come with connotations of slowing down in retirement; "winter years" hint at hardship and "twilight years" hint the end is near. As darkness descends, coldness seeps in, we brace ourselves for the next few months of seasonal depression, gloominess and sad - BUT, WAIT! Does it have to be like this? How can we lift our spirits this autumn? Grab your pumpkin spiced latte and curl up with this issue of Pawsitive News (note: for UK autumn, this one!) |
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Reduce SAD with Sights, Scents, & SocialsSADPeople living with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience depression in patterns with the seasons, mostly in the winter months. It’s worth considering that living with seasonal affective disorder – a mental health condition – is different to simply favouring certain times of the year. There is a difference between feeling a bit blue and experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which BUPA says affects up to three in 100 people in the UK at some point in their lifetime.
“If you have SAD, the change in seasons has a much greater effect on mood and energy levels.” “Many people feel more cheerful and energetic when the sun is shining and the days are longer, or, conversely, when they’re eating more and sleeping longer in winter,” says Stephen Buckley, head of information at Mind. “But if you have SAD, the change in seasons has a much greater effect on mood and energy levels, leading to symptoms of depression that have a significant impact on day-to-day life.” The NHS lists low self-esteem, tearfulness, reduced sex drive, a loss of pleasure in activities or socialising, and feelings of despair and guilt as the most common SAD symptoms. Therapist and CPPC founder Caroline Plumer says your workplace might be able to provide measures to help if you have a diagnosis from your GP: “If you obtain a diagnosis, your HR department should be open to supporting you with measures such as allowing special equipment, like a SAD lamp.” So, what should we try to feel better as they navigate autumn?
Sights Thanks to the long, hot summer with below-average rainfall, Forestry England said, “Signs point to a particularly vivid display of reds, oranges and golds in the nation’s forests, lasting well into November, especially in northern regions...one of the most flamboyant autumn displays in recent years”. The Woodland Trust reports a bumper crop of acorns and beech nuts ("mast") this autumn; more jays, mice, squirrels and badgers will come out for the bounty, and a surplus of new trees will be expected next year. Buckley says that going for walks, particularly around midday or on bright days, can be effective in reducing symptoms: “Our survey of people with mental health problems found that spending time outside was the most popular way to cope… Spending time in parks or gardens, or simply sitting near a window can also help.” The Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean leaf-peeping drive has 10 scenic viewpoints, or Bedgebury Pinetum (Kent), Grizedale Forest (Cumbria) or Kielder Forest (Northumberland) are scenic UK hotspots. “On your walks, appreciate the beauty of the leaves changing colours, or the crisp blue of the sky. While this may be hard if you find winter particularly brutal, changing your attitude to one of gratitude can work wonders," says Plumer. Landscape photographers love autumn for the vibrant colours, soft golden light and atmospheric weather - find a photography workshop, or take photos on a stroll. Grab a scarf, a hot drink and get out in nature - it's proven to help mental health. While you're out, autumn brings more wildlife spectacles such as deer rutting, seal pups born, bird migrations and squirrels foraging for winter - find the best times and places with BBC Countryfile. Scents The scents of candles (try "oak and fallen acorn", gingerbread or winter spices), roaring wood fires in country pubs, and comfort cooking to make your house a warmer home in autumn. Declutter your summer wardrobe and go shopping for the new softer, cosy decor and fluffy knitwear and candles and fuzzy socks - all the nicer to curl up on the sofa in your oversized jumper with a good book or film, ready to hunker indoors and out of the cold for the next few months. Whether you decorate your living room, bedroom or even your front door, Etsy is full of cute and aesthetically pleasing Autumn decorations for the home. Or you can be really creative and make them yourself or with kids. Plus you can keep them for next autumn! Prepare for the festive season – decorate your home, bake Christmas treats, or plan gatherings – it all creates a sense of anticipation and optimism. Research indicates early planning for Christmas can increase overall happiness, giving us a psychological boost during these darker months. Focus on health - cooking nutritious comfort food, brighter walks earlier in the day & sleeping earlier. Order the pumpkin spiced latte! Or variations! Or cook up a root vegetable and squash soup—your body will thank you. Go to the pumpkin patch, apple-picking orchard or Christmas tree farm! But, the more time you spend indoors, the more lethargic we can feel - especially if you work from home. It's important to get outside in the winter sun, the daylight - take a pumpkin spiced latte and go for a walk first thing or at lunchtime. Setting out earlier might require adjustment in your work hours, but it's worth it to set up a more invigorating routine. Where will you go? Socials There are a whole host of outdoor events to attend during autumn time, such as local craft fairs and fireworks displays - or take up a new hobby to brighten the dark evenings, like dance classes! Don’t forget to check the local leisure centre for classes that take place in longer, darker evenings while connecting with new people. We may feel less connected to friends and family when days are shorter. If you feel you’re struggling or are worried about someone you care about, find out how to reach out for mental health support and what services are available to you. You can join The Happiness Club for a warm community around daily mental health boosts, from the comfort of your own home or on the go to fit your busy days. |
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Are things really better in the morning…?There is a clear time-of-day pattern in self-reported mental health and well-being; people generally wake up feeling their best and feel their worst around midnight.* Summer also shows better mental health across all measures. There is also an association with day of the week and season, with particularly strong evidence for better mental health and well-being in the summer.
