You have seasonal depression because you cosplay life in the tropics.
Humans are hundreds of thousands of years old. We adapt to survive and reproduce. While that is not our only purpose, it is our biological design. Skin color is one example of this adaptation. Darker skin developed in areas with strong sunlight to provide protection, while lighter skin developed in darker environments to allow sunlight to be absorbed more efficiently for vitamin D production. These traits exist because they helped humans survive where they lived.
So in extreme environments (such as Alaska) where in winter we get less than six hours of sunlight and in summer we get twenty-four hours, our biology has to sync to that shift and it does, without us even knowing it does.
The thyroid slows to conserve energy because historically food was more sparse in winter and life was harder to endure. As environmental intensity rises, the demand for rest increases. The body responds accordingly. Our energy producing organs, particularly the thyroid, rely on vitamin D to convert hormones. Less sunlight means less UV exposure, less vitamin D, and therefore less energy. This is not dysfunction it is a survival system that allows us to endure the environment in front of us.
In that same breath, our energetic systems operate differently across seasons. In winter, cold exposure forces the body into a metabolic state that prioritizes fat usage to generate internal heat. Within the fat stores accumulated during summer, when vitamin D was abundant due to extended daylight, we store vitamin D that can later be accessed and utilized when the body is cold.
This is what is infuriating about the biohacking world: they demand efficiency without process. You do not need to become Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill every day—taking forty-seven supplements, optimizing every variable, and forcing efficiency into every moment. Your body’s systems work when you let it work, you do this by removing obstructions, going with the current vs against. You do not need to replicate environment, you can just exist in it, your body takes care of the rest.
What makes this difficult is that we have jobs. We all have some form of a 9-5, making it where we are NOT outside as much as we should be. Jobs that quite literally drain the life out of our cells. We sit all day under artificial lights that skew the brain’s interpretation of where we are, altering hormone release, weakening our physiology, and forcing our cells to function in environments they were never designed for. I don’t know how to change this reality. We all have bills. We all want certain comforts that require money to obtain.
What I do know is that with this information, you can begin to shift your environment bit by bit: warm infrared lighting, candles or fire to mimic sunrise and sunset, brisk outdoor walks multiple times a day, and prioritizing as much natural light exposure as possible.
Your seasonal depression is a byproduct of cosplaying a life where sunlight never changes. “We all have the same 24 hours” is belittling because it assumes we all live on the same playing field.
Not even a hundred and fifty years ago, people in northern latitudes routinely slept eleven to fourteen hours during winter because it synced them to their environment. Living in the cold demanded more energy, so more rest was required to replenish what was lost. When you sleep only six hours in winter, it can take days to recover. When you sleep six hours in summer, you may still feel good the same day. That difference is not accidental.
Trying to force efficiency and push through your environment works directly against biology. When you ignore biology, the body begins speaking to you the same way a car does—through warning lights. Ignore the first signal, and another appears. Ignore those, and more lights turn on. Eventually, the system fails because the damage becomes too great.
The body works the same way. If you ignore its quiet requests, it will eventually scream until you are forced to listen. Hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, depression, anxiety—these do not appear randomly. They begin because the body needed something, and that need was either intentionally or unintentionally withheld.
Seasonal depression remains rampant because people assume we all live the same lives. We don’t. The 5 a.m. gym grind, a 9–5 workday, coming home to work more, going to bed late, and repeating the cycle while every environmental signal is telling your body to slow down creates conflict.
So how do we begin to reduce the surge in seasonal depression? We stop fighting biology and start letting it do what it already knows how to do. Outdoor musculoskeletal movement is one of the simplest and most effective ways to do this. Being outside naturally places the body into a mild sympathetic state: movement, alertness, cold exposure. This then allows a stronger parasympathetic response afterward. You don’t need to force calm; you earn it through appropriate stress.
Simply going for a walk outside increases energy demand. Heavier winter clothing requires more effort to move in. Snow and ice create resistance. Cold air signals the body to generate heat through thermogenesis, using fat as fuel. Tasks take longer. Movement becomes slower and more intentional. All of this sends clear information to the nervous system and metabolism: adapt.
And the most important part you don’t have to understand ANY OF THIS for it to work. You don’t need to calculate hormones, track metrics, or optimize every variable. When you move outside in winter, the body automatically runs these processes. The environment does the work. Your only job is to show up.
The struggle with seasonal depression is not a lack of discipline or motivation, it is the result of fighting your own biology. When you return movement, light, cold, and seasonal rhythm back into your day, the system recalibrates on its own. Health doesn’t need to be forced. It needs to be allowed.
