When the Light Fades: Why Women Feel the Clock-Change Shift and How to Adapt

As the evenings draw in and the leaves begin their slow descent, many of us feel our moods begin to fall too. The seasonal shift from light to dark doesn’t just change the view outside – it changes our inner chemistry. Belle About Town spoke to Caroline Cavanagh, The Anxiety Alchemist, to unpack Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and how it affects women.

The Science of Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more than just “winter blues.” It’s a recognised form of depression that typically emerges when daylight hours become shorter than the dark. Reduced exposure to natural light disrupts the body’s delicate balance of circadian rhythms, melatonin (which regulates sleep), and serotonin (our mood stabiliser).

Caroline Cavanagh – known as The Anxiety Alchemist – believes understanding this science is the first step toward managing it. “When people understand why they feel as they do, they can start to work with their biology rather than against it,” she says. “That’s how we transform the internal chemistry and lift our emotional state.”

With the clocks having gone back last night (26 October), it’s the perfect time to understand what drives SAD – and how to counter its effects.

Why Women Are More Vulnerable

While anyone can be affected by the changing seasons, women are diagnosed with SAD three to four times more often than men. Several biological and lifestyle factors may explain this imbalance.

1. Hormonal Influences

Women’s moods naturally ebb and flow as oestrogen and progesterone levels shift across the menstrual cycle, menopause, and even in response to stress. These hormones also interact closely with serotonin and melatonin—systems also thrown off balance when daylight wanes. When all three collide, it can create what Caroline calls “a perfect storm” for mood instability.

2. Serotonin Sensitivity

Women tend to have lower baseline serotonin levels than men. As serotonin naturally dips in autumn and winter, the result can be an amplified struggle to regulate mood, motivation, and emotional resilience.

3. Circadian Rhythm Differences

Our internal body clock – the circadian rhythm – dictates when we feel alert and when we feel tired, and it’s heavily influenced by light exposure. Research suggests that women may have slightly shorter circadian cycles and greater sensitivity to seasonal light changes, making these shifts more destabilising.

What SAD Looks Like

Like many forms of depression, SAD varies in intensity and expression. For women, the symptoms often include both physical and emotional elements:

• Disrupted sleep and persistent fatigue
• Increased appetite—particularly for carbohydrates
• Reduced motivation and concentration
• Heightened irritability and anxiety
• Feelings of guilt or low self-esteem

These symptoms don’t exist in a vacuum. Fatigue reduces focus and productivity, which can affect performance at work. Irritability strains relationships at home and in the office. The craving for comfort foods can lead to blood-sugar highs and lows, fuelling more mood swings—and often guilt about eating habits or weight gain.

For women balancing careers, caregiving, and personal aspirations, this maelstrom of exhaustion, self-criticism, and low motivation can feel particularly heavy.

How to Lighten the Season

Autumn and winter will always arrive on schedule. But rather than dreading the darker months, Caroline encourages her clients to build a “seasonal tool kit” – activities designed to rebalance mood chemistry and energy.

Here are her three top strategies to help your mood rise while the temperature falls.

1. Embrace the Season

“Every season has its own beauty,” Caroline says. “There are things we can only do right now—pumpkin carving, Halloween parties, fireworks nights, crisp woodland walks….” Her personal favourite? “Kicking through piles of leaves like a kid when I’m out with the dog.”

By consciously engaging in activities that bring pleasure, serotonin and dopamine are released, the brain’s feel-good messengers. This helps bring some light into the darkness.

Action:
Make a list of activities unique to Autumn that bring a smile to your face and schedule to do at least one of them every week. We plan our summer holidays; why not plan our autumn happiness too?

2. Create a Playlist That Lifts You

Music has a direct line to our emotions. A single track can transport us back to a moment of joy—a school disco, your first dance, a magical moment. A tune can reignite the emotions associated with that memory and provide a boost of dopamine into the blood system.

“It doesn’t matter how low I feel,” Caroline says, “if I put on some Latin music, my feet can’t help but start to salsa around the kitchen.” Movement changes posture, which changes breathing and physiology—shifting our emotional state almost instantly.

Action:
Curate a playlist of at least six songs that lift your spirits or just make you move. Keep adding to it over time. When your mood dips, hit play and let your body respond.

3. Plug the Energy Drains

We all have those lingering tasks on our to-do lists—the ones that have been there for weeks (or months). Each time we think about them, we get a surge of cortisol, the stress hormone, quietly draining our limited energy.

At a time of year when motivation is already low, reducing those drains is crucial. “Start with the task that’s bothering you the most – not just the easiest one,” Caroline advises. “This may seem illogical but plugging the biggest drain will free up the most energy once it’s done giving you more energy to tackle the next one.”

Action:
Write down all those “meaning to do” items – whether it’s a work project, a home fix, or a friend you’ve been planning to call. Then pick the one that feels heaviest and tackle it. Every ticked-off task boosts momentum, creating an upward spiral of energy and confidence.

Rebalancing from Within

These three strategies are part of Caroline’s free online programme, How to Stop Your Mood Falling Like the Leaves, which offers 10 practical tips to lift your emotional state through the darker months

We can’t control the seasons but we can control how we meet them. With a few intentional shifts – understanding the biology, adjusting the routine, and rekindling joy – Autumn ceases to be a season to survive, but one to embrace.

• For more information or to connect with Caroline, visit her on LinkedIn or join her free programme.