Lucy noticed it first on a Tuesday in October, standing in the kitchen with the kettle on and no memory of why she’d walked in. The clocks hadn’t even gone back yet. The mornings were dark, the evenings were shorter, and the cosy feeling she usually loved at this time of year hadn’t turned up.
She put it down to the season. A few weeks later, she wasn’t so sure. She was tired in a way that sleep didn’t touch. Books she’d been looking forward to sat unopened on the bedside table. Friends’ messages piled up unanswered, not because she was busy, but because replying felt like climbing stairs.
“It’s just the nights drawing in,” she told her sister. “Everyone gets it.”
She was partly right. Everyone does get a dip when the weather turns. The harder question is how to tell an ordinary seasonal slump from something that deserves a bit more attention. This piece looks at what the NHS says and what support is out there.
Why Autumn Hits So Many of Us
Shorter days change our routines before we notice. We go outside less, move less and see friends less, because it’s dark by teatime and the sofa is warm. None of that is a character flaw.
The NHS describes this territory carefully. Feeling down for a few days is common and usually passes, whereas depression, in its words, means feeling persistently sad for weeks or months. A bad week is a bad week. A low stretch that keeps going is information.
What Seasonal Low Mood Can Look Like
The NHS page on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) describes it as a type of depression that usually happens in the winter, with symptoms that tend to start as the days shorten and ease off in summer. It lists signs such as:
- A low mood that doesn’t shift
- Losing interest in things you usually enjoy
- Feeling restless or irritable
- Difficulty concentrating
- Eating more than usual
- Feeling more tired and sleeping more than usual
- Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
A diagnosis is considered when symptoms come back at the same time of year for two years or more, so a pattern from last winter is worth mentioning to a professional.
This isn’t a checklist for diagnosing yourself. The point is to notice whether several of these have settled in and stayed.
Small Things That Can Help
The same NHS page offers practical, low-effort ideas, and they’re a good place to begin whether or not you end up needing more:
- Get as much natural daylight as you can, and go outside during the day, even briefly
- Exercise regularly, in whatever form you’ll realistically keep doing
- Stay in touch with friends and family, even when it takes effort
- Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same times each day
- Avoid heavy drinking and illegal drugs
It also mentions light therapy, but says it usually isn’t available on the NHS because of limited evidence, and suggests speaking to a GP before buying a lamp.
None of that is glamorous. A walk at lunchtime and a regular bedtime won’t fix everything, but they give you a steadier base.
A Familiar Scenario: What Lucy Did Next
Lucy tried the small things first. She walked round the block before work, even when she didn’t feel like it. She texted one friend a day, just a line. She set a bedtime and, mostly, stuck to it.
It helped a little, but by November she was dreading things she normally enjoyed. When she finally mentioned it to her GP, almost as an afterthought at an unrelated appointment, the response surprised her. There was no drama. There were questions, a plan, and a mention of talking therapies she could self-refer to.
“I’d been treating it like something I ought to be able to sort out on my own,” she said afterwards. “It turns out that’s the exact thing that makes it drag on.”
When It’s Worth Booking That Appointment
The NHS guidance on depression doesn’t give a magic number of days. It simply says to see a GP if you think you may be depressed, and adds that many people wait too long and that it’s best not to delay. A few signs that the dip may be more than the weather:
- It has lasted more than a couple of weeks and isn’t easing
- You feel hopeless, worthless or guilty much of the time
- Your sleep or appetite has changed noticeably
According to the NHS, for milder low mood the options include lifestyle measures, guided self-help or talking therapies such as CBT. For moderate to severe depression, a combination of talking therapy and medication is more usual. Which of these fits is a conversation for you and a professional.
The NHS SAD page also says adults can self-refer to NHS talking therapies, so you don’t always need a GP referral to get started.
If You’d Like Support From a Clinic in the US
This piece is written with a UK reader in mind, but not everyone reading is in the UK. If you or someone you love lives in or near Knoxville, Tennessee, Mind Body Optimization runs an outpatient clinic there. Its outpatient program page describes counselling and psychiatry, along with telehealth, and explains how to get in touch. It’s a US service, so it’s mainly useful for people with ties there. Wherever you are, a family doctor is a good first call, and it never hurts to ask what’s available locally.
If you ever feel unsafe or are thinking about harming yourself, please get help straight away: in the UK, Samaritans are free on 116 123, and in an emergency you can call 999. In the US, call or text 988.
Back to the Kitchen
Lucy still likes autumn. She has a rule now: if the fog lasts more than a couple of weeks, she tells someone. It’s a small rule, but it means she isn’t standing in the kitchen with the kettle on, wondering if everyone else feels like this.
Sources
- NHS. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD): overview (last reviewed 17 December 2025; next review due 17 December 2028). https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/overview/
- NHS. Clinical depression: overview (last reviewed 5 July 2023; next review listed as due 5 July 2026, so check for a newer version). https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/clinical-depression/overview/