The Winter Blues...How Serious Are They?

For some, winter brings a darkness that can only be remedied by staring into a bright light.

By Rachel M. Gering
Published: Dec 01, 2007

It’s not unusual to feel a bit down as the warm days of summer slowly begin to shorten, and the crisp autumn air reminds us of what the next few months has to offer. But Carol, a Manhattan advertising executive, found herself unable to shake the winter blues. Each year, as Carol pulled out her winter coat for the first time of the season, woke to the bitter cold air that filled her apartment and left her midtown office in virtual darkness, at only 5:00PM, it seemed to get worse. Not only had she lost the desire to go to her favorite haunts with friends after work but she was feeling hopeless and detached from the outside world. What Carol didn’t know was that she was suffering from something much more serious then the winter blues.

Weather can have a tremendous affect on your mood. Sunlight breaking through clouds can lift your spirits, while a dull, rainy day can inspire gloom and doom. Every winter I just want to crawl into bed and stay under the covers until spring arrives. While noticeable, these shifts in mood generally do not affect our ability to cope with daily life. Some people, however, are more vulnerable to a real kind of depression that follows a seasonal pattern. The shortened days of late autumn can cause clinical depression that lasts until spring. This condition is called “Seasonal Affective Disorder," also known as SAD.

“It should be noted that seasonal changes affect everyone's mood, regardless of gender and whether or not they have SAD. Simply being mildly depressed during the winter does not mean that one has SAD,”says Dr. Alan Koenigsberg, who treats patients with the disorder. But if you are suffering from SAD, winter’s short days and long nights may induce feelings of depression, lethargy, fatigue, cravings for sweets and starches, headaches, sleep problems and irritability. The condition most often arises in young adulthood, and is more common in women.

While SAD isn’t always easy to diagnose, it is treatable. Doctors don’t know the exact preconditions of SAD, but heredity, age and your body’s chemical makeup all seem to play a role. The most prominent cause is lack of sunlight. Many SAD patients become depressed in the winter because of the later dawn and early dusk. Researchers suspect that reduced sunlight disrupts circadian rhythms that regulate your body’s internal clock, which lets you know when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to wake up.

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