Out of the darkness

rangur1 said:

Much more philosophical than precision, I always feel a spiritual uplift when the days become noticeably longer, even just a bit. Just getting out of that Dec21-Feb 21 stretch , "the dark time" just begins to give me a general uplift. I know I'm 6 weeks and a wake up from exiting another butt crack time of the year. Does a body and mind good!

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SAMD is real

We had a really rough stretch between Nov 15-Jan 4 where we had rain or fog almost everyday and we are not used to that weather here. Dairy was the worst we've ever seen. Since then we've had sun and some nice cold days to really freeze things up. What a difference the sun can make on many levels. Got done working at 515 yesterday and still had alittle light even that's also nice. 645 now and it's starting to get light here already. I hate that dead of winter dark.

A quality SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) lamp can make a HUGE difference.

SAD, (seasonal affective disorder). The older I get the more I'm affected by short daylight days. Can't wait for Spring.

Playing hockey is the only thing keeping me sane and not go into mild depression......I hate long dark days!

The older I get the less I want to be outside when it's cold, even worse when the wind has doused what enthusiasm I had managed to come up with to do stuff outside. Ha, it'll look pretty good outside so I'll get the warm clothes on, walk out the door and down the road, then turn around and go home, lol, nope not today. But I went to Phoenix yesterday which had perfect temps and almost no wind. It's a different world down there compared to 2.5 hours north at 7000 elevation!

Not a lot of snow by us so far this year, but way too cold to shoot outside for long. Been very cold for most of January, today feels warm it’s 19deg outside and sunny lol.
We’re on the way to spring , another 2 months of bad weather at most.

I remember hearing somewhere; Alaska has one of the highest suicide rates because of the long dark winters. I'm in west Palm beach Fl. and though it's not been as cold as up north we have had some gloomy weather lately. To be honest cooler temps here are welcome.

coastal drifter said:

I remember hearing somewhere; Alaska has one of the highest suicide rates because of the long dark winters. I'm in west Palm beach Fl. and though it's not been as cold as up north we have had some gloomy weather lately. To be honest cooler temps here are welcome.

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One extreme to the next 2 months of no sun followed by almost 3 months of no darkness so becomes hard to sleep?

On the North Slope for 7 months and we just had blackout on all the windows. Plus, if you work hard, you can sleep under most any conditions, lol.

The sun is always brilliant in the winter here. The days are short but the light is intense. We have very few days without sun per year (3-5) and those are generally in the late summer.

Firelight in the winter will keep away the cabin fever. It gives you some light radiation that your lacking in the winter. A wood stove with a glass door is the cure for light deficiency.

Wood is stored sunlight energy. Burn it and the light from the flames gives your brain what it needs when the days are short.

Humans are like plants inasmuch as we need sunlight. You can think of wood as preserved sunlight. Electric lights just don't give your body what it needs when your inside during the winter. Firelight will.

Small woodstove for small home.

First thing my wife and I are doing during the winter months is watching those flames for an hour or two from our chairs not 3-4 feet away.
I get the fire going a bit before she gets up then she gets the dogs fed and the coffee going. My wife and I get along as well as can be so we relish the warmth, the beverage, and company. A great way to start the day if one doesn't have central heating.

The stove is in the corner of our kitchen area and that was my new EDC Dawson Smuggler knife from a few months ago.

Juniper is a powerful cure.

Luckily my garage points right into the sunset during winter here. I try and work the last hour of the day in my garage for the sunlight. I put on my coveralls, my wool hat, my fingerless gloves, turn on the propane heater and bang away on my keyboard in the weak sunlight.

I have looked into the SAD light but I really like sunbeams.

Taking vitamin D supplements helps me a bit.