Bonus | Seasonal Depression, Mood Swings & Does The Weather Control Us?

Episode 6 - Bonus | The truth about seasonal depression, mood swings, and whether the weather really controls us.

The nights get longer, the days get darker, and suddenly, you feel like doing absolutely nothing. Motivation’s gone, energy’s low, and everything just feels harder.

But is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) actually real, or is it just another excuse? How much does the weather really impact our mood, productivity, and mindset?

In this episode, we get into:

• Why so many people feel low in the winter months
• Whether SAD is a real condition or just something we tell ourselves
• How to push through when the seasons feel like they’re working against you
• Practical ways to boost energy, motivation, and mood

If winter leaves you feeling drained, this one’s for you.

New episodes drop every Tuesday at 5 AM on all major platforms.

Listen now:
 🔗 Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/UNTOLDApple
🔗 Spotify: bit.ly/UNTOLDSpotify
🔗 Amazon Music: bit.ly/UNTOLDAmazon

What do you think—does the weather really control how we feel? Let us know in the comments.

Transcript

Weather's Impact on Mental Health

Speaker 1 0:00

Have you ever noticed a direct link between how you feel and what the weather's doing outside? I genuinely think I'm affected by the weather.

Speaker 3 0:09

It doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't get the sunshine, you're going to feel like crap at some point.

Speaker 2 0:14

There are so many reasons why I understand people moving away these days. The sun is one of them.

Speaker 3 0:22

When you live somewhere else and that sunshine is out in the evenings for three, four hours after work, you have an extra four hours of your life.

Speaker 2 0:30

There's nothing better than going to a big public park and just see it heaving with activity.

Speaker 1 0:36

Everybody's just so much happier.

Speaker 2 0:39

It's an awareness If you're feeling low, if you're feeling miserable, you need to check in and understand why.

Speaker 1 0:47

The Untold Podcast is proudly sponsored by Aura Surfaces, specialists in luxury surfaces for extraordinary spaces. Like creating dream homes, building a dream life takes work. That's why we had to get behind this podcast. Real stories, real challenges and real success. Let's get into it. Welcome everybody to the untold podcast. I'm ash. We got des hello and chris hello, and today we're going to discuss how sad um our mood changes with the weather and is there any way to overcome it. So, lads, have you ever noticed a direct link between how you feel and what the weather's doing outside?

Speaker 2 1:27

You know what? Only very, very recently I haven't had a proper summer holiday. That wasn't a stag do for God knows how long. I went to Dubai in December and I realized then just how much happier I was the fact that the sun was shining and I wasn't even with my family. I was with a guy that I hadn't met more than twice and we were meeting another guy that I hadn't met more than once, but it just, it was lovely, it was lovely. And then the sun came out here about a week ago, didn't it? And I felt the same thing and I said to Claire I genuinely think I'm affected by the weather.

Speaker 3 2:11

It's the first time I'm 44. What about you. It's a thing, isn't it? It is a thing, it's got to be a thing, isn't it?

Speaker 1 2:17

Oh, it's a thing, it's definitely a thing, it is.

Speaker 3 2:20

It doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't get the sunshine, you're going to feel like crap at some point. I woke up every day through the winter feeling like shit, depressed, fed up, like I couldn't be arsed with life. Until you get up and go downstairs, you know and you see your family and you do the things that you do that make you happy. You do feel down in the dumps with the weather. Certainly because look what you've just said, the. Certainly because what you've just said, the last week has been amazing. You even had a barbecue, mate in March.

Speaker 1 2:45

Do you know what I mean? That's amazing. That's COVID, isn't it?

Speaker 3 2:47

that's what we all did earlier on, everyone had barbecues in March, every day.

Speaker 1 2:52

Yeah, because it was 35 degrees and that's why there was no, that's why there was no cloud, because we burnt all the clouds off with Natural gases.

Speaker 3 3:00

Yeah, that's it. That's before the government. 100%, it's a thing. That's why it's got a name.

