{"id":2289,"date":"2025-06-21T12:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T12:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/2289\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T12:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T12:05:17","slug":"socialising-exercise-vital-to-keeping-seasonal-affective-disorder-at-bay-in-australias-colder-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/2289\/","title":{"rendered":"Socialising, exercise vital to keeping seasonal affective disorder at bay in Australia’s colder cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a cold winter night in Australia’s most southern city, more than 50 people have sought warmth in a North Hobart pub.<\/p>\n

They are here for a weekly trivia night, which host Mat Scott said surges in popularity during winter.<\/p>\n

“You’re having a meal, a drink on a midweek night when it’s dark and cold outside, unlike summer months, where you can go outside and do active outdoor activities you can’t during winter.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mat Scott says more people take part in the trivia nights he runs in winter. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n

Friends Deanne Heier and Jackie Molnar said trivia was their “winter sport”.<\/p>\n

“We come pretty regularly ever since it got a bit dark and dreary,” Ms Heier said.<\/p>\n

“It allows us to connect with our friends when we would normally probably be at home,” Ms Molnar said.<\/p>\n

“It’s cold outside, it’s warm in here.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Deanne Heier and Jackie Molnar enjoy trivia in winter. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n

Dr Adriana Nevarez Flores is a physiatrist and adjunct professor at the University of Tasmania who has been studying the prevalence of \u2014 and solutions to \u2014 seasonal affective disorder (SAD).<\/p>\n

“I heard complaints in the street, on the bus, particularly in winter, and I was like, ‘something is happening here’,” Dr Flores said.<\/p>\n

She authored a 2023 study that analysed the prevalence of SAD in Australia from studies dating back to the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Adriana Nevarez Flores has studied the prevalence of seasonal affective disorder in Australia. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

It found between 0.3 and 9 per cent of Australians experienced SAD, and Hobart had the highest prevalence, at 9 per cent of the population.<\/p>\n

“In summer here in Hobart, there is 15 hours of daylight, but in winter it’s only 9, so there is a big difference in environmental light.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hobart has nine hours of daylight a day in winter, compared with 15 in summer. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

How to keep SAD at bayWhen the ‘winter blues’ might be seasonal depression<\/a><\/p>\n

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, isn’t just a northern hemisphere condition. It affects Australians too, and you may be more at risk depending on which state you live in.<\/p>\n

Dr Flores said SAD was the presence of recurrent depressive episodes in the same season, for at least two years.<\/p>\n

The symptoms include losing interest in one’s normal activities, hypersomnia, increased hunger \u2014 with a particular craving for carbohydrates \u2014 fatigue and lack of energy.<\/p>\n

Dr Flores said it was important for people to maintain their normal routine to fend off the winter blues.<\/p>\n

“Try to wake up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, keep your food nearly the same,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Try to go [out] with your friends and your family, keep doing sport and the usual activities.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Socialising can help keep the winter blues at bay. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n

“Because of the weather, because of the lack of light \u2014 which is one of the main factors associated with the presence of seasonal affective disorder \u2014 people change their socialising patterns.”<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said he had noticed people adapting their social activities between summer and winter.<\/p>\n

“There’s a bunch of people who play trivia all the way through the year and about in November, they say ‘that was great, we’ll see you again at the end of summer, we really like to spend our time outside during summer midweek’,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And all of a sudden as soon as daylight savings is over, they are back.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mat Scott says there are many people who only attend pub trivia nights in winter. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n

Dedicated approach<\/p>\n

Mathers House in Hobart, run by the Hobart City Council, offers a range of exercise classes and social activities, including tai chi, as part of a “positive ageing” program.<\/p>\n

The centre’s coordinator, Denise Rodrigues, said the winter months could increase sadness and loneliness, which causes many people to socially isolate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Having a place to go to is really important,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Rodrigues said.\"Mature<\/p>\n

Tai chi is one of the activities on offer at Hobart’s Mathers House. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

She said while Mathers House had a year-round program of social and physical activities, it had a special schedule for winter.<\/p>\n

“We have more long lunches, so a lot of people can attend and have big roast dinners and things like that,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Young and old, we all have to deal with it in our own ways.<\/p>\n

“For some young people, it’s just as impactful as older people, so that’s where community really has to come in and and lift each other up.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Denise Rodrigues says it’s important for people to have a place to go so they can socialise and keep active in winter. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a cold winter night in Australia’s most southern city, more than 50 people have sought warmth in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3158,3167,1728,210,3166,517,3164,3157,3160,3161,3162,3163,3155,3165,67,132,68,3159,3156],"class_list":{"0":"post-2289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-cold","9":"tag-daylight","10":"tag-exercise","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-hobart","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-pub","15":"tag-sad","16":"tag-seasonal-affective","17":"tag-social","18":"tag-socialising","19":"tag-tai-chi","20":"tag-tasmania","21":"tag-trivia","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-winter","26":"tag-winter-blues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114721267568269907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}