There are a lot of things about women that change along with the seasons. Think about it, we change our hair color; a darker color for the winter and a lighter one for the summer, we change our style; we obviously cant rock Ugg boots in the summer, but what seems to change besides our hair color and style? Unfortunately, it’s our mood. Why is that? Maybe it’s because we can’t wear our comfortable ugg boots in the summer. Highly unlikely, because we’d much rather rock our shorts with gladiators. Maybe it’s because it takes us so much longer to pick out a winter outfit than a summer one. Notice how all of these answers begin with a maybe, but why are our emotions affected by the seasons? What is the cause of seasonal moodiness?
There was a study done on 250 female residents in Boston where each woman completed a profile of mood states questionnaire over a period of four visits. These studies were testing anger, depression, fatigue and confusion. The worst scores for the moods listed were during the fall and best during the spring. Although this study was conducted on women between the ages of 43 and 72, there’s still something valuable to take away from this study. Worse moods were associated with fewer hours of sleep. This isn’t hard to believe either; the summer is definitely more relaxing and I’m sure a good majority of us can agree on that.
Jean Endicott, Ph.D, a professor of clinical psychology reports that he doesn’t know of any scientific studies that prove the mood changes of females are affected by the seasons; however, he points out the effect light has on mood and depression. It’s not unlikely for females to go to the pool or to take a run in the summer, actually, it’s quite probable and this would be one reason why we are affected. And for those of you who are reading this and thinking, “I don’t do either of those,” that’s fine, but it is still close to impossible to avoid the sun’s summer rays. We even feel them in the car or in our house when we have the blinds open.
Unless you have Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), more commonly known as winter depression, there’s really no solid reason as to why this happens. Winter depression is prevalent in more females than males and statistics say that 1 in every 5 women experiences S.A.D. If this is you, don’t be ashamed, this is not a sign of mental instability. You can be perfectly sane and have this; you just get the winter blues and it’s not like women don’t already have a reputation for being emotional human beings anyway.
With that said, let’s just get through this cold weather together and think about how happy we will be when the summer arrives and we can sing along with Sublime, “Summertime and the livin’s easy.” When you feel yourself getting moody as the cold wind is messing up your hair as you walk to class, just think of this excerpt from Audrey Hepburn’s quote: “Happiest girls are the prettiest girls.”
Summer is almost here!