Speaker 2 3:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1 3:07

I am. It's definitely a thing. I struggle, so I am the most miserable fuck when I really struggle to get out of it. Sometimes, when it's been grey and gloomy for weeks and weeks on end, I'm like, oh my God, just. And then the morning, I don't care if it's freezing, cold, icy, frosty, as long as that sun's out in the sky, yeah, I love a cold sunny morning.

Speaker 3 3:32

Oh, I love it, Love it.

Speaker 2 3:32

Yeah.

Speaker 3 3:33

Get the dry rope out.

Speaker 2 3:34

Yeah, get the dry rope.

Speaker 3 3:37

I mean there's so much.

Speaker 2 3:38

This episode is sponsored by dry rope Not yet, but maybe one day. I am getting worried, though. So we this is only our second day recording the winter episodes are going to be shit aren't they?

Speaker 1 3:49

oh god, yeah, they won't, because we'll go somewhere else and do it or get some like sun lamps in the studio. Bring the vitamin D, yeah we'll bring our speedos and we'll put sun loungers down in there a bit of sand on the floor and stuff.

Speaker 3 4:02

We'll be like, yeah, we won't record that on camera because no one will want to watch that.

Speaker 1 4:05

No, yeah, they will be the untold only fans I'm told only fans check out my toes um, but no, it is a. It is a thing like there's all lamps and stuff. Um, I've really struck for years and years. For as long as I care to remember, I remember my mom saying you need vitamin d tablets here. We've bought you this special lamp. And my missus bought me a special lamp to try and wake me up in the morning with sun, which is great until you're things that slowly glow like the sunrise thing yeah, which is great, until you open the blind and it's pissing down.

Speaker 1 4:41

It's fantastic, but it is definitely a thing. It's definitely a thing, so, but it's acknowledging it, it's understanding it. Like I think, over christmas, my brother-in-law was back from dubai and he was back for three weeks, I think. For that whole three weeks it was great. Every single day it wasn't even a, it wasn't even a glimpse of the sun coming through the clouds. But it's christmas time, so you're like, yeah it, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 5:06

Then Everyone's so pissed they don't realise what the weather's doing anyway.

Speaker 2 5:09

And if you're a Brit, you want Christmas in the cold. It makes it feel more like Christmas, doesn't?

Speaker 3 5:12

it.

Christmas Weather Experiences

Speaker 2 5:13

Like I say I was in Dubai in December and seeing Christmas trees out there was weird. Yeah, Walking around in flip-flops.

Speaker 1 5:18

Looking at Christmas. I always, when Christmas is for us as a family, was a skiing holiday. Yeah yeah, the mountains in a cabin. Now that for me, is Christmas. That's Christmas Next year. We've gone to Christmas now. It's a bit early for Christmas.

Speaker 2 5:30

We can never talk about Christmas too early.

Speaker 1 5:32

I'm a I'm a Christmas guy, but because my parents just moved to Spain, we will probably spend next Christmas in Spain.

Speaker 2 5:39

Yeah, which can be as in, can be as in we, you can come if you want, and we're doing a podcast in the sun and we'll do a podcast in the sun. That's a recorded offer. That is that's it.

Speaker 1 5:47

Then we can get the sun loungers out. Yeah, that's it Untold Speedos.

Speaker 3 5:52

New brand coming soon. Check out merch website.

Speaker 1 5:55

But no, it's definitely a thing. But what can we do to? Is it a case of? Let let's just acknowledge that it's a thing?

Speaker 2 6:02

I'm in danger of going down the. This country is shit route. I'm not going to lie to you, because there are so many reasons why I understand people moving away these days. The sun is one of them. Yeah, I don't know what we can do. Like I say, this is all fairly new to me, that I've realised it's a thing, and I'm on a pathway to make enough money that we can have winter holidays, yeah, yeah, but what can you do if you're stuck in this country and you've got no money and you're affected by the seasons?

Speaker 3 6:31

Surround yourself with happy people.

Speaker 1 6:33

Yeah, that's the answer to everything.

