Winter's tale

Winter scenes in our lakeland village captured by Garry Lomas Photography

Wintering at home

Winter is perhaps the most divisive season, unsurprisingly it’s the one seasonal shift many find to be a difficult time of year, while some just plain dread it. As daylight shrinks and we retreat indoors it’s no surprise that winter can feel isolating and seemingly unending for some – especially those of us in the Northern hemisphere where our daylight hours are diminished further.

Biophilic Design is not just a practical solution for designing our built environment, but it can also help as a guide to further consider seasonal processes to connect to nature. Through changing weather patterns, experiencing transient seasonal energy and adjusting our purpose and activity, we can not only observe this shift in natural process but be part of it. We are all nature after all.

W.I.N.T.E.R’s Tale

“Let nature be your teacher” is one of my favourite lines from William Wordsworth, which appears in his lyrical poem The Tables Turned. Wordsworth’s’ poem, written in 1798, was an invitation to the reader to break from modern society and to reconnect with nature and all Mother Earth must teach us – two hundred and twenty-five years later this advice has never resonated more!

What is winter? Winter is not dead (something I hear people say all the time), rather it is a pause between two energetic seasons. Winter is a time when nature itself prioritises rest, recuperation while nurturing its roots and core, a necessary process in slow preparation for the next Spring rebirth. This is a time when growth happens in the dark, where new life prepares to appear in the light, when the time is ready. These winter months have a lot to teach us about how we can more deeply embrace this period. Our contemporary lives are fast paced with constant distractions 356 days a year. We adapt little about our lives in preparation for winter. Is it any wonder we will feel exhausted as the years draws to a close? But if we reflect upon the very essence of winter, it does suggest some valuable guidance.

Winter is permission to pause. Take inspiration from the natural world, nature doesn’t fight winter, but it does prepare. Many animals and plants instinctively know to pause, to retreat and not fight on. Plants slow their growth while animals save food stocks and adjust their sleep patterns. So why do we carry on regardless? How much preparation and adaption do you do for winter? Extra layers, the heating on and perhaps a wider rotation of soups and stews recipes?

I certainly had struggles with winter in the past. January and February especially felt harsh, an emotional crash after the excitement of the festive season. I felt this especially when I was office based and living in Manchester. Like many, my working day was topped and tailed with a commute consumed by inky, rainy darkness and new year cold and gloom. But I’ve been a self-employed creative for 10 years now and in that time, I’ve developed some new wintering behaviour and attitudes that have really helped me switch from winter loather to lover. I have had to adapt my ways, working alone from home (which I love, I am no longer an extrovert) does mean you can really notice and unpick your own internal seasonal shifts. My tips might not make a winter lover out of you, but if you do hate this time of year, they might just help you connect to winter in a new way.

Withdraw Inwards and Nurture, Time to Embrace and Recuperate

Withdraw inwards

One of most dramatic changes in winter is of course the limited amount of natural daylight we receive as more of our time is spent indoors. There is nothing we can do about this change, (unless of course you can up-sticks and winter in a sunnier climate), and much like a plant, we therefore need to be maximising any natural winter daylight and embrace the most beneficial artificial lights.

Clean Windows – It can seem like fighting a losing battle to keep windows clean during winter but anything you can do to maximise daylight into your home can only help benefit your overall wellbeing. It is amazing how much natural light a dirty window can block and on a grey winter’s day any extra natural light that can reach your inside space will be welcome.

Seek Rhythmic Light

We learn in biophilic design to reconnect to our primitive desires for fire, its rhythmic flicker soothes and calms our nervous system. Mimicking the soft flickering light which we would experience out in nature known as NRSS (Non-rhythmic sensory stimuli) can be very recuperative when introduced into our homes. Watching a fire is a great way to experience this sensation and it can be hypnotic, soothing us at an instinctive level. Next time you light a fire carve out some time to just gaze into it.

And just as we might experience the low dappled light in a woodland, why not try adding a disco ball to your room to echo a similar light effect. It’s a fun object that can just sit quietly waiting to reflect low winter sunshine, and when it does, however fleeting, it’s always a delight that brings more light and sparkle into dark corners.

Layer Light Sources

Using soft diffused lighting such as candles and a selection of small lamps can quickly create a cosy glow to your space. Layering small lights and lamps is especially effective if you don’t have a fire or log burner.

Reframe the shorter days and longer nights as something to be celebrated – more time to be cocooned with candles and twinkly lights. The type of light we have in our homes can play a big part in our indoor wellbeing - read on.

Nurture

Protect your Circadian Rhythms

Circadian Rhythms are physical and mental changes that occur in response to light and dark, most living things are affected by this 24-hour cycle and yet much in our modern lives comes to upset this natural ebb and flow. Digital devices can disrupt your natural rhythms. Consuming too much blue light (given off by phones, TV screen and computers) in an evening can disrupt sleep patterns when it interferes with the production of melatonin in our brain.

