When Spring Comes Late: Depression, Fatigue, and the Gray Season in Alaska

By Christine Sagan, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC

If you’re feeling low, unmotivated, disconnected, emotionally exhausted, or just not like yourself, you are not alone. Millions of people experience depression at some point in their lives — and in Alaska, many people notice those feelings intensify during the long winter months and into early spring.

What surprises many people is that mental health struggles don’t always peak during the holidays. In fact, research consistently shows that suicide rates often rise in late winter and early spring, including here in Alaska, where we continue to face some of the highest suicide rates in the country. After months of darkness, cold, isolation, disrupted sleep, stress, and limited sunlight, many people reach spring already emotionally depleted — and in years like this one, where spring is delayed and we continue to experience extended cloudy skies and rainy days, that sense of depletion can linger even longer.

Early spring in Alaska can feel especially difficult emotionally. The calendar says we should feel better, but many people are still struggling with fatigue, low motivation, disrupted routines, loneliness, financial stress from winter, and nervous system burnout. When the environment still looks and feels like winter—gray skies, rain, and limited sun—it can reinforce the internal experience of stagnation. For some, that disconnect between what they expect to feel and what they actually feel can deepen discouragement or hopelessness.

Depression is rarely caused by just one thing. It’s usually a combination of biology, environment, hormones, lifestyle, stress, inflammation, nervous system dysregulation, and life circumstances. And when you’re in it, you often don’t realize how deep you are until you begin feeling better again.

Let’s break it down.

1. Light, Weather & Circadian Rhythm

The farther north we live, the less sunlight we get — and sunlight is essential for cellular energy, mood regulation, hormone balance, and sleep.

Light exposure helps regulate cortisol (our “get up and go” hormone) and melatonin (our sleep hormone). In Alaska, where we experience extreme seasonal light shifts and are one of the cloudiest states in the country, many people spend months functioning under inadequate light exposure.

Artificial indoor lighting is not enough to replace natural sunlight. This is why many people living in northern climates benefit from consistent daily light therapy during winter and early spring.

When circadian rhythms become disrupted, mood almost always follows. Sleep becomes lighter or fragmented. Energy drops. Motivation decreases. Anxiety and depression increase. Over time, the body begins functioning in survival mode rather than restoration mode.

For some people, this develops into Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is significantly more common in northern regions like Alaska.

2. Sleep & Energy

Poor sleep worsens depression, resilience, motivation, memory, focus, and emotional regulation.

When people are depressed, they often feel exhausted — but exhaustion doesn’t always mean restorative sleep is happening. Many people are stuck in a cycle of:

• Poor sleep

• Low energy

• Increased stress hormones

• Emotional overwhelm

• Less movement

• More isolation

  
  

The harder depression becomes, the harder it feels to do the very things that would help improve it.

This is one reason why early intervention matters.

3. Nutrition That Supports the Brain

The brain is an organ with high energy and nutrient demands. Nutrient deficiencies and inflammation can significantly impact mood and mental health.

Certain nutrients play a powerful role in supporting mood and brain function:

• Omega-3 fatty acids (high-dose fish oil)

• Methylated B-complex vitamins

• Vitamin D (many adults in Alaska require supplementation)

• Magnesium

• Saffron (studies show that 30mg of saffron is equal to Prozac for depression)

• Creatine (supports brain energy metabolism)

• Protein-rich, nutrient-dense whole foods

  
  

On the flip side, alcohol and excess sugar worsen depression and anxiety.

Alcohol may temporarily feel calming, but physiologically it disrupts sleep, spikes cortisol, destabilizes blood sugar, increases inflammation, and worsens mood over time — not to mention contributing to fatigue and weight gain.

In Alaska especially, where winters can naturally reduce activity and increase isolation, coping through alcohol can quietly deepen depression.

4. Hormones Matter

Hormones have a profound impact on mood, anxiety, motivation, and emotional resilience.

Many women don’t realize that perimenopause can begin in the 30s, and hormonal imbalance may exist for years in conditions like PCOS, thyroid dysfunction, chronic stress, or insulin resistance.

Low progesterone can increase anxiety and overwhelm. Drops in estrogen strongly affect mood, brain function, motivation, and emotional stability.

Stress and hormone imbalance also feed each other:

• Stress worsens hormone imbalance

• Hormone imbalance worsens stress sensitivity

• Chronic stress increases nervous system dysregulation

  
  

This cycle can look like depression, burnout, irritability, anxiety, or emotional numbness.

5. The Nervous System Connection

Many people experiencing depression are living in chronic nervous system overload.

The body becomes stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or appease states for so long that calm and safety begin to feel unfamiliar.

Healing depression is not just about “thinking positive.” It often requires helping the nervous system shift back into a parasympathetic (rest-and-restore) state where the body can actually heal.

Simple but powerful tools include:

• Getting outside (even bundled up)

• Light exposure

• Breathwork

• Meditation

• Gentle movement

• Strength training

• Yoga

• Time in nature

• Acupuncture

• Supportive relationships

• Reducing nervous system overstimulation

  
  

In Alaska, this becomes especially important during late winter and early spring, when people are often carrying months of accumulated stress, isolation, and fatigue.

6. Disconnection & Loss of Meaning

One of the most overlooked contributors to depression is disconnection — from people, purpose, movement, faith, community, and meaning.

Humans are not meant to live in isolation.

When we lose community or purpose, depression deepens. This is particularly important in Alaska, where long winters, remote living, and weather conditions can naturally reduce social interaction and increase isolation.

Most people will experience depression at some point in life — often during seasons of grief, divorce, illness, financial stress, trauma, burnout, parenting overwhelm, or major life transitions.

That does not mean you are broken.

With the right support, relationships, purpose, nervous system care, and tools, many people move through depression and heal.

7. Your Thoughts Matter

Our inner dialogue shapes our emotional reality.

Practicing gratitude, noticing what’s good, interrupting negative thought spirals, and gently challenging distorted thinking patterns matter more than many people realize.

Research consistently shows that:

• Helping others improves mood

• Social connection improves resilience

• Purpose improves mental health

• Isolation worsens depression

• Rumination keeps people stuck

  
  

When we withdraw completely into ourselves, depression often deepens. When we reconnect — even in small ways — healing begins.

If You’re Struggling, Please Reach Out

Depression is not a personal failure. It is not weakness. It is not something you simply “snap out of.”

It is a signal that the body, brain, nervous system, or life circumstances may need support.

And especially here in Alaska, where seasonal darkness, stress, and isolation affect so many people, you deserve support before things become a crisis.

Healing is possible. This chapter does not define you.

If you are struggling:

• Reach out to a trusted friend, family member, counselor, pastor, or provider

• Call or text 988 for immediate mental health support

• Don’t isolate

• Don’t wait until things feel unbearable

  
  

You are not alone.