Speaker 3 6:36

If you hang around with miserable people, they're going to make you miserable.

Speaker 2 6:39

Mood hoovers. It doesn't matter whether the sun's out or not, they're mood hoovers. They're mood hoovers, it's true, though.

Speaker 3 6:42

I don't care what you say, like what the work, but I love the banter. If I'm in a crap mood, I wake up in the morning, I'm feeling a bit crap about life, I'll go to work. Those boys at work sort me out any better than any doctor will. Any vitamin, any, anything you can take whatsoever, yeah, just try and have a laugh. Surround yourself with people. I know it's difficult sometimes, but it's a good point.

Speaker 2 7:03

it's a good point, and that might be one of the reasons why it hasn't never really affected me, because football is my life and football is a win at a sport, and it's the same thing. It's the changing of mentality, isn't it? It's only these last few years that I don't play football anymore. I didn't play football well to start with, but you miss that, didn't?

Speaker 1 7:20

you Like a ballerina with two left feet? That's it.

Speaker 2 7:22

And as you get older you don't see your mates as much do you? Yeah.

Speaker 3 7:26

There's a reason why we go on holiday, isn't it? We don't just go on holiday because we want to get away. You think when you go on holiday. What do you actually do on holiday? You stress about where you're going for dinner, you stress about what time you're getting up, you stress about what you're having for lunch and your kids are safe around the pool. It's just as stressful as it is at home, yeah.

Speaker 1 7:51

But you're in the sunshine, so it doesn. It's changing, I don't know. I guess as well. I think it's changing up the routine and I think that's the thing we live in this society where, where you get up, you go to work, like we did it in a previous episode. What's your day like? You get up, you go to work, you go home. Well, in the summer you can get up earlier. It's nicer to walk the dog at five in the morning, watching the sun come up, see the deers hopping across the field. It's you can go home. Oh, there's a barbecue. What shall we have on the barbecue today? All the kids are playing, they're out in the hot tub, on the swimming pool or whatever you've got. I've got a tiny little one, it's like this big.

Speaker 1 8:20

I was going to say I've got a sink in my back garden you're on the barbecue, you've got a glass of wine in your hand or a nice cold lemonade with a bit of ice in it. You nip to the pub for lunch just to have a beer, and the kids play in the playground and there's other people around you. I noticed last week week before whenever the sun was out everybody's just so much happier. It's like it's a matter what we forget.

Coping with Weather-Related Moods

Speaker 2 8:46

Brighton on Sunday was lovely. It was gorgeous. The beach was packed. I drove and walked the dog round a big local park in Hove and it sounds stupid. One of the things that made me smile. The queue to the tip was huge and you think that's Sundays are back.

Speaker 1 9:02

Yeah, you know, this is what that's a Sunday job. Yeah, they've all been up right sun's out.

Speaker 2 9:06

Trim all the leaves back and everything and it just felt like everyone was in a better mood. All the kids were in the park, there was football being played out there, there were kids playing basketball, tennis, everything, and there's nothing better than going to a big, big, big public park and just see it heaving with activity. Yeah, yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1 9:23

I saw what we do a few years ago. We started with a tent, then we had a trailer tent and then I bought an old caravan for 1,500 quid and it sort of died. So last year we said right, do we want a summer holiday for five grand or should we go and buy a caravan? No-transcript. And we love it, the kids love it, and there's something about it just being outside. I love being outside. Like alfresco living is like if I could just live outside, I would. It's a great show, mate. We've got a caravan Love it.

Speaker 1 9:55

And the thing with a caravan is, I mean, our caravan's not. We've got an air fryer, we've got an ice machine, we've got a beer, mad, but we've got all the amenities really. But we spend. Oh, you get up in the morning, you roll out of bed, you sit outside, whether it's half six, seven, yeah, whether you put your dry rope on, there are, there are other brands, um dry robes are acceptable on a camping site.

Speaker 2 10:19

I'm gonna say that out loud.

