The wind is skirling in the trees outside, green leaves are browning and considering letting go to ride the breeze. A few stalwart women are breathing a sigh of relief at having made it through a very warm — or very wet, depending on where you are — summer, and Baby Season has arrived.
Our friend Heidi started it with her boy at the beginning of the summer, “Mrs. Alex” joined in with her darling girl, T’s editor swelled the chorus with another girl,and our friend Megumi will join the refrain in a week or three. It’s amazing — and a little startling.
Normally, we have time and inclination to celebrate these events, but time and inclination has been regrettably short these last few months. We finally broke down and admitted that the fading light has been really affecting us, and we needed more sun. After an epic journey to Ikea, we got four of our eventual seven lamps set up, and have been basking in the lovely white light of full-spectrum bulbs.
And D. took one to work yesterday. “Oh, is that one of those SAD bulbs?” he was asked by his boss. Though D. answered readily enough, T. cringed when he mentioned it. Seasonal Affective Disorder sounds…so… mentally unstable.
But mentally unstable is what we’ve been. We’ve both been quiet, prone to long stretches of saying nothing to each other. That’s not all that unusual, but the silence this time is hard to break. We find that we’re really, really negative — which makes blogging a happy letter home a little hard. (So, we’ve been lying. Sorry, Mom.) T’s been… short tempered, apt to laugh ’til she cries, and then… keep crying. Neither T. nor D. find waking up easy, and sleep is often light and interrupted by periods of wakeful staring. Enthusiasm for interacting with other people has been really low, even with people we know we like. We’ve been frustrated by our own inability to snap out of it.
Americans from the Wild West, whose traditions include the idea of standing on their own, not asking for any help, staking out their forty acres and working their claim ’til they fall over dead, are loathe to admit to any kind of problem. Despite the fact that Californians are as Prozac-ed as every other State, the word ‘disorder’ isn’t one that falls lightly on the ears. A disorder? Us? Never! But the offensive truth is, this time around, we’re not dealing well with the daily fog and cloud cover, and the gathering dark. Using the bulbs will enable us to work, find enthusiasm for the happiness of our friends, not feel eternally hung-over and exhausted, and maybe help us not completely alienate all of our acquaintances. (Sorry, G.)
This is beginning to sound like a PSA for mental health (expect a little comet trail and the words “The More You Know” to show up onscreen next), and… it is, really. Statistics from the Mayo Clinic indicate that one in twenty persons is affected, women three times more often than men, people 18-40 more often than those younger or older. Normal worries like money or relationships on top of seasonal worries (holiday worries) as well as weather issues, (and other problems like bipolar disorder) compound it. People use the excuse that the bulbs are more expensive than regular ones, but how much is your sanity worth? In the month of September, it might be worth breaking with tradition. Instead of just getting out your autumn clothing, you might also consider changing your light bulbs.
Enough said.
– D & T
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Yay! Go mental health!
I’m a mental health support worker here… and definitely I think most people are prone to being affected by some elements here, especially those of us who aren’t used to it! (And even though we’re from WA, we’re def not used to the lack of light and crap summers).
More power to you for finding something that helps you. Take advantage of it!
I’ve thought about getting one of those for the winter. There’s nothing quite like the Scottish winter – wet, cold and dark by 3:30. It’s rough.
We’ve got these great high windows, which are gorgeous, but don’t get light into the flat worth anything, so we’re starting the madness early. Yay.
The bulbs we’ve found on Amazon – if we find someplace locally we’ll post it.
Oh yeah! I totally know what you are talking about but even our Canadian winters don’t sound nearly as bad as your Scottish winters. Light does make a difference.
I feel it too. In the winter waking up in the morning is near impossible! Our flat is blessed with large windows that do let the sun in. The problem (as with this past week) is that the sun is hiding behind these thick, dark, gray rain clouds! This is why that when the sun does come out of hiding, no matter how cold and windy it is EVERYONE is outside soakng it in.
A trip to IKEA always raises my spirits too 😉
As a fellow mental health professional I’m not surprised by the changes in the status of your mental health due to the lack of sun. One thing to remember is to not try to put on a brave face to others if you feel like s@*t. (Especially your family) the other is to try not to isolate too much when you’re in that frame of mind. Thank God for light.
Wow! It DOES sound like baby season. Try to treat yourselves to something that will make you feel good.
Sending good thoughts from NYC,
Paz
I read an article today that suggests radioactive decay may be influenced by the seasons–something widely accepted as a constant seems to be affected by the Earth’s position relative to the sun. A variable fine-structure constant (something wrong there!) or some sort of weird solar neutrino wash. Wild stuff. Can’t find the link…:) Anyway, perhaps you Califolk run on atomic batteries.
Our house is a dim little cave. It can be blindingly bright outside but still, no natural light seems to reach the hall. We’re right down in a dip, surrounded by half-wild greenery. Due to issues with the wiring, bulbs don’t seem to last more than a week or two; at night the house is lit by dim lamps and scented candles and the glow of the Internet. We find it adds a sometimes romantic, sometimes depressing air of advanced 20th Century decay.
Anyway, I recently resolved to buy some more expensive and perhaps longer-lasting bulbs for the hall. Maybe a new lamp for the living room, too, something above waist height.
The light bulb in my bedroom just blew up–quel exciting, sparking and popping galore. I think we’ll be kicking off the autumn season with a rewiring of that particular circuit.
I’m still trying to get my mind around the solar neutrino thing, Neil. I have a feeling that seriously has something to do with it.
In our last flat, we had one light fixture that ate three bulbs within the space of about two months. We finally quit putting anything in there. In this flat, apparently there’s some kind of transformer issue that periodically causes surges that just skitz out all the electricity. Fixtures are burned out because the bulbs were halogen – so there’s actual black marks when a bulb pops. That’s one other nice thing about the full-spectrum bulbs — they’re completely cool to the touch.
Diva, all those little in-home firework displays are just to give you that little extra edge of living dangerously, right?