12 Ways to Avoid Depression This Holiday Season

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Holiday Depression

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The holidays are meant to be a time of joy and connection, and for many, they are. Yet for others, the season stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day can bring an undercurrent of stress, loneliness, and grief that leads to holiday depression.

In this post, you’ll discover 12 brain-based strategies to protect your mental health and stay emotionally resilient throughout the holidays.

The season stretching from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day can bring an undercurrent of stress, loneliness, and grief that leads to holiday depression.,81wsAXZC

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WHY THE HOLIDAYS TRIGGER DEPRESSION

If you typically have trouble with your mental health during the holidays, you’re not alone. In an American Psychological Association survey, 89 percent of U.S. adults reported feeling holiday stress, with 41 percent experiencing more stress than usual, which can contribute to depression, holiday anxiety, and other issues.

If you have a mental health disorder, the holidays can be particularly challenging. Another holiday survey from the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) found that 64 percent of respondents with a mental illness reported their conditions worsen at this time of year.

There are a number of conditions unique to the holidays that, together, create a perfect storm of mental health challenges, including the following:

  • Unrealistic holiday expectations and financial pressure
  • Loneliness, grief, or strained family relationships
  • Disrupted sleep, overeating, and alcohol use
  • Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and shorter daylight hours

If left unaddressed, these conditions can steal your joy, undermine your well-being, and trigger self-defeating behaviors that can spoil the season. However, the great news is that you can learn to manage or avoid holiday depression by following these easy-to-implement strategies.

Related: 4 Ways to Beat the Seasonal Blues

12 BRAIN-BASED WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY DEPRESSION

1. Keep Your Brain in a Routine

Think about your brain health and holidays together. When your brain is healthy, your holiday is happy.

Foundational to brain health and beating holiday depression is making sleep, diet, and exercise a priority. Consistent practice of these fundamental tenets of good health, plus routine, are linked to healthy brain function and improved mental health.

In a published study, researchers propose the trifecta of healthy eating, physical activity, and sleep hygiene (HEPAS) as a viable intervention to reduce the risk of developing depression and other mental health disorders. HEPAS is even presented as an essential part of treatment for depression and other mental health disorders.

Additionally, research shows how important a healthy routine is to mental wellness. The brain thrives with routine as your daily habits with respect to rest, diet, and exercise help to minimize uncertainty. This calms the brain’s anxiety control center and allows the frontal cortex to focus on consequential tasks like decision-making.

2. Don’t Skip Sunlight or Vitamin D

Our bodies synthesize vitamin D when our skin is exposed to the sun. During the fall and winter when there are fewer hours of daylight and more time is spent indoors, vitamin D levels tend to go down, along with your mood. Low vitamin D levels are linked to depression, research shows.

But that’s not all. Sunlight impacts certain key hormones too. Less sunlight can cause an overproduction of melatonin and reduced levels of serotonin, which may contribute to depression as well.

These conditions can put you at risk of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is a form of depression believed to come about when brain biology is impacted by too little (or sometimes too much) exposure to sunlight.

You can protect against seasonal depression and support a balanced mood by ensuring you get morning sunlight on your skin for 10-15 minutes (sans sunscreen). If you can’t get sunlight, bright light therapy (BLT) has been a first-line treatment for SAD for several decades. With BLT, patients sit in front of a special light box for a set amount of time each day, often in the morning at home.

BLT can help other types of depression, too. A recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry found BLT to be an effective supplementary treatment for depressive disorders other than seasonal depression.

You can also supplement with a quality vitamin D3, shown to be the most effective form of vitamin D in helping to relieve depressive symptoms. Many health experts suggest 2,000-5,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day for optimal health.

Related: How Bright Light Therapy Improves Moods, Focus, and Sleep

3. Watch Your Alcohol and Sugar Intake

If you want to avoid depression during the holidays, alcohol and sugar are not your friends.

Both substances impact your brain function negatively, which can worsen anxiety, mood swings, and fatigue.

Both provide a temporary rush of good feelings (both trigger a release of the feel-good neurohormone dopamine), but the cost to your mental well-being is high.

High sugar consumption is linked to depression due to its effects on blood sugar, brain inflammation, and neurotransmitter balance. Sugar causes blood sugar spikes and crashes that can lead to irritability and fatigue, while longer term high-sugar intake increases chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance.

These all negatively impact brain function and are linked to an elevated risk of depression and anxiety. A 2024 BMJ study involving more than 18,000 U.S. adults found that 100 g/day of dietary sugar intake was associated with a 28% higher prevalence of depression!

When you consume alcohol, initially, it increases serotonin and dopamine levels, creating a temporary euphoric feeling. However, when the alcohol wears off, these levels drop below normal, resulting in a depressed mood.

To maintain a balanced mood, keep your sugar and alcohol intake to a minimum during the holiday season.

