Bristol tops UK list for winter blues impact, according to a new study
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The study, done by Bigvits.co.uk, used Google searches for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in 2024 to rank each city in the UK.
A total of 15.6 million searches where made in 2024, peaking in November and January, with 23% of Brits looking online for SAD advice and a further 11.9 million turning to Google for meditation and mindfulness tips.
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Hide Ad‘Self Care Sunday’ searches also grew nine times in 2024, reaching 5,000 monthly searches.
Dr Shane Thurlow, PhD and Nutritional Scientist at Bigvits.co.uk said: "It's obvious from our research that seasonal sadness is a key factor in many Brits' well-being concerns.
"Quality sleep, balanced nutrition, and time in nature can help ease Blue Monday's impact. Small, steady steps toward wellbeing bring huge rewards.


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Hide Ad"Despite interest in SAD, the spike in mindfulness, meditation, and 'Self Care Sunday' searches in our research reflect a push towards proactive mental health".
Bristol tops the list with the most SAD searches (985 searches per 1,000 people, or 98.5% of the population).
York and Edinburgh followed with 898 searches per 1,000 people (or 89.8% of the population) and 848 searches per 1,000 people (or 84.8% of the population), respectively.
The happiest cities were Greater Manchester (177 searches per 1,000 people or 17.7% of the population), Newcastle (380 searches per 1,000 people or 38% of the population) and London (381 searches per 1,000 people or 38.1% of the population).
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