The day that first frigid morning hits, it’s like this grey haze covers over the state. The moods of the people change, people are more irritable and everyone is ready for spring to come back. Days that end at 5PM, are not for the weak either. Seasonal depression, how does it affect students? If you’ve never heard of seasonal depression, you might ask yourself what is it. The actual definiton, according to google is, “A mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year. Seasonal affective disorder occurs in climates where there is less sunlight at certain times of the year.”
Michigan has a climate where there is rarely if ever sunlight during the winter months, which means SAD is a lot more common here. This affects student’s by making them more vulnerable to being more sad, or harder on themselves. This translates to one word: procrastination. Students are going to push all this work until the last minute and then do it all. Maybe not even just procrastinating work, but also friendships and getting out of the house, making themselves a total recluse during the winter months. This is not the right way to handle seasonal affective disorder, aka seasonal depression.
Another big question comes up, why does sunlight cause people to experience SAD? The sun gives us energy for the day, and fuels us. During winter time, there is none of that good old fashioned sunshine. We as humans literally need sunshine as it helps us to produce vitamin D. What could you do if you have seasonal depression? Well there’s many things that could help you get seretonin in your body, from getting a light therapy lamp, or something simple like partaking in something that makes you happy like a hobby. Many researchers also recommend going outside in the early hours of the day when the sun is the most bright. Finally eating healthy, drinking water, and getting a good amount of excercise is also good with SAD.
