As Penn State students, we know what to expect when it comes to the winter. We bargained for it when we chose our school, but it is something that we can’t help but dread. It seems obvious that people are happier when spring and summer come around and feel worse when winter is coming, but is there something deeper behind it? Can the weather really affect your mood so much? Is there a point where the weather can actually push you to sadness or depression? Apparently, the answer to that is yes.
Personally, the winter always brings me down. There is not a single thing about it (after the holidays and my birthday) that makes me want to get out of bed and start my day. I always thought that this was just normal, because how could anybody actually enjoy walking through ice and snow and standing in the freezing wind? But according to WebMD, there is such a thing as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or “winter depression”. When the last leaves of autumn are gone and the worst of winter really sets in, people can experience depressive symptoms. These symptoms are severe enough for this to be considered a mood disorder, not just winter blues or not wanting to get out of bed because of the awaiting cold. People who suffer from SAD do not experience any depression throughout the rest of the year, showing that the seasons are the direct cause. This would reject the null hypothesis, that nothing is happening here and the seasons have no effect on mood and depression.
I was really surprised to find out that a condition like this exists. No one particularly likes the winter, and it always seems like people dread the cold as opposed to the way they look forward to summer, but enough that it can cause depression? I know that I go into a slump during the cold, but it seems odd to me that some can temporarily have depression and then go back to their normal selves when it starts to warm up. However, there are ways to manage and treat this disorder. Researchers have found that those who suffer from SAD are very sensitive to light, or the lack thereof. This could be one of the causes, and it is one of the ways that this can be treated. Light therapy is one of the most effective ways to treat winter depression. This article describes the process and why it works so well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/seasonal-affective-disorder
With this study we find a correlation between the season and depression. But is the season a soft endpoint and what we should really be looking at is the light of lack of it? Correlation is not causation so we cannot conclude that the season causes depression in an individual especially based off of an observational study. This also makes me question what studied have been done to find this correlation. The scientists would have to monitor a large group of people to be able to make a generalized conclusion. There are also many third confounding variables that would make an effect on a person. Perhaps just everything going on in their life, diet, exercise, stress levels, if the individual is more likely to have depression. Could this also face the file drawer problem? Scientists would like to show that there is a relationship between the two variables and reject the null hypothesis but if their results are not exactly what they are looking for would they publish them? But if there are no studies showing that there is no correlation then we might be looking at this study completely wrong because we have not seen any information to tell us otherwise.
This blog was depressing to read in itself! I know I dread the cold but the holidays are an amazing time of year and now that I think of it they do get quite dreary when they come to an end and everyone seems unlike themselves. I found an article describing Climate Effects as a whole on the human body and some of them were quite surprising to hear.
Check it out if you’re interested! http://www.ciesin.org/docs/001-338/001-338.html
Great blog! Thats not the only thing that this brutal winter will do to us. It also is a number one cause for weight gain during this season. The cold is a very harsh element that us crazy college kids have to deal with whether we like it or not. So the best thing to do it be aware of its effects and do our very best to avoid the outcomes. I’ll be posting a blog about this in about twenty minutes. Check it out.
That’s so sad that people are suffering through one of the most holiday filled times of the year. Hopefully holiday cheer and cookies help warm them up a little bit. What’s interesting also is that the there are higher suicide rates in colder places. Vermont, for instances has 14.3 suicides out of 100,000 people. There is definitely ground to think that the weather plays a part in people’s emotions.
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/suicide-20-states-with-highest-rates/7/