4. Focus on Connection, Not Perfection

Do you typically have high expectations for the holidays? Are you perfectionistic about things being a certain way? If so, you ‘re not alone. A Harris Poll found that 44 percent of more than 2,000 U.S. adults surveyed reported that they strive for perfection during the holidays and 32 percent say their high expectations are usually met with disappointment.

Despite what ads, movies, and social media posts depict, there is no such thing as a perfect, Hallmark holiday, although there may be moments that feel like it. Adjust your expectations to what is real.

The APA survey research noted earlier clearly shows that the holidays are a mixed bag. More than 40 percent of U.S. adults used both positive and negative words to describe the holidays, and more than 70 percent said the holiday season can feel bittersweet.

Let go of perfectionism by letting go of what you cannot control. Base your happiness on your own attitude and actions, not on other people’s moods.

Embrace a “good enough” mindset instead of perfection. Focus your energy on meaningful time spent with loved ones over perfect gifts, decor, or appearances that break the bank and increase stress.

When mishaps happen, such as weather delays, canceled plans, a burnt pot roast, or Uncle Fred drinking too much, take it as an opportunity to be flexible (or maybe fodder for a funny story!).

5. Practice Thought Hygiene (Kill the ANTs)

Did you know that every thought you have triggers the release of neurochemicals, which are involved in rewiring your brain? It’s true.

Negative thoughts can cause your brain to immediately release chemicals that affect your body’s cells and make you feel bad. Conversely, a pleasant or positive thought triggers the release of chemicals that make you feel good.

If you are a perfectionist or struggle with depression, it’s likely you have a lot of automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), particularly the “all-or-nothing” type of ANTs (thinking that things are either all good or all bad) and “just the bad” ANTs (seeing only the bad in a situation).

Research indicates that reframing negative thoughts can reduce depressive symptoms. You can start exterminating your ANTs by challenging them with these four questions based on the work of Byron Katie:

  1. Is it (the negative thought) true?
  2. Can I absolutely know that it is true?
  3. How do I react when I think that thought?
  4. Who would I be without that thought? Or, how would I feel if I didn’t have that thought?

Eliminating ANTs reduces overwhelm, lifts mood, strengthens relationships, and creates lasting emotional resilience. It’s one of the keys to rewiring the brain for greater positivity and happiness.

6. Move Your Body, Even Briefly

If you want a near immediate mood lift, exercise is your best bet as it boosts feel-good neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. It also helps to regulate the stress hormone cortisol keeping anxiety in check, improve sleep, boost self-esteem, provide a positive distraction from life’s troubles, and offer opportunities to socialize. 

In fact, research shows that exercise is as effective at reducing depressive symptoms as an antidepressant! It’s no wonder mental health experts suggest it as an alternative or adjuvant treatment for non-severe depression in adults.

7. Protect Your Sleep

There’s a strong connection between disrupted sleep and depression. Roughly 75 percent of people with depression also have insomnia, research shows – and the association is bi-directional, meaning it goes both ways.

During the hectic holiday season, it’s easy to skimp on sleep or get dysregulated with sleep when traveling through time zones, which can worsen your mood and make you more irritable.

8. Practice Gratitude Daily

Training your mind to look for gratitude will increase your sense of well-being during the holidays. People who express gratitude regularly are more positive, healthier, better at working towards goals, and more helpful to others.

Focusing on the things you’re thankful for helps to calm the deep limbic or emotional areas of your brain, research has found. To cultivate gratitude, simply write down three things that you’re grateful for every day.

9. Eat for a Better Mood

People attend an average of three holiday events between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. While you may have a second helping of stuffing or an extra slice of pie at these holiday gatherings, don’t abandon healthy eating on all the other days of the season!  

To protect against depression, aim for balanced eating that provides steady energy and essential nutrients. That means consistently eating power-packed meals and snacks with plenty of the following:

  • Fiber-rich foods (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes)
  • Healthy fats (especially omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish, leafy green, nuts and flaxseed oil)
  • Fermented foods (sauerkraut, low-fat yogurt and kefir, and kimchi)
  • Clean protein (fatty fish, lean meats, nuts, and moderate amounts of low-fat dairy)

This will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels and prevent the energy crashes that can trigger fatigue, mood swings, and poor concentration.

Of course, limit or bypass foods associated with increased risk of depression such as sugary foods, refined carbohydrates, processed foods, artificial sweeteners, and foods high in saturated fats.

10. Plan Ahead and Set Boundaries

Spreading yourself too thin doing things you don’t really want to do will harm your mental well-being. Be vigilant with your boundaries, especially if you tend to be a people-pleaser. People-pleasing puts you at higher risk for anxiety and depression. 

Protect yourself by planning ahead and saying “no” to commitments that drain your energy this holiday season. Although it can be momentarily difficult, setting boundaries by saying no will help your mental well-being in the long run.  

