Joanne Chang
Staff reporter
Winter officially starts on December 21 with freezing weather, winter break, and new year’s. It brings jolly and joyful memories– it is after all, the most wonderful time of the year! It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the events and celebrations that will be going on, and the significant change of weather will be another load to take on.
These are some of the important actions to keep in mind to not get overwhelmed by events.
Winter is famous for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Chinese New Year, and Diwali. Everyone has different expectations towards winter because they tend to associate seasons with events that happened. However, those expectations are not usually healthy for emotional health. If people see the reality of the high expectations towards Christmas, they could get sucked into an expectation vs. reality trap which will lead could to discontentment. Psychologists from Northwestern University explain that “it’s as if the brain is normally tuned to FM stations to access memories but needs to be tuned to AM stations to access subconscious memories”, this states that the brain remembers better when it is in the “same state of consciousness it was in when the memory was formed”.
Another effect that winter has on humans is the darker days. The sun rising late and setting early means that the average 24-hour day has only seven hours of light, thus with the influence of the dark heavy clouds, it will be dimmer. SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is a major depressive disorder with seasonal patterns. Most people get it before they are 20. It is caused by changes in serotonin and melatonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that influences happiness, learning, and regulating body temperature. In the winter, serotonin levels drop because of the lack of sunshine. On the other hand, melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that affects the timing of circadian rhythms and sleep. Being exposed to light will drop melatonin levels, thus having a limited amount of light in the winter will cause melatonin levels to increase. Winter weather will impact the overproduction of melatonin and the lack of serotonin in the body.
Winter can also have physical effects on our health. Some obvious impacts are the chilly winds and freezing weather. The cold environment will make blood vessels thin out and slightly thicken the blood, thus forcing the heart to beat faster. However, the number of calories burned by the heart is a small amount. This amount will not affect hunger levels, but not getting enough calories will influence body weight. One way to prevent being cold is turning on heaters. This can create a danger because certain heaters produce carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that, doesn’t have a scent or a colour. Furthermore, people tend to not go outside when it’s cold because it’s dangerous and unpleasant, but this leads to a lack of exercise. If it goes on for two to three months, cardiovascular health can gradually decline. Winter is many people’s favourite season, but it comes with cons. There are emotional, mental, and physical aspects of health to take care of.
A study from Verywellmind states positive thinking will improve emotional and mental health and volunteering for a local organization will improve physical health. Using these simple actions will create a better winter for everyone.
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How weather can affect the mind