Can a work out on a sun lounger banish the winter blues?

AFTER the clocks go back, my heart sinks. While I can handle the cold, the shorter, darker days make me feel like a different person. Normally happy, as the nights draw in I can feel overwhelmed, craving solitude and sometimes crying my way out of bed in the mornings. After experiencing these symptoms for four consecutive winters, my GP confirmed what I had long suspected: I have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), sometimes known as winter depression. Which is why I find myself in a gym one Saturday, with my feet in a sandbox. I’m trying ‘Vitamin Me’, a new 30minute exercise session designed to target SAD using light therapy and HIIT (high-intensity interval training). It’s got to be worth a go. Using a light box that emulates daylight and seeing a counsellor has helped, but not a lot. So could this exercise be the answer? Around 8 per cent of people have SAD and may experience depression, sleep problems, anxiety, lack of energy and reduced libido between September and March. Another 20 per cent get ‘the winter blues’, a milder form, which causes a low mood. The problem is thought to stem from a lack of light disrupting levels of hormones in the brain such as melatonin and serotonin. ‘You could say it’s a miracle we don’t all suffer from it,’ says independent sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley. ‘We evolved on the plains of Africa where the day is 12 hours every day. So we’re living in an environment that we’re not yet fully comfortable with.’ I turn up at the David Lloyd gym in South-West London to find a row of sun loungers with beach towels. Next to each is a 10,000 lux sun lamp (the standard level of light for treatment of SAD), headphones and a box of sand. The idea is that you lie on a lounger, bare feet in the sand, ocean sounds playing through headphones — all under the beam of the lamps. After 15 minutes we’re asked to move away from the lamps to start some stretches. I feel I could have used more light. Indeed, NHS guidelines and the Royal College of Psychiatrists advise using SAD lights for 30-60 minutes a day. Stretching done, the class finishes with a ten-minute HIIT workout, including squat jumps, jumping jacks and similar to boost endorphins, the feel-good brain chemicals. I leave feeling refreshed, calmer and my mood is lifted for the rest of the afternoon. David Lloyd will roll out the class from the end of January 2018 at a number of clubs across the UK. The class is free, but currently only available to members of the gym. But there are other steps that can help. Dr Stanley says simulation bulbs that emulate natural daylight are beneficial. These are available from stores such as Maplin for around £5 a bulb. But the most effective thing we can all do is make the most of the daylight we have, be that a long walk or a snatched stroll at lunchtime.