“Generally, things do seem better in the morning,” UCL researchers have concluded. "Hedonic and eudemonic well-being have the most variation, and social well-being is most stable." The objective of this study was to assess time-of-day association with depression, anxiety, well-being and loneliness with a time-of-day analysis of nearly 1 million observations across mental health and well-being measures by day of week, season and year. Mental health and well-being change over the life course, months and weeks: "our findings indicate the importance of considering time, day and season in research design, analyses, intervention delivery, and the planning and provision of public health services." Mental health and wellbeing are dynamic in nature, and subject to change over short and long periods. However, few studies have looked at how they might change over the course of the day - and certainly not with this much data. The UCL Covid-19 social study gathered detailed repeated measurements from the same 49,000 participants across time over a 2-year period (March 2020–March 2022, 18.5 observation per person). They were asked questions such as: “In the past week, how happy did you feel?”, “How satisfied have you been with your life?”, and “To what extent have you felt the things you are doing in your life are worthwhile?” The results showed that happiness, life satisfaction, and worthwhile ratings were all higher on Mondays and Fridays than on Sundays, while happiness was also higher on Tuesdays. There was clear evidence of a seasonal influence on mood. Compared with winter, people tended to have lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and loneliness, and higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction and feeling that life was worthwhile in the three other seasons. Changes in mental health and wellbeing across the day might be explained by the physiological changes associated with the body clock, they suggested. “For example, cortisol [a hormone that regulates mood, motivation and fear] peaks shortly after waking and reaches its lowest levels around bedtime,” they said. However, they said the differences between weekdays and weekends may be driven by things such as the sequence of daily activities, which are likely to be different between weekends and weekdays. Factors such as age, health conditions and work were taken into account. Dr Feifei Bu, from UCL’s department of behavioural science and health, said: “This could have important practical implications. Researchers investigating people’s mental health and wellbeing should take into account the time of day people respond. Mental health support services might consider adjusting resources to match fluctuating needs across the day – for instance, prioritising late-night availability.” Neuroscientist TJ Power has come up with the DOSE method to find happiness in the modern world, especially in the mornings. "DOSE" stands for dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins — aka the chemicals that power our states of wellbeing. They all have very different effects on the body. Dopamine is credited with a general sense of wellbeing and motivation; oxytocin (often called the “bonding hormone”) rewards close interpersonal connections. Serotonin creates a feeling of emotional stability, while endorphins are the body’s antidote to inflammation and stress, activated mainly through exercise. We need a balance of all four. Put together, these chemicals are responsible for making us feel happy, connected, motivated and productive. However, our modern-day lifestyles are seriously harming them. “If you went back 50 years, these chemicals would be working a hell of a lot better,” Power says. “We had much more community. We were more connected. We spent more time outside. Our life was physically way more active.” Endorphins evolved to help us combat stress through physical action. “Nowadays we just remain sedentary all day, while these things stress us out more and more,” he says. “Having an understanding in our brain that we need to physically get stress out of our body through movement is really important, whether it’s walking or a gym workout.” Then there’s oxytocin. “We're always looking for the feeling of love and connection,” Power says. “The modern world is not ideal for building strong, connected relationships. We’re the loneliest we’ve ever been as a species.” He recommends interacting more with people: in your local community, friends and colleagues. If you ask the Finns, named happiest nation for the 8th year running, happiness is predominantly about having trust in your community, combined with resilience and realism. Things like saying good morning, having a chat with people on the dog walk: “having little moments of fleeting connection is really positive for our brain chemistry.” What's one thing we can do to start to feel the "DOSE" benefit? “The absolute number one place to start is what happens when you open your eyes first thing in the morning,” he says. Because the brain is programmed to look for dopamine — the reward chemical that social media is so good at generating in us — which usually means reaching for the smartphone. Apps like Instagram and TikTok hijack the body’s natural dopamine reward system — Power calls the result living in “dopamine land”. “When you’re living in dopamine land, you’re obsessed with constantly checking your phone,” he says. “You might be obsessively thinking about money. You might be struggling with sugar, alcohol, burnout, overwhelm, and your whole life is centred around quick pleasure via technology. In dopamine land, things like oxytocin might be going by the wayside.” He recommends going without the phone, especially in the mornings. (I know, I know. Me too.) He emphasises how normal this is now, so be kind to yourself, "but it is fueling a lot of overwhelming stress in our brain." “If we can learn to slightly delay the speed in which we experience dopamine via the phone, it’s very beneficial,” he says. Instead, splashing the face with cold water will boost dopamine levels; while any morning routines that delay the moment it gets picked up will help. Dopamine spikes when you pick up your phone, but crashes when you put it down. Plus, Power says, our phones are far more than a distraction: they’re taking us away from other things that could be more beneficial for us — “like hanging out with friends and socialising and chilling out and reading and creating. All the activities humanity used to do.” Power credits his own DOSE evolution to playing “high level golf” as a child, which came with a psychologist. “When I was 10, I started learning about how your brain works,” he says. In his teens, that was followed by an “addiction to dopamine and alcohol and phones”, and a “pretty significant period of grief”. Power put his neuroscience degree to use and “put myself on my own kind of DOSE protocol to try and sort out my brain health”. It worked, and the results are in his book The DOSE Effect: Everyday habits to balance your brain for a healthier, happier life.
*Findings need to be replicated in other studies that fully account for the potential bias of when people choose to respond to the surveys. The study: https://mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1/e301418
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Very happy via country, significant other or future self."Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, quite happy, not very happy, or not at all happy?" That's the question asked worldwide by the "Trust" study (Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Max Roser, Pablo Arriagada). Data was adapted from Integrated Values Surveys, including answers across 2004-2022. Just for you, readers of Pawsitive News, here I have your countries ranked by % of people who replied "very happy" or "quite happy": 92.9% (very or quite) happy - New Zealand (over 3% of readers) 91.5% (very or quite) happy - United Kingdom (over 60% of readers) 90.9% (very or quite) happy - France (over 1% of readers) 88.2% (very or quite) happy - USA (over 26% of readers) 87.8% (very or quite) happy - Portugal (over 1% of readers) 77.9% (very or quite) happy - Romania (over 1% of readers) Here are the top 10 countries by % of people who replied "very happy" or "quite happy" (sorry they're not you, readers! 😅) Vietnam 97.3% Kyrgyzstan 95.9% Iceland 95.1% Andorra 95.0% Tajikistan 94.4% Uzbekistan 94.3% Norway 94.1% Indonesia 93.8% Sweden 93.8% Northern Ireland 93.4%
I wonder if scores have drastically changed recently, with unprecedented worldwide changes. But aside from that, I wonder what makes us happy, universally. Some findings about that: A longitudinal study by Reiff et al tested whether making present decisions that benefit the future self leads to greater life satisfaction (a better-off future) or diminished life satisfaction (a less better-off present). The results were conclusive - robust to a number of alternative analyses: Cheng et al investigated the perceived similarities in emotional reaction between the self and a close other as a predictor of emotional well-being - participants rated how the self and close other (mother or self-nominated close other/social relationship) would react in various situations: When facing emotional events, similar emotions between two persons may provide shared knowledge and feeling of closeness, enhance perspective taking and empathy, and facilitate communication and solution. (Didonato, Bedminster, & Machel, 2013; Hatton et al., 2008). Merely knowing that someone is similar to the self increases positive affect and decreases stress (Tesser et al., 1998; Townsend et al., 2014). CITATIONS “Data Page: Share of people who say they are happy”, part of the following publication: Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Max Roser, and Pablo Arriagada (2016) - “Trust”. Data adapted from Integrated Values Surveys. Retrieved from [online resource] (archived on September 9, 2025). Reiff, J. S., Hershfield, H. E., & Quoidbach, J. (2019). Identity Over Time: Perceived Similarity Between Selves Predicts Well-Being 10 Years Later. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(2), 160-167. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619843931 (Original work published 2020 in Social Psychological and Personality Science.) Cheng, Y., & Grühn, D. (2015). Perceived similarity in emotional reaction profiles between the self and a close other as a predictor of emotional well-being. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33(6), 711-732. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407515590278 (Original work published 2016 in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.)
