Going outside as it gets dark: daylight, movement and nature
'I know I should go outside, but I just can't get myself to.' If I had to pick one sentence I hear most often in autumn, it is this one. It is an honest sentence, and it hides a trap many people do not see. As the days shorten, we stay in. We get less light, move less and see fewer people, and we know that each of those three carries your mood. In this article I explain what exactly happens, what the research says about how much time outside and movement helps, and how to make it smaller and more doable than you think.
The circle you end up in when it is dark
It starts innocently. It is raining, it is dark early, you have had a long day. You skip the walk. Tomorrow. After a few weeks the walk simply is not there any more, and you notice you are more tired, less sharp, quicker to irritate. So you feel even less like it. That is how the circle works: do less, feel worse, do even less.
In psychology we call breaking this behavioural activation, and it is one of the best-researched parts of treating low mood. The core is counter-intuitive: you do not wait until you feel like doing something, because in the dark that feeling does not come by itself. You do it first, and the feeling follows. Usually not immediately, but after a few times.
That does not mean forcing yourself into big things. It means setting the bar so low that you do clear it, and then honestly checking whether you feel a little better for it. Almost always the answer is yes, and that is the proof you need.
Two hours a week in nature
How much time outside helps was studied in nearly twenty thousand people in England by White and colleagues in 2019. The result is usable: those who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature, in a park, a wood, by the water, reported clearly better health and more wellbeing than those who did not. Below two hours the effect was small; above it, it did not grow much further.
Two things from that study matter for autumn. First, it did not matter how you split those two hours: twenty minutes every day worked as well as two long walks at the weekend. Second, the effect held for everyone, including people with a chronic illness or disability, and regardless of income.
Two hours a week is about seventeen minutes a day. That is the walk around the block, the longer route to the supermarket, the bike instead of the bus. It need not be a nature reserve; a park or a patch of green in the neighbourhood counts. And no, the weather does not need to be good.
Exercise works, even a little
That exercise helps against low mood is not gym wisdom but one of the most solid findings in our field. In 2024 the BMJ published a large review by Noetel and colleagues, pooling more than two hundred studies. Walking or jogging, yoga and strength training all clearly reduced depressive symptoms. More intense exercise helped a little more, but gentle movement counted too.
What strikes me in it: the effects showed across all kinds of exercise and all kinds of people. So you need not find 'the right sport'. You need to find something you can keep up. For one person that is dancing to music in the kitchen, for another a walk with a friend, for a third the heavy work in the garden or allotment now the harvest is coming in.
Exercising in autumn has a bonus: do it outside and in the morning, and you take in the daylight your body clock needs in one go. A twenty-minute walk after breakfast therefore does double duty. Even on a grey day it is many times brighter outside than in.
Make it small and make it fixed
Good intentions in autumn fail not on willpower but on planning. 'I'm going to walk more' does not survive a rainy Tuesday. 'After breakfast I walk one round of the block' does, because it is small and attached to something you already do. Tie the walk to a moment that is already there: after breakfast, after dropping the children off, after prayer, in the lunch break.
Lower the threshold until it is almost gone. Put your shoes by the door. Keep a raincoat ready; there is no bad weather, only the wrong clothes. Arrange it with someone, because an appointment is harder to cancel than an intention. And keep track: a tick on the calendar for every day you were outside. It sounds childish and it works, because you see it is succeeding.
And look around when you do walk. Autumn has plenty summer does not: the light low and gold in the late afternoon, the leaves, chestnuts, the market full of pumpkins and pears. Attention to what is there, however small, is one of the simplest ways to make a gloomy day a little lighter.
Being outside is not obvious for everyone
'Go for a nice long walk' is typically Dutch advice. Walking without a destination, alone, through a wood, is normal here, but for many of our clients not at all. Some women do not walk outside alone, by habit or because it does not feel safe. Some people barely know the Dutch parks and woods and do not know they may simply go there. For others, moving without a reason feels pointless or even a little odd.
That is no reason to drop the advice, but to fill it in differently. Walk to a destination instead of in a loop: the market, the mosque, the school, a friend. Walk with someone. Join a walking group in the neighbourhood; many community centres and councils have them, some specifically for women. Work in a garden, an allotment or on a balcony. Outside is outside.
And for those who grew up with a life lived largely outdoors, in the street, on the land, with the door open: the Dutch autumn can feel like a loss that is hard to explain. That loss is real. You need not recreate it here, but you can bring some of it back by deliberately continuing to go outside, even when the climate does not invite you to.
When is it more than not feeling like it?
Not feeling like it in the dark is normal. But if you notice that for weeks you get round to nothing, that everything feels heavy, that you withdraw from people and that despite all of the above you cannot get yourself moving, then that is no longer a lack of willpower. Then it is a signal that you may ask for help, from your GP or from us.
Watch for other signs too: persistent gloom or emptiness, sleeping badly or a great deal, changed appetite, and thoughts that it all need not go on. With the last one, do not wait: call your GP or the out-of-hours GP service, or 113 Suicide Prevention on 0800-0113.
Low mood in the dark months is very treatable, and behavioural activation, exactly the kind of steps in this article, is often part of that, but with someone beside you who watches and thinks along. Not sure whether your symptoms fit with us? Feel free to get in touch.
Sources
- White e.a. (2019), Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing — Scientific Reports (PubMed)
- Noetel e.a. (2024), Effect of exercise for depression: systematic review and network meta-analysis — BMJ (PubMed)
- Thuisarts.nl — winterdepressie
This article is informative and does not replace personal advice from a care provider. In doubt, or do you have questions about your own situation? Feel free to contact us.
Questions or ready to apply?
We're happy to think along with you, in your language and at your pace.
