2 Ways to Cope With the ‘Sunlight Blues’ When DST Steals All the Daylight

The warm, golden light of September and October can make fall feel glorious. But once early November comes around and we have to turn our clocks back, everything starts to look a little, well, dark. The end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and onset of shorter, darker days often means we wake up to a pitch black sky and get off work long after the sun sets around 4 or 5 p.m. Unsurprisingly, this can have an effect on our mood—a concept explored in a new national survey by Talker Research.

The survey—published in October 2024 and commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress—found 2 in 5 Americans experience a sense of dread, also known as the “Daylight Saving scaries,” when preparing to change the clocks back in November. Fifty-four percent of employed survey respondents also admitted they get the “sunlight blues” after a time change because they’re at work during all hours of daylight.

This doesn’t mean you’re doomed to feel terrible until March, though. There are ways to embrace the coziness of the season, and make the most of the sunlight we still have, to fight off the “sunlight blues.” We talked to a licensed therapist to learn how.

Keep in Mind

If you have depression and it’s interfering with your daily life, reach out to a trusted doctor or mental health professional for support. They can suggest talk therapy, medication, or a combination of the two to help improve your mood and bring you back to baseline. You are not alone.

Why do we feel the ‘sunlight blues?’

While the “sunlight blues” isn’t an official diagnosis, feeling down or sluggish in response to darker days definitely ties into seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. In fact, a May 2017 study in Epidemiology¹ found the transition from DST to standard time is associated with an 11 percent increase in cases of depression.

This is because sunlight exposure plays a major role in helping you feel awake and alert, while the onset of darkness signals the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. These changes can cause shifts in your circadian rhythm, which may contribute to symptoms of SAD (i.e., sadness, depression, low energy, or loss of interest in your usual activities), according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

That said, you don’t necessarily have to have SAD to feel bummed out by this shift. Shorter, darker days (even if they’re still pretty warm where you live) often mean more time spent at home and less time adventuring. And that can be a downer for a lot of us. “Even in sunny California, where there’s plenty of vitamin D to be had, the loss of summer fun can be daunting,” says Laura Rhodes-Levin, LMFT, founder of The Missing Peace Center for Anxiety in Agoura Hills, California.

Tips for handling the ‘sunlight blues’

There are a couple routes you can take to avoid succumbing to the “sunlight blues” over the next few months. The first involves simply embracing the cozy, slowed-down pace that this time of year brings. The other is trying to get more of that feel-good sunlight wherever you can. Here are some top tips from Rhodes-Levin:

Just say ‘yes’ to the darkness

You can’t change the season, so you might as well embrace it. “Join the Earth in powering down and getting cozy. Conserving energy and finding ways to connect in a playful way indoors is not a bad thing!” Rhodes-Levin says. Basically, this is the time to go full-on hygge—a Danish word that refers to a sense of coziness and contentment, per Merriam-Webster. Some ideas to make that happen:

• Make your space warmer and more inviting—candles! a comfy blanket!—so you want to come home and chill at the end of the day.
• Pick a warm, comforting dinner recipe that you can take your time making, because there’s nowhere to go anyway (but still invite some friends to come share).
• Make a classy vintage jazz playlist that feels like you’re sitting by the fire, even if you don’t actually have a fireplace.
• Bundle up and take a walk after dark with a friend (or a good podcast), preferably with a mug of tea or hot cocoa.
• Make a list of books to get through before spring, and carve out time to read every night.
• Take more hot baths.
• Write letters to friends who live far away instead of texting them.

Get sunlight where you can

“Going outside is always important for mental and physical health,” says Rhodes-Levin. While you might need to be a little more strategic about finding sunlight, getting out when you can will boost your energy and your vitamin D levels, a vitamin that’s essential for your immune system, bones, and brain health, per the NIH. Even if the sun is behind a layer of clouds, you can still reap the benefits of its weaker rays.

Here’s what Rhodes-Levin suggests:

• Go out when it’s nice and bright. Head out for a walk before breakfast or during your lunch break. Sun exposure ramps up your levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, which brings on a sense of positivity, calm, and focus, per the National Library of Medicine. It’ll help you sleep better at night, too, because serotonin serves as a precursor to melatonin production at night, according to an October 2021 research article in Biological Sciences².
• Invest in a sunlight lamp. Light therapy boxes mimic outdoor light, and spending 20 to 30 minutes in front of one can actually trigger mood-boosting chemical changes in your brain. You’ll get the biggest benefit when you use the lamp within an hour of waking up and keep it 16 to 24 inches from your face, the Mayo Clinic says. Look for a model with at least 10,000 lux of light. We recommend options like the VeriLux Happylight Lumi Plus ($39.99, Amazon) or the Caromolly Light Therapy Lamp ($49.99, Amazon).
• Plan a trip somewhere sunny. We understand this isn’t always feasible, but if you can swing it, taking a trip somewhere sunny may temporarily improve your mood and well-being, especially if you’re dealing with SAD. This could look like taking a quick weekend trip somewhere warm or booking an extended stay in a far-off tropical destination. The act of simply looking forward to an upcoming vacation can be a mood boost, even if your current location is dark and dreary.