While skiers, snow sport enthusiasts, hunters, and people who look great in hats eagerly await this time of year, others of us begin our yearly battle with what was termed in the 1980s as Seasonal Affective Disorder. Its SAD abbreviation pretty much says it all.

This is the time of year where a lot of us just feel sad, for no particular reason. It can be a struggle to get up and out of bed in the cold dark mornings and a struggle to head to the gym in the cold dark evenings. A struggle to want to be social. A struggle to stay away from the extra carbs. And indeed, a struggle to find fresh veggies and schlep what fresh groceries there are into the car through a slushy parking lot. In other words, there are days when nothing seems easy.

People with Seasonal Affective Disorder eventually figure out coping mechanisms that work for them, but the question of why some people experience this and some don’t has never been answered. We do know that Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes more common the farther away from the equator you live. For example, it’s a rare illness among people who live in the tropics (within 30 degrees north or south of the Equator), but travel 38 degrees north of the Equator to Washington, D.C., and you’ll find roughly 4 percent of people suffer from symptoms of SAD. Keep heading north to Alaska, more than 60 degrees north of the Equator, and the number of sufferers jumps to almost 10 percent of the population, according to Mental Health America and The Cleveland Clinic. One study found that about 9 percent of Fairbanks residents had Seasonal Affective Disorder. That’s about the same percentage another study found in New Hampshire.

What’s so special about living in the tropics? Daylight, a lot of it, and all year long.

It has been speculated that SAD stems from Vitamin D deficiency from lack of direct sunlight. It has been thought that SAD sufferers are not getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids. There is no conclusive evidence that either of those are valid assumptions, but a common factor that is clear is that we choose to eat more carbs in the winter. More “comfort food,” we call it, and indeed, carbs make us feel happier by boosting serotonin production in our brains. Serotonin is the hormone that is manipulated by antidepressant drugs like Paxil and Zoloft. Carbs are rather numbing and calming, which is something that sounds like a winner if you are feeling trapped in your house for dark and frigid weeks on end.

Another interesting theory involves melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by your pineal gland at night, when it’s dark. Melatonin makes you sleepy. I like to call it the hibernation hormone, as it is triggered by darkness. You’ll see melatonin added to certain supplements that claim to make you calmer, and it’s been identified as one of the main reasons that second- and third-shift workers experience depression and illness. Shift workers who stay awake under artificial lights all night and sleep during the day throw off their circadian rhythms and hormone balance.

One additional theory behind why SAD subsides in the spring, aside from the longer days, is that the air is full of negative ions in springtime, and not in the winter.

But, whatever the cause may be, over the years I have come up with a three-part holistic solution to deal with my SAD-ness:

• Get excellent nutrition: Based on the data that calls for extra Vitamin D and Omega 3s, I make sure I get more cold-water fish, flax meal, chia seeds, almond milk, mushrooms and dark leafy greens. I make sure I eat a lot of brightly colored foods, too, like buttercup squash and cranberries for the Vitamin C, A, fiber and countless antioxidants. I stay as far away as I can from processed foods and high-sugar foods, since my ability to stop eating these once I start is highly impaired in winter.

• Stick to the schedule: The more I can keep to a very, very regular daily schedule, the better things are. I have a significantly lower chance of skipping my workouts if they happen at the same time every day. I have no problem getting up in the morning when I don’t mess up my schedule by sleeping in on the weekends. It’s always 5 a.m. Most people find the winter sunlight is best and most advantageous from 6-8 a.m. This quiet time of day is also when I engage in the third part of The SAD Solution:

• Positive affirmations: The words we say to ourselves carry so much power! If I approach the day with a positive attitude and the expectation that things are going to go smoothly, they usually do. I write out my daily intentions for how I want to feel, and then my brain subconsciously goes about creating scenarios that match that desired feeling. This is very different from a to-do list or a journal entry; it’s usually a small scrap of paper that I end up throwing away after I’m done writing down how I want to show up in the world.

Give it a try. I’d be interested to hear what works for you. Email me and share your feelings, intentions, personal affirmations and stories. Or check out my Facebook page, a collection of daily positive affirmations for abundant wellness, emotional health, assets, leadership, time management and happiness – aka, all those things that you have control over – at www.facebook.com/affirmationsforabundance.

Of course, it doesn’t always have to seem like work; sometimes all it takes is a great new hat.

Carolyn Maul, MS, CPT, RYT is a wellness expert and nutrition guru with a passion for harvesting foods from our global economy. You can reach her via her website, www.carolynmaul.com, or email her at carolyn @carolynmaul.com.