In winter, everybody feels a little more down. The winter blues affect us all, even walking to class to get food at the dining hall gets just that much harder in the cold and snow, and going outside takes so much more planning and preparation. Staying busy and being motivated can just be harder in the winter time, as our spirits feel as full of slush as our boots are sometimes. But at what point is that actually a problem?
There is a condition, Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short, in which the weather becomes a problem for people in more ways than just slippery sidewalks and unplowed snow. To put it briefly, SAD is when the seasons, winter or summer, significantly affect the mental health of someone who is completely fine the rest of the year. Somewhere between one and ten percent of people are affected by SAD each year in the United States, and most of those people experience sluggishness, depression, too much sleep, and not enough energy in the winter. Some people will also get SAD in the summer, having heightened anxiety instead.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, the best thing that you can do is go see a mental health professional. The good news here is that SAD can be easily cured in most cases, with an increase in missing vitamins or hormones that you may easily get in one season but not another. Some examples of treatments include using a light box in the winter which simulates the sunlight you would get in other months, antidepressant medication, or the over the counter sleep hormone melatonin. Moving from a sunnier area to one with less light is often a cause of SAD, as your body is used to having a certain amount of light and the vitamins that go with it to function, and may rely on getting it regularly rather than storing it long-term as it would have to in a cooler climate. People with lighter skin are often more susceptible, and it is often found in women more than men.