Guest Post: Author Satu Rasa, Seasonal Affective Disorder – A Survival Guide for the Dark Season

Satu Rasa, Seasonal Affective Disorder – A Survival Guide for the Dark Season

For the Dark Season Survival Guide, Virkkukoukkunen's Tiina was also interviewed on the topic of dopamine dressing, as Virkkukoukkunen is famously a master of colorful everyday life!

We now have the pleasure and honor of having author Satu Rasa here as a guest on the our blog to talk about dopamine dressing.

Colorful Dopamine Dressing Brings Energy to Winter

The dark winter season has once again descended upon Finland, and all means of cheering up are necessary during the coming months. Dopamine dressing, or lifting your mood with colorful clothes, has become a trend around the world in recent years. What other trend could be more suitable for our winter?

Finns often dress in dark clothes during the dark winter, which is quite the opposite of what we should do. To put it bluntly, in winter, coats in the streetscape are black, or at their wildest, dark blue. Black is considered the color of stylish people, although it may not flatter in the best way in the darkness of winter.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain, a true happiness hormone, whose function we can each influence ourselves. In dopamine dressing, your mood is lifted by wearing colorful clothes, and at its best, dopamine dressing gives confidence, for example, in work situations.

People have been dyeing fabrics and wearing colorful clothes for thousands of years. Colors have symbolized different things to people in different cultures. Here in Finland, we think that yellow and orange bring energy, while green and blue are calming colors. Colorful clothes can also help you stand out; for example, the petite Queen Elizabeth II always wore colorful clothes when appearing in public.

My own wardrobe was full of black clothes just a few years ago, until they really started to irritate me in the winter. Nowadays, I deliberately wear colorful clothes in the winter. My favorite is a bright orange puffer jacket, which is quite an exclamation mark at the local store. The jacket always receives good-natured smiles, unlike my old black puffer jackets.

In the dopamine dressing challenge that spread on TikTok, you put on clothes every morning that reflect your mood. Surely the color choice isn't black every winter morning? Tips for a more colorful everyday life can be found not only on TikTok but also on Instagram with the hashtag #dopaminedressing.

Wishing you a joyfully colorful winter season!

Satu Rasa

Seasonal Affective Disorder – A Survival Guide for the Dark Season is now available at Virkkukoukkunen