Speaker 1 10:21

Oh, they're just not acceptable, I'm sorry on a campsite at night, when you're sitting there and you've got the massive pockets and you've got your fags in there and everything else, it's called a coat. That's what, coats were designed for.

Speaker 3 10:34

I've got a moody Milton Warehouse version, but I love it.

Speaker 2 10:37

You can go to the shower block, not like a flasher, but know that you're safe If anyone from Dry Row Business listens to this podcast.

Speaker 1 10:46

But yeah, it's amazing and I think it's that, whether it's just the fact that it's grey or sunny, it's a little bit of warmth in the air when you're outside, yeah, and I think with the sun it changes the daily routine. We have the mundane in the winter where you can't go outside. It's freezing, it's horrible. You don't want to walk the dog. When you get home the dog's got to be washed every single time. It's a real pain, yeah. But then in the summer it changes your daily routine. Oh, should we pop to the pub after work? You wouldn't do that in the winter. No, you wouldn't say, oh, let's pop to the Carvery on Sunday.

Speaker 2 11:23

That never, ever happens.

Speaker 3 11:26

I think that's one of the main reasons why people look to move abroad, isn't it? You know? Remember when Mrs Weave always wanted to live in Spain? Well, certainly.

Speaker 3 11:34

I have anyway, but she's going to be forced to at some point. You want it for that evening. You want it for that because all we do, let's face it, all we really do is work, don't? In the UK? We work to live, or we live to work, should we say.

Outdoor Living and Caravan Adventures

Speaker 3 11:46

When you live somewhere else and that sunshine is out in the evenings for three, four hours after work, you have an extra four hours of your life, yeah, whereas here it's probably pissing down the rain in the middle of the summer. You look at last summer, one of the worst summers I've ever experienced. We look forward to it. We look forward to the three months a year. Sit out in the garden and have a barbecue every night after work, yeah, and we feel like we're living. And then it doesn't happen. But when you live abroad, when you go abroad, you can go home from work, cause it doesn't matter where you live in the world. You still got to earn money, yeah. But when you finish work, you go and sit out in the sun, you walk down to the beach, you have a nice glass of wine and you watch the people in Australia is exactly that, isn't it?

Speaker 2 12:24

they have 5am yoga on the beach and then a party before work.

Speaker 1 12:29

I've got a couple of mates moved out to Australia. He's riding motocross bikes on the beach he's got a jet ski. He's got, a boat he's got. Do you know what I mean? But it's just do you know what?

Speaker 3 12:38

I mean, does he?

Speaker 1 12:38

like doing podcasts. I've not spoken to him for a while. He might do, jay, if you're listening.

Speaker 2 12:45

One of my mates is moving across. He's moving with his husband over because his husband's Australian and they've lived over here for 20-odd years and as soon as they retire they're going back to Australia. So we'll have a place. Bring the kit, we're going to interview your mate in Australia, no bother at all and see how do you deal with.

Speaker 1 13:05

are you happier than you was when you lived in?

Speaker 2 13:07

the UK.

Speaker 1 13:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:08

Untold. Look how happy we are.

Speaker 3 13:10

He just rode past on his motorbike. Damn right mate.

Speaker 2 13:15

And I think again, though I think we're touching on it here the sunshine brings with it a culture, yeah, and that culture is all of the things that we love in our life. Yeah, the darkness and the winter it steals it from us.

Speaker 1 13:29

Yeah, it's a mood hoover. It is a mood hoover.

Speaker 2 13:31

The weather is a mood hoover.

Speaker 3 13:34

I think also with what I was saying about surround yourself with good people. I think when the weather is good, the people are good anyway. Yeah, so it's not just the weather that's actually making you feel better about yourself. It's everybody that you're surrounding yourself with. They're all happy because the sunshine, because you're happy because someone else is happy, and you just you feed off it, don't you? A full up beer garden, oh mate, there's nothing like it on a Monday morning, that's it.

Speaker 1 13:57

Friday afternoon with a whole gross guy and a barbecue guy and a burger and shit just a barbie, something going.

Speaker 3 14:06

I live near a race course on a Saturday afternoon when it is boiling hot and the beer's flowing and everyone's dressed up and the vibe it's just nothing like it. Yeah, nothing like it. Yeah, yeah, but you can't God?

Speaker 2 14:19

you boys are making me sad.

Speaker 3 14:20

I know, should we go out yeah?

Speaker 2 14:21

can we?

Speaker 1 14:23

But it's right though, isn't it? Is it just the weather? No, it's, hold on. It's this. It's because it brings out the best in people. People are happy and smiling, and if you surround yourself with people that are happy and smiling, then chances are they're going to lift your. You're an average of the people you spend the time with.

Speaker 2 14:42

That's true. We're going to say this a lot on nearly every episode that we do. It's an awareness If you're feeling low, if you're feeling miserable, you need to check in and understand why. And if you do understand why, you can go some way to fixing it by putting some things in place. I think that's it, mate. Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:02

Slowly, slowly catching monkey, though Don't try and put too much pressure on yourself. You can't change whether the sun's going to come up in the sky in the morning.

Speaker 3 15:10

No, you can't change if it's going to rain. Government can, they can't even. The weather forecast can't even predict it. They can't change it. Keir Starmer made it rain today. The arsehole.

Speaker 1 15:20

Cloud seeding. Oh my God, chem trails, don't start. Did you know that the earth is flat? Oh, no, no.

Sunshine Culture and Happier People

Speaker 2 15:27

Good, good morning, prime Minister. What's the weather today? I think it might rain.

Speaker 1 15:32

This is quite a good one. We'll end on this. What is the most ridiculous thing in your life? You've blamed on the weather. I don't really know, to be honest. What do you blame on the weather? The fact I'm a miserable?

Speaker 2 15:49

bastard and I don't want to go out today. It will usually be some horrible football related own goal that I've accidentally scored. I've got nothing. I once scored an own goal over a kick. I know think about it.

Speaker 3 15:59

You're trying to picture how that might go an own goal over a kick nice, I bet you. He was asked about the following week.

Speaker 2 16:08

That was the weather.

Speaker 3 16:09

It was the sun in my eyes that's a really tough question, to be fair it is a tough question.

Speaker 1 16:13

What do you do? You know what I mean? Because I can't do this because it's raining. Then, oh it's too hot.

Speaker 3 16:19

Snow, snow, yeah, snow. It's got to be snow innit. I can't come to work because it's snow.

Speaker 2 16:24

Sorry, there's a bit. I enjoy it. That's not a sad thing half millimetre of snow outside my house.

Speaker 1 16:29

There's no way I can't get my car out. There's no way I can't get the van out today. If you say what's the?

Speaker 2 16:33

worst thing. That's not the worst thing, that's a good thing, yeah yeah, I don't know I don't think I've ever blamed anything on the weather.

Speaker 1 16:42

I think, if you think about it deeply, there's a lot one because I didn't expect it to be sunny last weekend but when it's miserable the gas prices these days I buy the takeaway coal things now but when it's sunny, we moan that it's too hot, and when it's rainy, we wish it was sunny. Yeah, where'd you go with that?

Speaker 2 17:07

that's the English thing isn't it?

Speaker 3 17:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think my definite ideal weather is cold and sunny.

Speaker 1 17:13

Yeah, can't go wrong, that's why I love skiing, if it's cold, really cold.

Speaker 3 17:17

It never rains. So that's, why they're so happy in Switzerland and all those countries where they have snow all the time in the winter. What you're saying is dry rope weather.

Speaker 2 17:27

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 17:28

You are, this is it.

Speaker 2 17:30

I'm definitely not you're one of these people. You hate it so much, you actually love it.

Speaker 3 17:34

I've got one.

Speaker 2 17:35

It's got my name on the back of it, switzerland is like they might as well rename that dry robaland, yeah, maybe anyway, thanks for watching.

Speaker 1 17:43

We hope you liked it. Like, subscribe, follow, share. Get in touch with us if you wanted to cover anything specific. See you next week.