If you tend to be a people pleaser, consider abstaining from accepting invitations or volunteering your help for anything without discussing it first with another person, preferably someone who understands your people-pleasing tendencies. 

Related: 6 People-Pleasing Behaviors to Avoid During the Holidays

11. Reach Out for Support

As humans, we have a fundamental need for social interaction. Dealing with loneliness during the holidays is essential to your mental health.

It’s important to reach out to individuals who can offer you encouragement and support, whether that is trusted friends, family members, or community or religious leaders. Spending time in a positive community or fellowship of like-minded people is a wonderful way to boost your bliss hormones, such as oxytocin.

Be careful about being too isolated over the holiday period, even if you are feeling vulnerable.

Though isolating yourself during tough times may feel like the safest option when you are feeling blue or anxious, closing yourself off from the world can make your mental health worse.

Indeed, researchers note that social isolation is a risk factor for worsening anxiety and depression. Reach out to your support network. If your mood dips alarmingly low, do not hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional or go to your local emergency room.

12. Remember: It’s OK to Feel

The holidays are typically filled with a mix of emotions. Statistics from the APA holiday stress survey mentioned earlier also found that even though 80 percent of respondents think of the holidays as fun, joyous and exciting, 63 percent describe it with negative words such as stressful, overwhelming, or exhausting. Let yourself feel it all.

WHEN TO SEEK HELP FOR HOLIDAY DEPRESSION

We all may get a bout of low mood during the season, but if you find you’re having trouble coping with the holiday blues, it may be clinical depression. It’s important to get professional help as soon as possible if you experience any of the following signs of depression most of the day, nearly every day for two weeks or longer:

  • Feelings of sadness, emptiness, tearfulness, or hopelessness
  • Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small things
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in things people typically enjoy, such as sex, sport, or hobbies
  • Changes in appetite causing weight loss or increased food cravings and weight gain
  • Restlessness, anxiety, or agitation
  • Disturbed sleep, including insomnia or sleeping too much
  • General tiredness and lack of energy, making even as small task difficult
  • Slowed speaking, thinking, or body movements
  • Feelings of guilt or low self-esteem; fixating on past failures or self-blame
  • Difficulty thinking, concentrating, remembering things, and making decisions
  • Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide
  • Unexplained physical issues, such as back pain or headaches

If you recognize any of these signs, reach out to a qualified mental health professional as soon as possible. Early and appropriate treatment based on accurate diagnosis is critical to successful treatment.

HAPPIER HOLIDAYS TO YOU!

The great news is that you don’t have to dread the holidays. Give yourself the gift of prioritizing your mental well-being. By caring for your brain and reaching out for professional support, if needed, you can protect your mood, enjoy more peace, and create meaningful moments that truly matter.

FAQ About Holiday Depression

Here’s how to discern whether you are experiencing a temporary bout of low mood or if you might have holiday depression.

Temporary Low Mood/Stress

  • Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, fatigue, or low mood
  • Often related to a specific life event or stressor
  • Fleeting, short-term
  • You can still enjoy activities, even if temporarily lessened
  • You can still function in daily life
  • Mood recovers with changing circumstance or over time

Holiday Depression

  • Depressed mood (sadness, tearfulness, low mood) or significant loss of interest in activities you normally enjoy
  • Changes in sleep or appetite, and difficulty concentrating
  • Persists at least two weeks
  • Triggered by stress or circumstances, but has a brain-based or genetic link too
  • Substantial difficulty doing normal daily activities or routines

Yes, holiday depression can be managed or prevented by ensuring consistent adequate sleep, brain-healthy nutrition, enjoying social connections, exercising, and recognizing and eliminating negative thinking.

At Amen Clinics, we understand that depression is a brain disorder. Our clinics use brain SPECT imaging, which measures blood flow patterns, to help our clinicians identify and treat underlying causes.

Our brain-imaging studies have revealed that there are different types of depression, each requiring a tailored approach for treatment. This data, plus additional diagnostic testing, allows our clinicians to customize an effective treatment plan for you.

Treatment for holiday depression may involve lifestyle interventions, nutritional supplements, innovative therapies, and medication (when necessary) geared to balance your brain and brighten your mood.

Amen Clinics

Founded in 1989 by double-board certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist Daniel G. Amen, MD, Amen Clinics Inc. (ACI) is known as the best brain and mental health company in the world. Our clinical staff includes over 50 healthcare specialists, including adult and child psychiatrists, integrative (functional) medicine physicians, naturopaths, addiction specialists, forensic psychiatrists, geriatric psychiatrists, nutritionists, licensed therapists, and more. Our clinicians have all been hand-selected and personally trained by Dr. Amen, whose mission is to end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health. Over the last 35-plus years, ACI has built the world’s largest database of functional brain scans—over 250,000 SPECT scans on patients from 155 countries—related to how people think, feel, and behave.
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