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Hope molecules.Dr. Kelly McGonigal shares ground-breaking research that shows how repeatedly contracting any muscles, through exercise, releases proteins called myokines. Scientists call them ‘hope molecules’. When muscles contract, they secrete chemicals into the bloodstream. Among these chemicals are myokines, which have been referred to as “hope molecules”. These small proteins travel to the brain, cross the blood-brain barrier, and act as an antidepressant. They do this by improving our mood, our ability to learn, our capacity for locomotor activity, and protect the brain from the negative effects of ageing.
"It's like a pharmacy in your muscles…anything you do that contracts them; walking, hiking, running, dancing, weightlifting, swimming, anything." - Dr. Kelly McGonigal What do "hope molecules" do for us?
Movement reshapes the brain, not just the body. Physical activity regulates mood-related chemicals including serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These brain chemicals are vital for emotional balance and mental well-being. When muscles contract during a workout, they signal to the brain to increase the production of feel-good chemicals which boost your mood and reduce stress. The "hope molecules" influence mood, motivation and resilience. They also promote sharper thinking and focus with neurogenesis; the creation of new brain cells and triggering neurons to grow and form new connections. That's why a good workout helps to clear your head or spark new ideas! FOR TEENAGERS Physically active teenagers in team sports have higher self-esteem and life satisfaction, particular senior high school girls. Also, there is a clear association between inactivity and poor mental health or self-harm for university students. FOR OLDER AGE Living independently for longer, and avoiding the need for residential care, is linked to consistent physical activity earlier in life. And, of course, helps us keep up with children and grandchildren! Movement reduces the risk of disease later in life - diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and cognitive decline e.g. Alzheimer's. That's because myokines have anti-inflammatory properties for a stronger immune system and a longer life. These hope molecules act like natural antidepressants, supporting mood, improving focus, and protecting long-term mental health. They’re also responsible for improved metabolism, reduced inflammation, and increased muscle strength. THE PHARMACY Exercise was found to be an efficacious treatment for depressive symptoms in this largest synthesis study. This has led to "social prescriptions" from GPs to spend more time outdoors, go for daily walks and combine physical activity with community engagement and medication. (And of course, exercise comes with less dangerous side effects). While "hope molecules" could be used in future medication for cognitive disease or mood disorders, for now the best way to get them is to move your body. Just movement alone creates an "internal pharmacy" with muscles dispensing mood-boosting, brain-enhancing hope molecules. What can you do right now? Pick one of four exercises: Strength training: lift weights, use resistance bands or do bodyweight exercises. Aerobic/cardio: run, cycle, swim or walk. Stretches: Yoga, pilates, and breathwork - yes, stretching activates muscles and releases myokines too. Play!! The more enjoyment in the movement, the more you'll do more of it, the more you'll amplify the benefit with consistency. Make it fun!
The hardest part is starting, but once you get going, the positive feedback loop comes from the hope molecules, influencing your motivation to do more. They also increase your ability to focus, stick to goals, and feel energized for the rest of the day. We are less inclined to go out when it's cold, dark and gloomy outside. We are more lethargic, the more time we spend indoors - especially when working from home, it's more important to try a brisk lunchtime walk, lift a weight, do some gardening or a little dance in your kitchen; the smallest or simplest of movements provides an immediate reset for your mood and brain. "Exercise, in whatever form, and for however long, just makes life better. I feel it myself after a walk up Arthur's Seat here in Edinburgh, a jog around the Meadows, or a sweaty hot yoga session in Leith," says Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh. "One of the most interesting health research projects of the past decade or so has looked at how exactly exercise makes us feel good. Research shows a clear scientific reason, that we can see at a cellular level."
"It’s not about being a certain weight or a certain size; it’s about keeping our bodies functioning and strong." - Devi Sridhar
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“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.” Doe Zantamata, happiness blogger. |
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