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Do you find winter depressing? Science tells you why
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Do you have seasonal affect disorder (SAD)? According to doctors at Loyal University Health Systems it is common for some people to get the blues sometime around November and snap out of it by April. They say it is caused by a lack of light which triggers a chemical imbalance in the brain.
They say that one cure for these blues is to get exposure to natural light. So, even if it is overcast, go outside or open the blinds to let in light. (Of course, don't forget to put on sunscreen!)
I guess I do feel a little blue in the winter. But it doesn't happen until late January, after all the holidays are done. I snap right out of it in March though. I love spring. :smile: -
I only start to feel blue after the holidays too Left Brain. I really enjoy the winter--the first snow fall, snow football games, skiing, my winter wardrobe! I think my job really helps me feel young. I really enjoy taking the kiddos out to play in the snow and then come in and warm up with hot chocolate. I love every season except summer...but only because the humidity makes me feel really really ill...genetics...which sucks because I really like the beach and pool. Oh well.
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I enjoy winter too. Towards the end of February, I'm usually sick of the inconvenience that goes along with winter in New England but I don't really feel blue. I don't like summer much and spend most of July and August waiting for it to be over.
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Living in LA has it's advantage... I do get annoyed by cold though. By November I'm itching for May.
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I grew up in Jersey and moved out of PA when I was 27. That's 27 years of mostly grey weather. (anyone else remember the 10 best days of the year?) And I'm so lucky to have inherited lousy sinuses from my mother's side that plaqued me every day of those 27 years-especially in Winter. Yes, I was depressed, extremely bitchy, and miserable. Well, who wouldn't be when every day they woke up with a pounding headache? Excedrin is my little friend; I couldn't live without it.
We moved out to San Francisco, I was a bit better. It's still foggy and grey up there, but not as bad as Jersey. Then we moved down to LA. Holy crap! Seriously, I was happy, all the time, for the first time in my life! I never realized I had SAD. I can handle the "Winter" here.
I know what you mean AB, I can't handle the "cold". I've become such a wuss. I used to walk 2 miles to work in the middle of Winter at 5am in Jersey(seriously). Now if it get's below 60 I whine. And if it stays grey for more than 2 days, I get antsy. Even my birds don't like it. I don't mind if it's going to rain, we totally need that. It's just when it gets grey and just stays that way for a week it makes me nuts. -
TailFeather--Did you have to walk uphill both ways without any shoes?:bigsmile: My parents always told us that when we complained about having to walk to the top of the hill for the bus in the winter (mind you it was and still is a bitch of a hill).
And there are more than 10 good days here in PA! I think we just had 10 in a row! Highs in the low to mid 80s--lows in the 60s. It's nice :) -
LOL...not uphill, but over a small bridge. :p And sometimes I wore my toasty moonboots in the snow.
It just busts me up that people in LA will do anything not to have to walk. I walk everywhere local,(within 5 miles) and I still get looks.
I liked PA a lot! It's only like 2 hours from where we grew up, but it was a huge difference in weather. Still grossly humid, but more sunshine. -
agree with the rest of the LAers.. living here does have great advantages!
i did once get super depressed while ON VACATION in Taiwan.. it's a tropical area, so all it did was rain rain and rain! (not to mention none of the yummy tropical fruits were in season.. boo!) -
Gloria--that would depress me too!
My sister use to live in San Diego (I thoroughly enjoy that city) and now she lives in FLA and is miserable. She either wants to be closer to us family and all...plus she is a new mom and would like her child to know his aunties and uncles....OR back in San Diego
Me, I just really enjoy the change in seasons. Fall is the most beautiful with all the leaves changing and falling.....plus the anniversary is next week. Winter has it's perks when it snows and ices I generally don't have to go to work and my husband works from home so I can make stew and we can build a snowman or have a snow fight while attempting to shovel the driveway. Watching the snow fall is such a peaceful expierence for us. Spring starts to warm up a bit and the leaves come back and to see that green color after winter is so cool. And then summer comes with is's freaking humidity...but the beach and pool call my name. Every season is special in it's own way! -
The Holidays make me happy actually. The decorating, shopping, the music, etc. What I don't love is the snow. Living in Connecticut it's not as bad as other places as far as the snow is concerned - but, I just don't like it....lol
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Where I generally don't find this change in season to be depressing, I am finding that because I work from 9-6 I am having a difficult time finding time to run. I was running 3 miles a few times a week for a while in the morning around 6:30 and now when I am up at that time...as I am now it is still dark. I run in a park in my neighborhood, but it is extremely wooded and I get a little nervous. I also can't run in the evening because by the time I get home at nearly 7, it is almost dark. I'm running ina 5k on Sunday and have only run 2 times in the past 2 1/2 weeks. THAT is depressing me. I'm more tired than normal and bummed out in general. SO my husband thinks it is SAD...I am pretty sure it is due to not running. We just got rid of our gym memberships and I won't go crawling back to them. It's 10 of 7 and I'm going to try and get out there and run today!
BTW, I really have to start geting read for work no later than 7:30 because I leave at 8:15 -
Yep, I got SAD. And I live in the worst place for it, Norway, where it is dark almost all day in the middle of winter and grey and rainy when it is supposed to be daylight.
My husband has it even worse than me, so we are planning to move to the southwest USA. -
the smoke haze here in LA from the neighboring fires is making me depressed pretty quickly.
Discoloring and blotting out the sun, itching burning eyes, nose full of ash, smell like a burnt onion bagel.... -
That's terrible. LA (or California) would be a great place to live if not for all the wildfires, earthquakes and mudslides.
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There ARE places in LA that's only affected by earthquakes!!!
My hometown is like, 2 miles from the beach, sea level, flat land, very green land, no canyons around for miles.. I've always thought that if you were to live anywhere in LA, live where I live.. you always feel a nice ocean breeze, and it gets seriously hot only about.. 4/5 days a year..
anywhere else in LA? forget about it.. even if ur not close to fire-prone areas, it's still super super hot like, 10-15 days of the year..
the only problem about my hometown is that well.. a lot of people find it a great area to live, and the cost for a simple 4-bedroom family house went from about 400K to over a million in the past 10 years.. it's disgusting how much people are paying for super small townhouses and condos (450K-500K for a 2 bedroom condo!!!)!!! and it's not like the school district is great or anything.. well, in some parts of town the schools are better, but overall, it's not a good school district..
anyways.. i'm no longer there.. i moved.. 20 miles north.. HAHAHAHA!! but this weekend i'm going back home so enjoy some well, relatively fresher air..
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