Make time for friends
hile it’s tempting to make like a tortoise and crawl into a box until the warmer months return, most of us have a job, a family, and a life to live, and we need some energy and exuberance in our toolkit to keep it all going. It’s quite normal to feel less sociable in the winter months when it’s darker and colder, and that’s okay – some degree of quietening down and ‘wintering’ can be beneficial. However, research shows that our friendships play a key role in our happiness levels by raising levels of the feelgood hormones dopamine and oxytocin, so don’t clear your calendar completely – no matter how loudly the sofa calls. ‘The vagus nerve links
