How do you manage cabin fever and/or winter blues?
It has been a very long, cold winter throughout much of the US. Often in places that are not used to such extremes. It can lead to anxiety, feeling claustrophobic etc. What are the best ways to deal with feelings of cabin fever and winter blues for those who are not used to this kind of weather?
Honestly, distractions, unlike a fear of heights, you can't really conquer cabin fever, the longer your stuck in small places, the worse it gets, so taking up something to fill your time is effective. What to do depends on who you are, you could try reading books, writing books, taking up sewing, learning to program, almost anything thats not outdoor related. When I have been trapped in small spaces for long amounts of time in the past, I have refined my woodwork skills, its really just a matter of what you enjoy.
Try a few things, see what works, you find something you like and you will pass the season in no time. Good luck.
Funny when I lived up North I had winter cabin fever; now down in the subtropics I get summer cabin fever because it's too hot to venture out June-Sept.
I guess I start by preparing for it, I like to make the house clean and organized and get whatever I need to make me comfortable ready.
In the winter it helps to get light and fresh air, maybe if the day is bright enough just sit by the window (that whole melatonin thing), open it a crack. And then when it gets bad it helps to exercise, to stretch and get moving. Then do things to take your mind off it.
Good luck hon! As your hibernation period wears off, mine is going to be starting!
Even though I don't like shopping, if I really need to get out of the house I'll drive to one of the local malls so I can walk around and have things other than the house to look at. This year, I've been doing some redecorating and I'm also drawing out landscaping plans. As William pointed out, they're all distractions that keep me from thinking too much about being stuck inside.
Good question ChristinS,
I live in Canada and I know what you are talking about. It gets cold here and stays cold for a long time with huge snow drifts, lots of slush, icy roads and tripping hazard icy sidewalks (going for a walk can be scary). The sidewalks are so icy and if you walk on the grass, the snow is up to your knees. The bitter wind bites your cheeks and nose. I wear ski pants and a big, puffy jacket and always a toque.
For me, I play Christmas music. I bought the Peanuts Christmas album (I got it using my airmiles points). It makes the cold winter weather seem sparkly and beautiful. Or play another type of music that is special in some way.
Also, watching something special. TV can be overwhelming because of all the commercials but if you have any favourite shows that are comforting (on DVD), you can watch one or play it while you do the dishes. I like 'Little House On The Prairie". Or something funny like "Corner Gas", a crazy Canadian comedy.
I also like buying fresh flowers; they are so pretty. They remind me of the spring to come and they brighten up a gloomy day.
I grew up and lived most of my life in Southern California so except for the years I lived in the mountains there was never "shut in" cold. If I were still in the US I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I lived in Colombia for 3 years in the city of Medellin which is called the "City of Eternal Spring" which is pretty accurate. It sits at 4000' in the Andes almost on the equator so the weather never changes and is close to a spring day.
Now I live in the Philippines and the closest we get to cabin fever is during the monsoons when it rains for weeks at a time. But it is just wet, not cold. If I get too antsy I just go out in the rain. But we usually get a couple of days break every week to do the shopping etc.
In summation I would say that my answer to cabin fever is to leave. Go someplace warm, preferably the tropics ;-)
Get some UV lamps for in your home during winter months. This is commonly known as LDD or light deficiency disorder, the body does not get enough sunlight so it gets less vitamin D, and this severely decreases melatonin levels causing feelings of sadness, and lethargy. This is probably a great part of the reason so many people put on a lot of weight over winter months...and here we are blaming the turkey lol.
I used to get very depressed and feel unmotivated, but since I started using the UV lamps (they sell them at most pet stores for reptiles) winter no longer bothers me, and I have no problem staying motivated for work, exercise etc.
Give it a try.
We have had over 5 snow/cold days so the kids are ready to have a routine. We are using the "earning your TV time" method. The kids have to do something active to earn TV time. This helps them not become so grouchy when they sit and watch screens all day (we have a Kindle fire so they can watch on it too, but TV is TV no matter the size of the screen).
Basically I agree with WiccanSage- a clean house helps, and cleaning the house helps too. Doing as much as you can physically helps deal with the winter blues. Cabin fever is seriously taking over our household, so any thoughts and suggestions would be great!
Since our bodies don't really know what is real and what is imagined (you know....think about sucking on a lemon and your will start to salivate), I recommend getting comfy and closing your eyes and let your imagination run wild....me on a lovely tropical beach, breeze through my hair, a cool fruity drink in my hand, the sound of the waves lapping on the shore, the sound of children laughing and playing in the water, the feel of the sweet warm sun on my tan shoulders, ahhhhhhh....
It is a serious problem for me. I find that I when I write fiction, it lifts me out of the depression. I become excited about the story and adding this or that, or editing and it keeps my mind busy and gives me something to look forward to.
by Christin Sander 13 years ago
How do you deal with "spring fever" or "cabin fever" or SAD in the winter months?I notice about this time of year I start to get really antsy to be outdoors more (fortunately this is a mild winter) but in very cold months sometimes the cabin fever and longing for more...
by Daniel Carter 15 years ago
I'm just passing this along, and there may be some other really useful and helpful info from the rest of you as well.Winter blues is often related to two things: lack of vitamin D due to lessened amounts of sunlight, and not enough healthy fats like omega 3's. The reason omega 3's are important is...
by papillonsea 13 years ago
What do you do to beat the winter blues?
by Kyle Kuriatnyk 10 years ago
Are you ready for the frigid cold winter?
by pigfish 15 years ago
What do you do to fight the winter blues? And I'm not looking for the typical, medical answers. What do you really do to cheer yourself up when it's cloudy and glum outside for months on end. I need some ideas!
by craftybird 13 years ago
Is cabin fever real?With the winter blues, I was wondering if this is real.
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |