Winter 2026/27 · Vancouver
This is BC’s first winter without turning the clocks back. Six research-backed moves to keep your sleep, energy and focus steady through it. Each takes a few minutes. Pick one and try it for three days.
Photo: Anthony Maw on Unsplash
The conditions
Your body clock sets itself mainly by morning light. This winter, that light arrives an hour later on the clock, and Vancouver’s cloud cuts it further.
Sunrise, December 21
Last winter it was 8:05 AM. For most people, the workday now starts in the dark.
Daylight, December 21
The same amount as before. An hour of it moved from your morning to your evening.
Over a lifetime, in Canada
report milder seasonal symptoms, and 2 to 3% experience seasonal depression. A winter dip is common and predictable.
Sources: Government of British Columbia; timeanddate.com; Canadian Psychological Association. Times approximate.
Where to start
Pick the one that fits and go straight to the matching move. This is a self-check, not a screening test.
Patience
Things that wouldn’t normally bother you are landing harder.
Sleep
Getting up in the dark feels harder than it used to.
Focus
Getting back into a task takes longer than it should.
Energy
The workout you planned keeps turning into the couch.
Motivation
A project or hobby has sat untouched for weeks.
Connection
You’ve been meaning to get in touch with people you like.
The six moves
Each move comes from published research. Pick the one that fits your week and test it for three days.
01 · Patience
A review of 154 experiments found that sleep loss reduced positive emotions and increased anxiety. A short fuse can be a sleep problem, not a people problem.
Palmer et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2024
02 · Sleep
Light is your body clock’s main signal that the day has begun. Indoor light is far dimmer than daylight, but even a cloudy sky is brighter than a typical office.
CDC/NIOSH; National Institute of Mental Health
03 · Focus
When you switch tasks, part of your attention stays on the last one. Researchers call this attention residue. A quick note on where to resume reduces it.
Leroy & Glomb, Organization Science, 2018
04 · Energy
In over 190,000 adults, about half the recommended weekly activity was linked to an 18% lower risk of depression. The biggest difference came from going from nothing to something. It’s an association, not proof of cause.
Pearce et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2022
05 · Motivation
Starting usually creates the motivation, not the other way around. Behavioural activation, a structured depression treatment built on this idea, was non-inferior to CBT at 12 months in a 440-person trial.
Richards et al., The Lancet, 2016
06 · Connection
Across 13 experiments, people underestimated how much others appreciated hearing from them, especially when the message was unexpected.
Liu et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2023
At home
What you do when you walk in often sets the whole evening. A tired night on the couch is fine. But if an hour on your phone means the walk or the call you planned doesn’t happen, most nights, you lose what keeps your energy and mood up.
Notice what you do in the first ten minutes.
Check whether it helps you recover.
Adjust one thing if it doesn’t: eat first, take a short walk, or talk with someone at home.
The point is to notice what your routine leads to, not to turn every evening into another productivity exercise.
Plans tied to a specific moment get done more often than general intentions. Instead of “I’ll move more,” try:
“When my last meeting ends, I’ll walk for ten minutes before heading home.”
After three days, keep it, adjust it or try another move. Some benefits take longer to show.
Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer, 2024
Support
These moves support everyday wellbeing. They aren’t a treatment for depression or seasonal affective disorder. Talk to your doctor or a counsellor if a low stretch:
Both conditions have established treatments, including psychotherapy, medication and, when appropriate, light therapy.
If you’re thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8, any time. In immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
Iroko Health Counselling offers a free 20-minute virtual intro call. No pressure to book anything after.
Written by Isi Oboh, Registered Clinical Counsellor (BCACC). Last reviewed November 2026. More free tools
Want to keep this handy? Download the playbook (PDF)
References
Government of British Columbia (2026), Permanent daylight saving time. timeanddate.com, Vancouver sunrise and sunset, December 2025 and 2026. Canadian Psychological Association, seasonal affective disorder fact sheet. CDC/NIOSH, Using light to promote a better sleep/wake cycle. National Institute of Mental Health, Seasonal affective disorder. Palmer et al. (2024), Psychological Bulletin. Leroy & Glomb (2018), Organization Science. Pearce et al. (2022), JAMA Psychiatry. Richards et al. (2016), The Lancet. Liu et al. (2023), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer (2024), European Review of Social Psychology. Educational information, not a diagnosis.
Psychotherapy in Vancouver and across BC
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