The third Monday in January, better known as Blue Monday, is said to be one of the saddest and most depressing days of the year.

There are many factors that make January depressing, including paying off Christmas debt, getting off of the holiday high and something called SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's a type of depression that comes on around this time of year due to a lack of sunlight. You may find yourself feeling drained or you might be moody while others fall into a deep depression.

I like to think of Blue Monday as a challenge and making sure Blue Monday isn't a blue Monday," said Donna Bowyer with the Canadian Mental Health Association. "Look at what you can do that day to treat yourself kindly, do something special for yourself, even just sitting down with a cup of tea, put your feet up and relax."

If it goes further than just being a little out of sorts, SAD could be the culprit and is related to the amount of sunlight we get.

"Sometimes people start to feel hopeless because there's nothing we can do about the sun. The sun is only here for a certain amount of time," said Bowyer.

"There are things that we can do for it. Make sure that you're taking your vitamin D and you need to take about 2000 units every day and don't skip it because skipping it can really impact your feelings and your sense."

If the negative feelings remain despite making some changes, then Bowyer suggests meeting with your family doctor as a good first step, you can also turn to the Canadian Mental Health Association for assistance.

The Estevan Public Library has two therapy lamps  that can help with sad that are free for the public to use with a library card