It's only natural to want more sleep during winter - prioritising sleep and exposure to natural light are perhaps the most important things you can do to support your physical and mental wellbeing in winter.

Effective techniques for protecting your circadian rhythms and developing better sleep patterns include:

Maximise exposure to natural light. Try waking earlier to see the sun rise (which is quite easy in mid-winter as it rises so late), this can help the eyes regulate the bodies circadian rhythm - for Women this can be especially helpful to our hormonal cycle. Going outside at midday is also a good way to align your body clock to natures light cycles, as well as seeing the sun set.

Minimise time on/impact of digital devices - by switching night time mode on in the early evening (mine comes on at 8pm and goes off at 8am), try turning off devices two hours before going to bed and turning Wi-Fi off overnight.

Light for wellbeing

Switch lamps to warm glow amber bulbs in the evening. They are bright enough to use as general-purpose lights throughout the house of an evening (specific/detailed task lighting may require brighter bulbs) and make ideal bedside bulbs. Not only is the orange glow comforting and cosy, but they have also been a successful element in the treatment of Seasonal Affected Disorder.

Be aware of the harsh blue light of many LED lights especially at night – this type of light can suppress melatonin production and disrupt natural sleep cycles. You might never have noticed this with your naked eye, but most LED lights flicker ( non-flicker LEDs are available). Try filming your LED lights to see if yours flicker. This constant movement of blue light is keeping your nervous system on high alert and disturbing your body’s natural circadian rhythm – so not relaxing at all. Incandescent bulbs are still available (in the UK) and these radiate infra-red light which mimics sunset hues, signalling a time of natural relaxation - their lack of flicker is also more soothing to our nervous system.

Living greenery in your bedroom can help aid a good night’s sleep. Best bedroom plants are Spider plant, aloe vera and areca palm.

Time to Embrace

We can not change what winter brings but we can learn to embrace seasonality more intentionally.

Food, fragrance, and flowers can make a big difference– when approached with seasonality in mind, they can really help connect us to the here and now. I savour the time the house is full of daffodils or the two/three weeks I can eat Pumpkin soup in autumn (mostly because the shop doesn’t stock them long enough and my attempts to grow them have been less than impressive).

Celebrating that which is special about each season

Whatever the season, this approach can not only help us feel present but equally when we do enjoy more seasonal moments, it also helps mark the passage of time - because the one constant in nature is change, something will soon come along to replace what went before. There is a natural order - just as pumpkins give way to mince pies and mince pies give way to snowdrops which give way to daffodils, we can feel connected to the season through natural produce. Resist the temptation to demolish an easter egg just because it appears on a supermarket shelf on December 27th.

Choose seasonal scents

We are sensory beings and fragrance is a much underestimated design tool that can support our wellbeing at home - it can instantly help you feel connected to a moment in time. Luckily winter falls in candle season in the UK, so there is no shortage of seasonal scents to choose from. Try following the seasons with natural fragrance, I tend to move from warm spiced fragrances in Autumn, to woody and festive scent through December then into the new year with some added citrus to uplift my spirits!

Recuperate

In winter we observe the natural world in protection and repair mode. Why not take your lead from the season and be kinder to yourself, giving yourself permission to rest more both mentally and physically. January was always the hardest month for me, and in years gone by any new year resolutions don’t last for long.

Now that I don’t attempt to do too much, or place too much pressure on myself in January I actually enjoy this winter month - in fact I take most of my annual holiday time in January. I now have only three priorities in January that I find really help support my mental recouperation:

1. Get outside every day, even in rubbish weather. Investing in good waterproofs helps and a necessity when we live in Cumbria. A 30-minute walk in the rain on a cold grey January morning might sound awful but can be quite invigorating. I often don't want to do it, but I am always glad I did when I get home (my dog may have mixed feelings about it). Feeling connected to nature can take place in all weather conditions, being out and healing with Mother Nature isn’t just a fair-weather activity.

2. Prioritise eating well. Good food in to nourish the body and good nature outside to nourish and feed my soul. January always feels long and dark so this regime really helps me fine tune my mental health at this time of year and my morning walk sets me up the for the day.

3. When 1 & 2 are complete, I hibernate - with candles and books ( or whatever simple joys you find comfort in). Make this a time of no rushing to make resolutions, be as still as possible, as often as possible - enjoy the season of rest. Before we know it the Spring equinox will be calling, the energy of the seasons will shift to birth and renewal, as new life will come bursting through.

Shifting my mindset that Spring really reflects the start of the new year in nature has really helped me embrace what winter truly means. Feeling more connected to natures process and seasonal shifts, taking my cue from nature and not the expectations of society, means I now enjoy what winter teaches us.

William Wordsworth can always be counted upon for a good nature quote and as true in biophilic design as in life, “Let nature be your teacher” really does sum it up nicely.