Don’t you just love it when you walk outside expecting a nice breeze to flow through your hair or the bright sun to soak into your skin? Life is great. That is, until you remember that you live in North Dakota and for half the year, you are frozen in a tundra with little to no sun and what feels like never ending snow.
You may have heard of the term “winter slumps” before, it’s pretty much the sadness and darkness that winter decides to bring along with the never ending snow. Whether or not you experience something like that, let me paint a picture for you. You wake up Monday morning and head to school. Since we start school at eight, you drive to school when it’s semi-light out. Then you go through your day and by the time you’re done with extracurricular activities you head home. That’s where you notice it is still dark.
Students who are involved in a lot of extracurriculars many times experience this same type of scenario, where you barely see the sun throughout the day. This experience can be part of the reason why mental health in the winter months is so crucial. In the early 1980s, Norman E. Rosenthal, reported the first case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), on himself after experiencing depression during the dark days of the northern US winter. Rosenthal later theorized that the cause of this was due to the lack of available natural light during the winter.
Since then, SAD has become a very big factor in mental health in the northern latitudes of the world. Anyone can be affected by it, some more than others. You may just experience little things such as being more tired or loss of interest. You may also experience larger symptoms such as depression, hopelessness, and social withdrawal. Either way it is important to try some of the following tips to ensure you are the best person that you can be.
One of the easiest tips is to focus on the positives and your self care. As a child, when you first saw it snowing did you complain and grumble about the road conditions like you do now? No, of course not. You were excited to go outside and play in it, to build a snowman or a snow fort. Why was that? It was because you weren’t thinking about the problems with having snow\; you were focused on the positives of it. The same logic applies during the winter now. Try to be more positive\; you will find that it helps you be more happy during the winter. Not only is positivity important, but so is your self care. Go on a run or walk on a treadmill or get out of the house and go shopping. Even just doing little things such as walking the dog, or doing yoga for ten minutes can be beneficial.
If those don’t work you can try something a little more complex. One thing that you can try is light therapy. This technique uses a light box, a type of light that gives off light that resembles the sun. You can use the light box whenever you are working, doing homework or even watching Netflix. It is important to know that a light box doesn’t affect your Vitamin D levels or cure SAD, rather it is used to help ease the symptoms that might occur.
So if you are ever feeling down during the six months out of the year where the weather is colder, windier, and altogether miserable, just remember there are things you can do to boost your mood, mental health and overall happiness. Most importantly, don’t let the winter slumps get the best of you.