20 Screen-Free Activities to Help With Winter Darkness

As soon as daylight savings hits, my body immediately goes into hibernation mode. Anybody else feel the same?

Combined with the holidays, winter is the season where we often feel more stress, sadness, anxiety, loneliness and depression. Screens don’t help, either. They’re linked to physiological stress, disrupt sleep and have an addictive feel-good effect on our brains.

I bet most of us are probably guilty of immediately getting into our PJ’s and cozying up onto the couch in front of the tv as soon as we get home from work. If you don’t do this, I honestly applaud you because one of my intentions is to watch less tv (I’m a sucker for reality shows).

Feel free to try one (or any combination) of these screen-free activities instead!

1. Meditate

2. Read or journal

3. Clean

4. Take a warm, epsom salt bath

5. Organize your home

6. Listen to a podcast

7. Listen to your favorite music

8. Dance

9. Sip on decaf tea

10. Cook or bake a new recipe

11. Stretch

12. Workout

13. Paint your nails

14. Apply a face mask

15. Volunteer

16. Get together with friends + family

17. Call a loved one

18. Attend a therapy session

19. Light a candle/diffuse essential oils

20. Light therapy

I bet you guys have some great ideas, too! What’s something you like to do in the evenings instead of watching tv or being on your phone? Let me know down below.