Beat the Winter Blues in Sweden

I’m sharing my 7 tips to beat the winter blues in Sweden as an non-native resident, and hope they help you during your time here. If you know me, you know how much I love living in Sweden. I love the quality of life, the nature, and the four seasons, especially winter.

As beautiful as winter in Sweden is, it also comes with a lot of darkness and it can be restrictive because of the extreme cold temperature (-20C and below!) and ice conditions. As someone who grew up in the “sunshine state” of Florida, living in such an opposite environment for three months of the year takes physical, mental, and emotional adjustments.

I’m not a doctor so this isn’t medical advice. I am someone who moved here as an adult from a tropical climate and it’s honestly taken my body and mind time to adjust to the seasonality of this beautiful country. I know that I’m not alone in this after discussing it with friends who also relocated here from warmer climates.

Table of Contents

7 Tips to Beat the Winter Blues in Sweden

1. Start a hobby or learn something new.

You’ll likely experience more quiet time over the dark winter months simply because it’s a slower time of the year (outside of the Christmas events!). Rather than sitting inside with just your thoughts, pick up a hobby. I will list below the ones that I’ve personally tried when trying to beat the winter blues!

2. Have fika weekly with friends, in-person or virtually.

Fika in Sweden is a daily ritual where you take a coffee break and have a sweet treat. It’s a great way to take a break and interact with friends and co-workers, and very much appreciated by all.

3. Experience winter sports like downhill skiing and ice skating on a rink or a frozen lake.

In our town, once the ice is at least 10 cm thick, they take a ATV with a snow plow to clear a 5-kilometer loop on the lake. It’s such a cool experience to see your town from a new perspective. We like to pull our youngest along on a sled or even use the stroller. There are also really affordable places to ski near most cities in the middle half and north of the country, if you’re interested in learning.

4. Go outside at least once a day.

Going outside is important to help your body adjust to the cold and also capture a bit of the sunshine before the sun sets.

5. Take extra vitamins like B12 och iron.

I had a blood test done during my first winter in Sweden because I was constantly exhausted, and I had never felt so drained of energy previously living in the tropics. I was a tired mom that was low on iron, though surprisingly B12 levels were fine. Now that I focus more on these metrics, I find I have more energy.

In chatting with other friends that moved to Sweden from tropical and sunny climates, they say they’ve experienced the same thing. Below are the actual vitamins and supplements I take, and I feel like they’ve made a positive impact on my life during this time of the year.

6. Make your house cozy with extra lighting.

In our area, we have about 3 hours of daylight on a good day at the peak of winter. Installing extra lighting gives you that additional glow that mimics the sunlight. We installed undercabinet lighting and motion-operated lights in our closets to brighten the darkest places inside.

7. Give yourself time to adjust.

Last but not least, give yourself time to adjust. Our first winter here, I naively thought that life would continue as normal. In hindsight, I felt very isolated in the remote village we lived in. Despite doing all the tips I mentioned above, I still felt sad and alone. Now, two years later, my body has learned a bit more of what to expect and I’ve settled into a healthier routine that seems to help me best during this season.

Conclusion to Beat the Winter Blues

I truly hope these tips help you beat the winter blues. As I write this post, we’re in early March, the snow has just melted, the sun is shining, the birds have returned, and temperatures are above freezing during the day. I feel my energy returning, like the energy to write a blog, and relish in the coming warmer months. 

If you like this blog, you may also like these posts:

1. Cost of Eye Glasses in Sweden
2. Cost of Preschool in Sweden
3. Sandviken, Sweden: Family Travel Itinerary
4. Canada Snoe Noel Kängor (Winter Boots) Review | Reversible Ice Cleats

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